La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § CXXXIX-2701

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section CXXXIX-2701 - Students Eligible to Attend BESE-Authorized Charter Schools

A. Type 2 Charter Schools. Students meeting residency requirements established in a type 2 charter school's charter are eligible to attend a type 2 charter school. A type 2 charter school may establish residency requirements for students living within the state or may establish residency requirements restricted to a particular parish or parishes.

1. Type 2 charter schools shall collect and verify documents substantiating the residency of each student prior to submitting residency information to statewide student information system. Acceptable documents shall be as follows:

a. mortgage (if owned);

b. tax assessors bill (if owned);

c. homestead exemption bill (if owned);

d. current lease of residence for the school year (if leased);

e. current rent receipt (if leased);

f. previous two months utility bill (Disconnect notices are not acceptable:

i. gas;

ii. water or sewer;

iii. telephone (land line only);

iv. cable or satellite television bill;

v. internet service;

g. current drivers license or government-issued identification;

h. current official letter from a government agency such as Department of Children and Family Services or Department of Health regarding services provided; or

i. current bank statements.

2. The name of the parent or legal custodians must appear on each document and the addresses must match on all documents. The residency information must be updated annually prior to the start of school for the student to be enrolled in that school year.

3. If the parent or legal custodian neither owns nor rents a residence and is therefore living with another individual, the parent or legal custodian must provide a notarized affidavit of residency signed by the parent or legal custodian of the student as well as the individual with whom the parent or legal custodian is living. The affidavit of residency must attest to the following:

a. students name;

b. name of parent or legal custodian;

c. address of parent or legal custodian;

d. name of the person with whom the parent or legal custodian is living;

e. a statement of attestation by the parent or legal custodian that the student is living with him at the address recorded on the affidavit and that the student has no other residence or domicile; and

f. a statement of attestation by the person with whom the parent or legal custodian is living that these persons in fact live with the individual listed.

4. The person with whom the parent or legal custodian and student are living (who has signed the notarized affidavit) must provide three forms of evidence of residency from the acceptable list of documents outlined above.

5. If parents are separated, divorced or if the legal custodian is other than the biological parents, legal custody documents, signed by a judge with a docket number, indicating the legal custodian or domiciliary parent must be provided.

6. Nothing in this policy shall prohibit the admission or readmission to school of a student who meets the definition of homeless under the federal McKinney-Vento Act ( 42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.).

B. Type 4 Charter Schools. Only students who would be eligible to attend a traditional public school operated by the local school board holding the Type 4 charter or students from the same areas as those permitted to attend the preexisting school, if a conversion charter, are eligible to attend a Type 4 charter school, unless an agreement with another city, parish, or other local school board is reached to allow students to attend the charter school.

C. Type 5 Charter School Transferred Pursuant to R.S. 17:10.5. Students eligible to attend a Type 5 charter school transferred to the jurisdiction of the Recovery School District pursuant to R.S. 17:10.5 include those students who would have been eligible to enroll in or attend the pre-existing school under the jurisdiction of the city, parish, or other local public school board or other public school entity prior to its transfer to the recovery school district. In addition, if capacity exists, any students who are eligible to participate in a school choice program established by the prior system shall be permitted to enroll in such Type 5 charter schools which have capacity for another student in the appropriate grade.

D. Each Type 4 or 5 elementary and middle charter school, may request from and be granted by BESE the authority to give preference in its enrollment procedures to students residing within the neighborhood immediately surrounding the school. The geographic boundaries of the neighborhood immediately surrounding such school shall be determined by BESE. The recovery school district may grant or assign preference in its unified enrollment process, described in §2709 of this bulletin, to students residing within geographic boundaries immediately surrounding each school, as determined by the recovery school district. Type 5 charter schools shall not reserve more than 50 percent of spots in each grade level served for such enrollment preference.

E. Notwithstanding the residency eligibility and verification requirements above, upon approval of the state superintendent, a charter school may enroll a student without such documentation who has been displaced due to a federally-declared disaster in Louisiana or surrounding states. As a condition of enrollment, the parent or legal custodian must provide a form signed by the parent or legal custodian of the student that must attest to the following:

1. students name;

2. name of parent or legal custodian;

3. current address of parent or legal custodian;

4. statement indicating that the student is displaced from another school due to a federally-declared disaster; and

5. name of the school in which the student was previously enrolled prior to the federally-declared disaster.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § CXXXIX-2701

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in LR 34:1373 (July 2008), amended LR 37:875 (March 2011), LR 37:2390 (August 2011), LR 38:752 (March 2012), repromulgated LR 38:1394 (June 2012), Amended LR 421018 (7/1/2016), Amended LR 43309 (2/1/2017), Amended LR 44242 (2/1/2018).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17:6(A)(10), R.S. 17:3973, R.S. 17:3981, R.S. 17:10.5, R.S. 17:10.7, and R.S. 17:1990.