261E.6  Postsecondary enrollment options program.
  1.  Program established.  The postsecondary enrollment options program is established to promote rigorous academic or career and technical pursuits and to provide a wider variety of options to high school students by enabling ninth and tenth grade students who have been identified by the school district as gifted and talented, and eleventh and twelfth grade students, to enroll in eligible courses at an eligible postsecondary institution of higher learning.
  2.  Notification.  The availability and requirements of this program shall be included in each school district’s student registration handbook. Information about the program shall be provided to the student and the student’s parent or guardian prior to the development of the student’s career and academic plan under section 279.61. The school district shall establish a process by which students may indicate interest in and apply for enrollment in the program.
  3.  Authorization.  To participate in this program, an eligible student shall make application to an eligible postsecondary institution to allow the eligible student to enroll for college credit in a nonsectarian course offered at the institution. A comparable course, as defined in rules adopted by the board of directors of the school district consistent with department administrative rule, must not be offered by the school district or accredited nonpublic school the student attends. A course is ineligible for purposes of this section if the school district has a contractual agreement with the eligible postsecondary institution under section 261E.8 that meets the requirements of section 257.11, subsection 3, and the course may be delivered through such an agreement in accordance with section 257.11, subsection 3. If the postsecondary institution accepts an eligible student for enrollment under this section, the institution shall send written notice to the student, the student’s parent or legal guardian in the case of a minor child, and the student’s school district or accredited nonpublic school and the school district in the case of a nonpublic school student, or the Iowa school for the deaf. The notice shall list the course, the clock hours the student will be attending the course, and the number of hours of college credit that the eligible student will receive from the eligible postsecondary institution upon successful completion of the course.
  4.  Credits.
  a.  A school district, the Iowa school for the deaf, or accredited nonpublic school shall grant high school credit to an eligible student enrolled in a course under this chapter if the eligible student successfully completes the course as determined by the eligible postsecondary institution. The board of directors of the school district, the department of education for the Iowa school for the deaf, or authorities in charge of an accredited nonpublic school shall determine the number of high school credits that shall be granted to an eligible student who successfully completes a course. Eligible students may take up to seven semester hours of credit during the summer months when school is not in session and receive credit for that attendance, if the student pays the cost of attendance for those summer credit hours.
  b.  The high school credits granted to an eligible student under this section shall count toward the graduation requirements and subject area requirements of the school district of residence, the Iowa school for the deaf, or accredited nonpublic school of the eligible student. Evidence of successful completion of each course and high school credits and college credits received shall be included in the student’s high school transcript.
  5.  Transportation.  The parent or legal guardian of an eligible student who has enrolled in and is attending an eligible postsecondary institution under this chapter shall furnish transportation to and from the postsecondary institution for the student.
  6.  Definition.  For purposes of this section and section 261E.7, unless the context otherwise requires, “eligible student” means a student classified by the board of directors of a school district, by the department of education for pupils of the Iowa school for the deaf, or by the authorities in charge of an accredited nonpublic school as a ninth or tenth grade student who is identified according to the school district’s gifted and talented criteria and procedures, pursuant to section 257.43, as a gifted and talented child, or an eleventh or twelfth grade student, during the period the student is participating in the postsecondary enrollment options program.
2008 Acts, ch 1181, §56; 2016 Acts, ch 1108, §3, 9, 61; 2017 Acts, ch 29, §80; 2020 Acts, ch 1117, §22; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §2493
Referred to in §256E.8, 256F.4, 257.6, 260C.14, 261E.1, 261E.2, 261E.3, 282.18
Subsections 3, 4, and 6 amended