281—17.6(282) Limitations on open enrollment requests. A district board may apply the following provisions related to open enrollment requests:
	17.6(1) Court-ordered desegregation plans. If the resident district has a court-ordered desegregation plan, the superintendent of the resident district may act upon the request for transfer as outlined in Iowa Code section 282.18(3)“a.” A denial by the superintendent may be appealed following the procedures outlined in Iowa Code section 282.18(3)“b.”
	17.6(2) Policy on insufficient classroom space. No receiving district is required to accept an open enrollment request if it has insufficient classroom space to accommodate the pupil(s). Each district board must adopt a policy which defines the term “insufficient classroom space” for that district. This policy will establish a basis for the district to make determinations on the acceptance or denial, as a receiving district, of an open enrollment request. This policy may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: nature of the educational program, grade level, available instructional staff, instructional method, physical space, pupil-teacher ratio, equipment and materials, facilities either being planned or under construction, facilities planned to be closed, finances available, sharing agreement in force or planned, bargaining agreement in force, special education class size or caseload established pursuant to rule 281—41.408(256B,273,34CFR300), or board-adopted district educational goals and objectives. This policy will be reviewed annually by the district board.
	17.6(3) Designation of attendance center. The right of a parent/guardian to request open enrollment is to a district other than the district of residence, not to an attendance center within the nonresident district. In accepting an open enrollment pupil, the receiving district board has the same authority it has in regard to its resident pupils as provided by Iowa Code section 279.11, to “determine the particular school which each child shall attend.” In the application process, however, the parent or guardian may request an attendance center of preference.
	17.6(4) Expelled or suspended students. A pupil who has been suspended or expelled by action of the administration or board of the resident district is not permitted to enroll if an open enrollment request is filed until the pupil is reinstated for school attendance in the resident district. Once reinstated, the application for open enrollment will be considered in the same manner as any other open enrollment request. If a pupil for whom an open enrollment request has been filed is subsequently expelled by action of the resident district board, the pupil may be denied enrollment by the receiving district board until the pupil is reinstated for school attendance by the resident district. The provisions of this subrule also apply to a pupil who has been suspended or expelled in a receiving district and is requesting open enrollment to an alternative receiving district or is seeking to return to the resident district as outlined in subrule 17.2(3).
	17.6(5) Participation in interscholastic athletic contests and competitions. A student in grades 9 through 12 whose transfer of schools had occurred due to a request for open enrollment by the student’s parent or guardian is ineligible to compete in interscholastic athletics during the first 90 school days of transfer except that a student may participate immediately if the student is entering grade 9 for the first time and did not participate in an interscholastic athletic competition for another school during the summer immediately following eighth grade. The period of ineligibility applies only to varsity-level contests and competitions. (“Varsity” means the highest level of competition offered by one school or school district against the highest level of competition offered by an opposing school or school district.) If a pupil is declared ineligible for interscholastic athletic contests and athletic competitions in the pupil’s district of residence due to the pupil’s academic performance, upon participating in open enrollment, in addition to any other period of ineligibility under this rule, the pupil will be ineligible in the receiving district for the remaining period of ineligibility declared by the district of residence.
	a. 	The period of ineligibility does not apply if the board of directors of the district of residence and the board of directors of the receiving district both agree to waive the ineligibility period or under any reason outlined in Iowa Code section 282.18(9).
	b. 	The resident district may charge the receiving district for participation in cocurricular or extracurricular activities in accordance with Iowa Code section 282.18(5).
[ARC 7786C, IAB 4/17/24, effective 5/22/24]