Senate File 2359 - Introduced SENATE FILE 2359 BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION (SUCCESSOR TO SF 270) A BILL FOR An Act relating to voluntary diversity plans under the state’s 1 open enrollment law. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 1460SV (3) 87 kh/rj

S.F. 2359 Section 1. Section 282.18, subsection 3, Code 2018, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 3. a. The superintendent of a district subject to a 3 voluntary diversity or court-ordered desegregation plan, as 4 recognized by rule of the state board of education, may deny a 5 request for transfer under this section if the superintendent 6 finds that enrollment or release of a pupil will adversely 7 affect the district’s implementation of the desegregation order 8 or diversity plan , unless the transfer is requested by a pupil 9 whose sibling is already participating in open enrollment 10 to another district, or unless the request for transfer is 11 submitted to the district in a timely manner as required 12 under subsection 2 prior to the adoption of a court-ordered 13 desegregation plan by the district. If a transfer request 14 would facilitate a voluntary diversity or court-ordered 15 desegregation plan, the district shall give priority to 16 granting the request over other requests. 17 b. A parent or guardian , whose request has been denied 18 because of a court-ordered desegregation order or diversity 19 plan , may appeal the decision of the superintendent to the 20 board of the district in which the request was denied. The 21 board may either uphold or overturn the superintendent’s 22 decision. A decision of the board to uphold the denial of 23 the request is subject to appeal to the district court in the 24 county in which the primary business office of the district 25 is located. The state board of education shall adopt rules 26 establishing definitions, guidelines, and a review process for 27 school districts that adopt voluntary diversity plans. The 28 guidelines shall include criteria and standards that school 29 districts must follow when developing a voluntary diversity 30 plan. The department of education shall provide technical 31 assistance to a school district that is seeking to adopt a 32 voluntary diversity plan. A school district implementing a 33 voluntary diversity plan prior to July 1, 2008, shall have 34 until July 1, 2009, to comply with guidelines adopted by the 35 -1- LSB 1460SV (3) 87 kh/rj 1/ 2

S.F. 2359 state board pursuant to this section . 1 c. The board of directors of a school district subject 2 to voluntary diversity or court-ordered desegregation shall 3 develop a policy for implementation of open enrollment in 4 the district. The policy shall contain objective criteria 5 for determining when a request would adversely impact the 6 desegregation order or voluntary diversity plan and criteria 7 for prioritizing requests that do not have an adverse impact on 8 the order or plan . 9 EXPLANATION 10 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 11 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 12 This bill eliminates implementation of a voluntary diversity 13 plan as a reason to deny open enrollment of a pupil. Under 14 current law, a school district subject to a voluntary diversity 15 plan or court-ordered desegregation plan may deny a request 16 for open enrollment of a pupil from one district to another if 17 the superintendent finds that the enrollment or release of the 18 pupil will adversely affect the district’s implementation of 19 the voluntary or court-ordered plan. 20 The bill further eliminates provisions directing the state 21 board of education to adopt rules establishing definitions, 22 guidelines, and a review process that school districts must 23 follow when adopting a voluntary diversity plan and provisions 24 requiring the department of education to provide technical 25 assistance to school districts seeking to adopt a voluntary 26 diversity plan. 27 The bill also strikes obsolete language. 28 -2- LSB 1460SV (3) 87 kh/rj 2/ 2