SF 270 (LSB 1460XS (1) 87)

SENATE FILE 270

BY  ZAUN

(COMPANION TO HF 154 BY FISHER)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to voluntary diversity plans under the state’s open enrollment law. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 282.18, subsection 3, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  a.  The superintendent of a district subject to a voluntary diversity or court-ordered desegregation plan, as recognized by rule of the state board of education, may deny a request for transfer under this section if the superintendent finds that enrollment or release of a pupil will adversely affect the district’s implementation of the desegregation order or diversity plan, unless the transfer is requested by a pupil whose sibling is already participating in open enrollment to another district, or unless the request for transfer is submitted to the district in a timely manner as required under subsection 2 prior to the adoption of a court-ordered desegregation plan by the district. If a transfer request would facilitate a voluntary diversity or court-ordered desegregation plan, the district shall give priority to granting the request over other requests.
   b.  A parent or guardian, whose request has been denied because of a court-ordered desegregation order or diversity plan, may appeal the decision of the superintendent to the board of the district in which the request was denied. The board may either uphold or overturn the superintendent’s decision. A decision of the board to uphold the denial of the request is subject to appeal to the district court in the county in which the primary business office of the district is located. The state board of education shall adopt rules establishing definitions, guidelines, and a review process for school districts that adopt voluntary diversity plans. The guidelines shall include criteria and standards that school districts must follow when developing a voluntary diversity plan. The department of education shall provide technical assistance to a school district that is seeking to adopt a voluntary diversity plan. A school district implementing a voluntary diversity plan prior to July 1, 2008, shall have until July 1, 2009, to comply with guidelines adopted by the state board pursuant to this section.
   c.  The board of directors of a school district subject to voluntary diversity or court-ordered desegregation shall develop a policy for implementation of open enrollment in the district. The policy shall contain objective criteria for determining when a request would adversely impact the desegregation order or voluntary diversity plan and criteria for prioritizing requests that do not have an adverse impact on the order or plan.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill eliminates implementation of a voluntary diversity plan as a reason to deny open enrollment of a pupil. Under current law, a school district subject to a voluntary diversity plan or court-ordered desegregation plan may deny a request for open enrollment of a pupil from one district to another if the superintendent finds that the enrollment or release of the pupil will adversely affect the district’s implementation of the voluntary or court-ordered plan.
   The bill further eliminates provisions directing the state board of education to adopt rules establishing definitions, guidelines, and a review process that school districts must follow when adopting a voluntary diversity plan and provisions requiring the department of education to provide technical assistance to school districts seeking to adopt a voluntary diversity plan. 
   The bill also strikes obsolete language.