5111 - DETERMINATION OF LEGAL SETTLEMENT AND ELIGIBILITY FOR ENROLLMENT OF STUDENTS WITHOUT LEGAL SETTLEMENT IN THE CORPORATION; PROOF OF INDIANA RESIDENCY
The School Board establishes the following policy for determining student eligibility to attend the schools of this School Corporation.
The Board will educate, tuition-free, students who have legal settlement in the Corporation, and students enrolled according to the requirements of I.C. 20-26-11.
Where the legal settlement of a student cannot reasonably be determined by reference to the residence of the student’s parent or legal guardian and the student is being supported by and living with a person whose residence is within the Corporation, the student may be enrolled without payment of tuition.
A child who is placed in foster care by a court of competent jurisdiction shall be admitted tuition-free, without regard to residency, to a school within the Corporation, as selected by the State Department of Human Services or the child placing agency responsible for the placement of that child.
Foreign students participating in a foreign-exchange program approved by the Indiana State Board of Education and living with a resident host family will be admitted tuition-free.
The Corporation will provide a free education to those students who are considered by Federal law to be illegal aliens, if the student's parent or legal guardian has legal settlement within the Corporation, or considered to be homeless by criteria established by the State (see Policy 5111.01 and AG 5111.01 - Homeless Students).
If a student’s legal settlement is changed after the student has begun attending school in the Corporation in any school year, the effective date of withdrawal from the Corporation may, at the election of the parent, the student (if the student is at least eighteen (18) years of age), or a juvenile court conducting a proceeding under I.C. 31-34-20-5, I.C. 31-34-21-10, I.C. 31-37-19-26, or I.C. 31-37-20-6 (or I.C. 31-6-4-18.5 before its repeal), be extended to the end of the semester in which the change of legal settlement occurred. At the discretion of the Superintendent, the effective date of withdrawal from the Corporation may be extended to the end of that school year.
Students who have completed the eleventh grade in this Corporation and have changed legal settlement to another school corporation may complete the twelfth grade in this Corporation.The School Corporation shall maintain proof of Indiana residency for each student enrolled in the Corporation whom the Corporation counts for membership in the ADM count. This documentation of Indiana residency shall be placed in the student's electronic or hard copy file. (See also Policy 6250 - Required ADM Counts for the Purpose of State Funding and Verification of Residency for Membership.)
Transportation from and to the site of the new legal settlement will not be provided by the Corporation for a student whose effective date of withdrawal is extended beyond the date of the change of legal settlement unless the student has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) in which transportation is required to be provided as a related service.
A married student living with a spouse or a married or unmarried emancipated minor is eligible to attend school without payment of tuition if the student resides in the Corporation.
Children of Divorced Parents
Children of divorced parents may attend school in this Corporation without the payment of tuition if one (1) parent resides in this Corporation and an election is made utilizing the "Custodial Statement and Agreement: Divorce, Separation, or Abandonment" form provided by the Indiana State Board of Education.The parent with physical custody of the student or the student, if the student is at least eighteen (18) years of age, must notify the Superintendent of the school corporation in which the parents/student seek to have the student enrolled of their election to enroll the student in the Corporation. The election shall be made on a yearly basis and applies throughout the school year unless the student's parent no longer resides within the attendance area of the Corporation.
Transfer Students
Transfer Student Whose Parent Is Employed by the Corporation:
The Corporation shall accept a transferring student who does not have legal settlement in the Corporation and whose parent is a current employee of the Corporation who resides in Indiana if: 1) the parent/employee earns an annual salary of at least: a) $8,000; or b) $3,000 earned due to being included an employee in the extracurricular portion of the Corporation's collective bargaining agreement; and 2) the Corporation has the capacity to accept the student. If the number of students who request to transfer to the Corporation under this section causes the Corporation to exceed its maximum student capacity, the Board shall determine which students will be admitted as transfer students by a random drawing in a public meeting.
In addition to students with legal settlement in the Corporation, students without legal settlement in the Corporation (hereafter referred to as "transfer students") will be enrolled in compliance with I.C. 20-26-11-32 and the following procedure:
By September 30, the Board will establish the number of transfer students that can be accepted in each building and grade level.
The Board will establish a date by which requests to enroll a transfer student must be submitted to the Superintendent. This date shall be submitted to the Indiana Department of Education and published on the Corporation Internet website.
Requests to enroll a student without legal settlement in the Corporation shall not be denied if the student to be transferred:
has been enrolled in the Corporation in the prior school year;
is a member of a household in which any other member of the household is a student in the transferee school; or
has a parent who is an employee of the Corporation who currently resides in Indiana and has a salary of at least $8,000 or $3,000 earned due to being included an employee in the extracurricular portion of the Corporation's collective bargaining agreement and the Corporation has the capacity to accept the student.
If the number of requests to enroll in each building and grade level exceeds the number established by the Board reduced by the number of transfers that may not be denied as described in paragraph (C) above, the students to be enrolled in each building and grade level shall be determined by random selection in which each application submitted on or before the date established by the Board pursuant to paragraph (A) above has an equal chance of being selected.
Pursuant to State law, the Board may deny a student’s application to transfer to the Corporation, discontinue enrollment of a transfer student currently attending, rescind approval of a student approved to attend in a subsequent year, or establish terms or conditions for enrollment or for continued enrollment in a subsequent school year, if:
during the preceding twelve (12) months, the student has been suspended or expelled for:
ten (10) or more school days;
possession of a firearm, deadly weapon, or a destructive device;
causing physical injury to a student, school employee, or visitor to the school; or
a violation of the Corporation's drug or alcohol rules.
the student has had a history of unexcused absences, and the Board believes that, based upon the location of the student's residence, attendance would be a problem for the student if the student is enrolled in the Corporation.
All due process procedures applicable to Corporation students who are subject to discipline, including the expulsion procedure in I.C. 20-33-8-19, apply to transfer students during the school year. (See Board Policy 5610 - Suspension and Expulsion of Students)
For purposes of computing the number of days of suspension of the student requesting enrollment, student discipline received from a teacher pursuant to I.C. 20-33-8-25(b)(7) and I.C. 20-26-11-32(j) shall be included in the calculation of the number of school days that a student has been suspended.
Transportation will not be provided by the Corporation for transfer students accepted for enrollment unless the transfer student has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) in which transportation is required to be provided as a related service.
Revised 5/15/06
Revised 12/20/06
Revised 3/21/11
Revised 11/21/11
Revised 10/21/13
Revised 5/16/16
Revised 10/23/17
Revised 2/24/20
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