School districts: Open Enrollment Act.

Existing law, the Open Enrollment Act, authorizes the parent of a pupil enrolled in a low-achieving school, as defined, to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school in a school district other than the school district in which the parent of the pupil resides. Existing law requires that applications for transfer be submitted by the parent of a pupil to the school district of enrollment prior to January 1 of the school year preceding the school year for which the pupil is requesting to transfer. A school district may adopt specific, written standards for acceptance and rejection of applications made pursuant to the act. The standards may include consideration of the capacity of a program, class, grade level, school building, or adverse financial impact. The standards are prohibited from including consideration of a pupil's previous academic achievement, physical condition, proficiency in the English language, family income, disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified individual characteristics. Existing law encourages school districts to keep an accounting of requests for alternative attendance made pursuant to the act. This bill would redefine a "low-achieving school" as an "enrollment opportunities school." The bill would change the application deadline from January 1 to January 5 of the school year preceding the school year for which the pupil is requesting to transfer.