This bill modifies the provisions of law governing requests to transfer a student from one school administrative unit to another school administrative unit. The bill clarifies when during the school year a student's parent may request a transfer for the current school year or for the following school year. The bill clarifies that a transfer request is initiated with the superintendent of the school administrative unit where the student resides and that the superintendent must consult with the superintendent of the school to which the student's parent is requesting the student be transferred before approving or denying the transfer. The bill also clarifies that both superintendents must approve the transfer and if one denies the transfer request, the transfer request is denied. The bill modifies the existing processes for reviewing transfer request determinations. In current law, a parent may request that the Commissioner of Education review a transfer decision, and the commissioner must review the superintendents' decisions, communicate with the parties and either approve or deny the request. In current law, a parent may also request the commissioner's decision be reviewed by the State Board of Education, which must either approve or deny the transfer request. The bill modifies this process by establishing different standards of review for a case where a request is denied by only one of the superintendents versus a case where both superintendents have denied the request. The bill specifies that only requests that have been denied by one but not both superintendents may be referred to the state board for an additional review after the commissioner has reviewed the superintendents' determinations. The bill also provides that, for the determinations of the commissioner that may be referred to the state board, the superintendents involved and the student's parent are authorized to request that the state board review the commissioner's decision. The bill provides additional details concerning the subject matter of the reviews conducted by the commissioner and the state board, the materials that must be reviewed, with whom the commissioner may confer and the effect of the commissioner's and state board's determinations on the status of the transfer request.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 1719, SP 672: 20-A.5205