A. Any local school board may establish and implement policies to provide for the open enrollment to any school of any student residing within the school division upon the request of a parent or guardian. In developing such policies, a local school board may include the following conditions and limitations:
- 1. An application process whereby a parent or guardian indicates a school preference for purposes of his child attending a school in the child's school division but outside of the attendance area in which the child resides;
- 2. A requirement that the parent or guardian provide transportation for the student attending a school other than his assigned school;
- 3. A requirement that a student may be disqualified from attending a school other than his assigned school if he has been subject to a specified disciplinary action;
- 4. A prohibition on the recruitment of a student from one school to another by a school division employee;
- 5. A limitation on participation in certain athletic activities for a student who chooses to attend a school other than his assigned school;
- 6. A random, unbiased selection process in the event open enrollment requests exceed the capacity of a school;
- 7. A provision that a student shall be permitted to remain at the receiving school until the student has completed the highest grade level in the school; and
- 8. A preference to a student (i) who resides in a location that has been subject to a change in school attendance area during the previous two years, (ii) who has a sibling attending the receiving school, or (iii) whose parent or guardian is an employee of the receiving school.
- B. A copy of the school division's policies for open enrollment, if any, shall be posted on the division's website and shall be available to the public upon request.
- C. Nothing in this section shall interfere with a local school board's authority to adopt a pupil assignment plan pursuant to § 22.1-79.
- D. For the purposes of this section, "open enrollment" means a policy adopted and implemented by a local school board to allow any student to enroll in any school within the school division of attendance regardless of the location of the student's residence.
2012, c. 510; 2013, c. 805; 2015, c. 369; 2022, c. 355.