The Governing Board desires to provide options that meet the diverse needs, potential and interests of district students and shall annually review enrollment options.
The administration may, at any time, relocate a district student on its own initiative, or at the request of a student, for good cause related to discipline or to the educational, health, or safety needs of the student. Additionally, families may request voluntary intra-district transfers, pursuant to the following process:
1. All applications for voluntary intra-district transfers must be made to the requested school by May 1st of each year for the upcoming school year. No applications will be accepted after May 1st of each year. Notification of the application process will be made through the school newsletters.
2. A public lottery shall occur no later than May 15th of each year, to establish a waiting list of intra-district applicants by grade level. The principal of each school shall conduct the lottery, with the school secretary and one parent member of the school site council present. The lottery shall take place in the office of each school and shall occur in public.
3. The names of applicants who are drawn in the lottery shall be listed in the order in which they were drawn, grouped by grade level. Families who have requested intra-district transfers may inquire as to their position on the list, from the school in which they are seeking placement.
4. The applicants whose names appear on the waiting list shall be given priority, in the order in which their names were drawn, in filling vacancies at the requested school, prior to the granting of any interdistrict transfers to that school. Intra-district applicants shall have priority over all interdistrict applicants despite the fact that an interdistrict applicant may have one or more siblings already enrolled in a District school. No student who is a child of a District employee, who resides within the District, shall have priority over other Intra-district applicants.
5. A student who is an English Language Learner, and whose parent/parents have requested a waiver to place that child in a bilingual instructional program, shall be granted an intra-district transfer to any school which has established such a program at that student's grade level, without regard to the application process set forth herein. Nothing herein shall obligate the District to establish a bilingual instructional program where such program is not otherwise required by California law.
6. Enrollment will be reviewed each year on May 15th (or the closest Monday to May 15th should May 15 be on a weekend) to determine if intra-district transfer requests will be granted and if a lottery will be necessary. Students enrolled after this date will be assigned a school based on space available.
Once a student has been accepted into a new school as an intra-district transfer, that student shall have the right to continued placement in that school, subject only to over-enrollment.
Legal Reference:
EDUCATION CODE
35291 Rules
35351 Assignment of students to particular schools
35160.5 District policies; rules and regulations
Regulation HOPE SCHOOL DISTRICT
approved: April 12, 1999 Santa Barbara, California
revised: June 12, 2017