Update on Romero Bill Transfers
The State Board of Education took action yesterday to adopt emergency regulations implementing the Open Enrollment Act (a.k.a. Romero Bill). The proposed regulations were amended to remove provisions that would have required school districts to start accepting transfer applications for enrollment in the 2010-2011 school year. The proposed regulations were also amended to eliminate language that limited the definition of "adverse financial impact" as a basis for denying Romero Bill transfers. The Board did not make any changes to the portions of the regulations that define how the list of 1,000 "low achieving" schools will be identified. The Department of Education will be recalculating the list in September, following release of the new API data.
If the emergency regulations are approved by the Office of Administrative Law, school districts that have schools on the list of 1,000 low performing schools will be required to notify parents or guardians of each pupil enrolled in a low achieving school of their option to transfer to another district. This notification will be required on the first day of instruction. If the first day of instruction takes place before CDE releases the final list of 1,000 schools, then notification must be provided no later than September 15, 2010. Students attending low achieving schools may then start applying for transfers, with enrollment to commence in the 2011-2012 school year.
For more on Romero Bill transfer issues, please see our prior
alert.