§ 20-24-5-5 — Limits on student admissions, suspensions, and expulsions

Indiana § 20-24-5-5

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Title 20: EDUCATION
• Art. 24: CHARTER SCHOOLS
• Ch. 5: Student Admissions and Enrollment

Text

(a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c),
(d), (e), (f), and (g) and section 4.5 of this chapter, a charter school
must enroll any eligible student who submits a timely application for
enrollment.
(b) This subsection applies if the number of applications for a
program, class, grade level, or building exceeds the capacity of the
program, class, grade level, or building. If a charter school receives a
greater number of applications than there are spaces for students, each
timely applicant must be given an equal chance of admission. The
organizer must determine which of the applicants will be admitted to
the charter school or the program, class, grade level, or building by
random drawing in a public meeting, with each timely applicant limited
to one (1) entry in the drawing. However, the organizer of a charter
school located in a county with a consolidated city shall determine
which of the applicants will be admitted to the charter school or the
program, class, grade level, or building by using a publicly verifiable
random selection process.
(c) A charter school may limit new admissions to the charter school
to:
(1) ensure that a student who attends the charter school during a
school year may continue to attend the charter school in
subsequent years;
(2) ensure that a student who attends a charter school during a
school year may continue to attend a different charter school held
by the same organizer in subsequent years;
(3) allow the siblings of a student alumnus or a current student
who attends a charter school or a charter school held by the same
organizer to attend the same charter school the student is
attending or the student alumnus attended;
(4) allow preschool students who attend a Level 3 or Level 4
Paths to QUALITY program preschool to attend kindergarten at
a charter school if the charter school and the preschool provider
have entered into an agreement to share services or facilities;
(5) allow each student who qualifies for free or reduced price
lunch under the national school lunch program to receive
preference for admission to a charter school if the preference is
specifically provided for in the charter school's charter and is
approved by the authorizer; and
(6) allow each student who attends a charter school that is
co-located with the charter school to receive preference for
admission to the charter school if the preference is specifically
provided for in the charter school's charter and is approved by the
charter school's authorizer.
(d) This subsection applies to an existing school that converts to a
charter school under IC 20-24-11. During the school year in which the
existing school converts to a charter school, the charter school may
limit admission to:
(1) those students who were enrolled in the charter school on the
date of the conversion; and
(2) siblings of students described in subdivision (1).
(e) A charter school may give enrollment preference to children of
the charter school's founders, governing body members, and charter
school employees, as long as the enrollment preference under this
subsection is not given to more than ten percent (10%) of the charter
school's total population.
(f) A charter school may give enrollment preference to children who
attend another charter school that is closed or non-renewed under IC 20-24-4-3 or IC 20-24-9-4.
(g) A charter school may not suspend or expel a charter school
student or otherwise request a charter school student to transfer to
another school on the basis of the following:
(1) Disability.
(2) Race.
(3) Color.
(4) Gender.
(5) National origin.
(6) Religion.
(7) Ancestry.
A charter school student may be expelled or suspended only in a
manner consistent with discipline rules established under IC 20-24-5.5.
[Pre-2005 Elementary and Secondary Education
Recodification Citation: 20-5.5-5-4.]

Legislative History

As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8. Amended by P.L.91-2011, SEC.15; P.L.35-2014, SEC.2; P.L.221-2015, SEC.9; P.L.179-2016, SEC.3; P.L.250-2017, SEC.18; P.L.130-2018, SEC.87; P.L.192-2018, SEC.8; P.L.215-2018(ss), SEC.8; P.L.159-2019, SEC.9; P.L.211-2019, SEC.21; P.L.270-2019, SEC.3; P.L.216-2021, SEC.11.