We would like to inform parents about some new laws that affect students transferring from a charter school to a district school so that you can plan accordingly and not be caught off guard. Unfortunately, if these new requirements are not followed, a student could lose their spot in the charter school and subsequently not be able to enroll in the district school of their choice either.

Utah state law establishes procedures that govern the withdrawal of students from charter schools for enrollment in district schools. See Utah Code. § 53A-1a-506.5 and Utah Admin. Rule R277-472.

Specifically, Utah law states that parents are to provide notice by June 30th of their intent to withdraw from a charter school and enroll in another school (either a district school or another charter school) for the following year. If the parent applies for admission to their school district of residence for the following year before June 30th, the school district must accept the student into the student’s school of residence.

For example, if, during the 2014-2015 school year a parent intends to withdraw their student from a charter school and re-enroll in their neighborhood district school for the 2015-2016 school year, they should notify both the charter school and their local school district of that intent prior to June 30, 2015. The district is required to enroll the student in their local neighborhood school.

If a parent wants to withdraw a student from a charter school after June 30th or during the school year, state law requires the parent to first go to the school district or other charter school and obtain a letter of acceptance for enrollment in the new school. The parent then needs to give the charter school a copy of that letter of acceptance. Also, in this situation, the local school district is not required to accept the student into their school of residence if the parent did not notify the district before June 30th. The district is only required to accept the student into a school in the district that has adequate capacity.

For example, if the parent in the above example fails to enroll in the neighborhood district school prior to June 30, 2015, the district doesn’t have to allow the student to enroll in their neighborhood school if that school doesn’t have adequate capacity for the 2015-2016 school year. The district would then tell the parent which school has capacity for their child and the parent would be responsible for transportation to that school.

School districts should post information to their website about which schools in the district have adequate capacity. If they have not done so, you should contact the district office and request that information.

We don’t want anyone to be caught in a difficult situation, so if you plan to enroll your student in a district school next year, please understand and follow these requirements.

If you choose to unenroll your student from our school, then change your mind, you will have to re-enroll through the lottery, and we cannot guarantee re-entry into the school regardless of the situation.

Withdraw from Enrollment

In accordance with Utah State Code Section 53A-1A 506.5 (2), the parent of a student enrolled in a charter school may withdraw the student from that charter school for enrollment in another charter school or a school district by:

– submitting notice of intent to enroll the student in the district of residence for the subsequent year to the student’s charter school no later than June 30 of the current school year;

– submitting notice of intent to enroll the student in another charter school for the subsequent school year to the current charter school of attendance, together with a letter of acceptance from the proposed charter school of attendance, no later than June 30 of the current school year; or

– obtaining approval from both the charter school of attendance and the school district or charter school in which enrollment is sought, if the parent desires to change the student’s enrollment during the school year or after June 30.

This means that a family has the right to withdraw from [school] and re-enroll in a local district school without further procedure through June 30th before the school year starts. However, after June 30th, both the school from which a student is withdrawing as well as the prospective school for enrollment must authorize the change. Families run no risk of being denied re-enrollment in the local district school up through June 30th before the school year starts. The intent of the law is to help all schools, both district and charter, to have a solid projection of enrollment no later than June 30th for the purposes of staffing/hiring.