AN ACT relating to virtual schools and declaring an emergency.

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AN ACT relating to virtual schools and declaring an emergency. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 158.120 is amended to read as follows: 3
(1) A board of education shall adopt a nonresident pupil policy to govern the terms 4
under which the district shall allow enrollment of nonresident pupils. Upon 5
allowing nonresident pupil enrol lment, the policy shall allow nonresident children 6
to be eligible to enroll in any public school located within the district. The policy 7
shall not discriminate between nonresident pupils, but may recognize enrollment 8
capacity, as determined by the local sc hool district. The nonresident pupil policy 9
and any subsequent changes adopted by a board of education shall be filed with the 10
Kentucky Department of Education no later than thirty (30) days following their 11
adoption. 12
(2) Any board of education may charge a reasonable tuition fee per month for each 13
child attending its schools whose parent, guardian, or other legal custodian is not a 14
bona fide resident of the district. Any controversy as to the fee shall be submitted to 15
the Kentucky Board of Education for fin al settlement. The fee shall be paid by the 16
board of education of the school district in which the pupil resides, except in cases 17
where the board makes provision for the child's education within his or her district. 18
If a board of education is required to p ay a pupil's tuition fee, the pupil shall be 19
admitted to a school only upon proper certificate of the board of education of the 20
district in which he or she resides. 21
(3) When it appears to the board of education of any school district that it is convenient 22
for a pupil of any grade residing in that district to attend an approved public school 23
in another district, the board of education may enter into a tuition contract with the 24
public school authorities of the other school district for that purpose, but befor e a 25
contract is entered into with public school authorities in another state the school 26
shall have been approved by the state school authorities of that state through the 27
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grades in which the pupil belongs. When a district undertakes, under operation of a 1
tuition contract or of law, to provide in its school for pupils residing in another 2
district, the district of their residence shall share the total cost of the school, 3
including transportation when furnished at public expense, in proportion to the 4
number of pupils or in accordance with contract agreement between the two (2) 5
boards. 6
(4) As used in this subsection, "virtual program" has the same meaning as in KRS 7
157.320. A school district may enroll nonresident pupils on a full -time basis in 8
kindergarten through grade twelve (12) in a virtual program established under KRS 9
158.100 by that district. Nonresident pupil enrollment shall be subject to the 10
following requirements: 11
(a) 1. [Beginning with the 2025 -2026 school year, ] The statewide total 12
enrollment of nonresident pupils in virtual programs offered by school 13
districts shall not exceed an enrollment cap of one percent (1%) of the 14
previous year's total statewide student enrollmen t in all school districts. 15
By July 1, 2025, and each year thereafter until June 30, 2028, the 16
Kentucky Department of Education shall publish on its website the 17
previous year's total statewide student enrollment in all school districts 18
and the one percent ( 1%) value of that number. The information shall 19
remain on the website for the remainder of each school year.[;] 20
2. Beginning with the 2026 -2027 school year, the districtwide total 21
enrollment of nonresident pupils in virtual programs offered by a 22
school district shall not exceed an enrollment cap of ten percent (10%) 23
of the previous year's total districtwide student enrollment in the 24
school district. By July 1, 2026, and each year thereafter until June 25
30, 2028, the Kentucky Department of Education shall pub lish on its 26
website the previous year's districtwide student enrollment for each 27
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school district and the ten percent (10%) value of that number. The 1
information shall remain on the website for the remainder of each 2
school year; 3
(b) 1. Each school district shall report in the student information system the 4
nonresident pupils enrolled in the district's virtual programs. 5
2. The department shall monitor the number of statewide total enrollment 6
of nonresident pupils in virtual programs. 7
3. Each school district shall be responsible for monitoring its districtwide 8
total enrollment of nonresident pupils in virtual programs and 9
complying with the districtwide nonresident enrollment cap for virtual 10
programs; 11
(c) If the number of statewide total enrollment of nonreside nt pupils in virtual 12
programs reaches eighty -five hundredths of one percent (0.85%) of the 13
previous year's total statewide student enrollment in all school districts, the 14
department shall alert all school districts operating virtual programs that the 15
nonresident enrollment cap has almost been reached. Upon receiving the alert, 16
a school district shall notify any nonresident pupil seeking enrollment in a 17
virtual program operated by the school district that the pupil will be 18
provisionally enrolled until the de partment can confirm that the pupil's 19
enrollment would not exceed the enrollment cap, and shall report the pupil as 20
provisionally enrolled in the student information system. If the department 21
determines that a pupil's enrollment would exceed the statewide nonresident 22
enrollment cap, the department shall notify the school district that the pupil 23
cannot be approved for enrollment due to the statewide enrollment cap. The 24
department shall determine whether the pupil's enrollment will exceed the 25
statewide enrollment cap and provide notice to the school district of the 26
determination. If the department fails to provide the school district with the 27
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determination within two (2) business days, the pupil shall be deemed to not 1
exceed the statewide enrollment cap and th e provisional status shall be 2
removed; 3
(d) If the statewide nonresident enrollment cap is reached, the department shall 4
notify all school districts operating virtual programs and that no additional 5
nonresident pupils shall be enrolled until such time as statewide nonresident 6
enrollment falls below the enrollment cap; 7
(e) After reaching the statewide nonresident enrollment cap, if the number of 8
statewide total enrollment of nonresident pupils in virtual programs falls back 9
below the enrollment cap, the depar tment shall notify all school districts 10
operating virtual programs that nonresident enrollment may resume again, but 11
any nonresident pupils enrolled for the remainder of the school year shall be 12
provisionally enrolled, following the same process outlined i n paragraph (c) 13
of this subsection; and 14
(f) The statewide and districtwide nonresident enrollment caps for virtual 15
programs[cap] established in this subsection shall not apply to any of the 16
following pupils: 17
1. A sibling of a pupil already enrolled into the same virtual program; 18
2. A pupil who is a dependent of a member of the Armed Forces of the 19
United States; or 20
3. A pupil with a medical condition for which enrolling into the virtual 21
program may be beneficial to the pupil, which shall be evidenced in a 22
written statement signed by the pupil's physician. 23
All documentation related to these exceptions to the nonresident enrollment 24
caps[cap] shall be maintained by the school district enrolling the nonresident 25
pupil as part of the pupil's official record. 26
(5) A school district operating a virtual program that enrolls nonresident pupils shall no 27
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longer continue the enrollment of nonresident pupils in the program after June 30, 1
2028, unless explicit permission to do so is provided by the General Assembly. 2
Section 2. Whereas ensuring an efficient system of common schools, including 3
virtual programs offered therein, is imperative, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 4
Act takes effect upon its passage and approval by the Gove rnor or upon its otherwise 5
becoming a law. 6