Education

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on how LEAs should handle situations where there are more applications than available spaces beyond conducting lotteries.

Changes to Open Enrollment for Schools

This bill changes how students can enroll in schools that are not their assigned school by allowing non-resident students to apply and requires local education agencies (LEAs) to report enrollment data.

What This Bill Does

• Allows non-resident students to apply for open enrollment periods each semester, not just once a year.
• Requires LEAs to prioritize applications from non-residents who live within the LEA's boundaries but are not assigned to attend that school.
• Requires LEAs to report data on open enrollment applications and appeals annually starting in 2026-2027.

Who It Names or Affects

• Students who want to attend schools outside their assigned zones
• Local Education Agencies (LEAs) that manage school enrollment

Terms To Know

Nonresident student

A student who lives in Tennessee but does not live within the geographic boundaries of the local education agency (LEA) where they want to attend school, or a student who lives within those boundaries but is not assigned to that specific school.

Local Education Agency (LEA)

An organization responsible for managing public schools and their operations in a defined area.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill did not pass during the session it was introduced.
• It does not specify how LEAs should handle situations where there are more applications than available spaces beyond conducting lotteries.
• The exact details of the data to be reported and published by the department of education may vary based on further regulations or guidelines.

Official Summary Text

ON MARCH 19, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 328, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 r
ewrites this bill to revise present law concerning open enrollment.

Present law requires that, before the state of each school year,
LEA
s
conduct an open enrollment period of at least 30 days during which a parent or guardian of a student residing within the LEA may apply for enrollment of the parent's or guardian's student in a school that the student is not zoned to attend.

During the open enrollment period, a parent or guardian may submit an application for transfer to a school identified by the LEA as having space available to enroll and serve additional students.

At
the end of the open enrollment period, an LEA
is required to
approve an application for transfer if space is available for the student at the requested school.

If the number of applications for transfer to a school exceeds the number of spaces available for enrollment in the school at the building, grade, class, or program level, then the
is required to
LEA conduct a lottery to select the students who may transfer to the school.

This amendment instead requires LEAs to

conduct
an open enrollment period each school semester to allow nonresident students to enroll in a school within the LEA.
This amendment authorizes an
LEA enrolling a nonresident student
to
adopt a policy to prioritize the enrollment of nonresident students who reside within the geographic boundaries of the LEA but who are not zoned to attend the public school in which the student seeks to enroll
. The full text of this amendment lists seven components that LEAs mu
st include in their open enrollment policies. This amendment also specifies four reasons for which an LEA may deny enrollment to a nonresident student.

Beginning with
data collected in the 2026-2027 school year,
this amendment requires
each LEA
to
annually report to the department of education the total number of open enrollment applications and appeals received pursuant to this
amendment,
disaggregated by the number of applications approved and denied by the LEA.

By December 31, 2027, and by each December 31 thereafter, the department
will be required to
annually collect and publish on the department's website a report containing the following data for
the immediately preceding school year, disaggregated by each LEA:

(
1
) The average daily membership of students who are enrolled in the school that they are zoned to attend;

(
2
) The average daily membership of students who are enrolled in a school that they are not zoned to attend, disaggregated by the average daily membership of students who reside within the geographic boundaries of the LEA and by the average daily membershi
p of students who do not reside within the geographic boundaries of the LEA;

(
3
) The total number of
e
nrollment applications received and
a
ppeals submitted to an independent review panel; and

(4
) The
disposition of all appeals filed pursuant to this section, disaggregated by student subgroups, as defined in the Tennessee's Every Student Succeeds Act
.

For purposes of this amendment
, "nonresident student" means a student who resides in
Tennessee
:

(1) But who does not reside within the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the student is enrolled or seeks to enroll; or

(2) Within the geographic boundaries of the LEA, but who is not zoned to attend the public school in which the student is enrolled or seeks to enroll.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 328
By Lowe

HOUSE BILL 349
By Slater
HB0349
001307
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
relative to education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-9-1410, is amended by deleting
the section.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.