Committee
Education
Author
Kelvin Felsher
Session
2024 Session
Latest Action
On April 20, the Governor signed HB 1341 into law. Its provisions will go into effect on July 1, 2024.
Explanation of the Bill
House Bill 1341 would slightly revise residency requirements for an existing “open enrollment” pathway to allow children of active service members and civilian military personnel greater flexibility in transferring school districts. Under HB 1341, military families could transfer their child(ren) to any traditional public school in the state, provided that the receiving school district has the capacity to accept the student(s).
There is an existing “open enrollment” pathway that allows military families to transfer their children to a school district of their choosing, provided that the district is within 30 miles of the family’s residence. Unlike for most families, military families do not need to secure approval from their home school district (“transferor district”) and the receiving school district (“transferee district”) for a transfer. HB 1341 would keep this pathway intact and allow for greater flexibility by removing the requirement that the transferee school district be within 30 miles of the family’s residence, as well as by specifying that military families may select the school of their choosing (in addition to the district). This would effectively allow children of military families to attend any traditional public school in the state, regardless of their residence.
However, a receiving school district would be able to deny a transfer request if it did not have the capacity to receive the student. HB 1341 does not go into detail about the definition of “capacity,” effectively leaving this up to the discretion of the individual school districts. In practice, a student may attempt to transfer school districts under this act, but the receiving district could deny their transfer request.
The bill specifies that a transferor district would not be required to provide transportation to the transferee district and that eligible students could only transfer once per academic year.
HB 1341 is nearly identical to HB 905, though HB 905 does not include a provision regarding the receiving school district’s ability to deny a transfer request.
By focusing specifically on the open enrollment pathway for military families, HB 1341 is narrower than most of the other open enrollment bills that have also been introduced this session (SB 2234; HB 867).
| Date | Details |
|---|---|
| 4/1/24 | On April 1, the Senate Education Committee passed HB 1341. |
| 4/9/24 | On April 9, the Senate passed HB 1341. |
| 4/20/24 | On April 20, the Governor signed HB 1341 into law. |