Open-enrollment charter schools must use the required application form, choose among oversubscribed applicants by lottery or a posted-order method, and meet notice and timing rules before using the posted-order method.
Sec. 12.117. ADMISSION. (a) For admission to an open-enrollment charter school, the governing body of the school shall: (1) require the applicant to complete and submit the common admission application form described by Section 12.1173 not later than a reasonable deadline the school establishes; and (2) on receipt of more acceptable applications for admission under this section than available positions in the school: (A) fill the available positions by lottery; or (B) subject to Subsection (b), fill the available positions in the order in which applications received before the application deadline were received. (b) An open-enrollment charter school may fill applications for admission under Subsection (a)(2)(B) only if the school published a notice of the opportunity to apply for admission to the school. A notice published under this subsection must: (1) state the application deadline; and (2) be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the community in which the school is located not later than the seventh day before the application deadline. (c) An open-enrollment charter school authorized by a charter granted under this subchapter to a municipality: (1) is considered a work-site open-enrollment charter school for purposes of federal regulations regarding admissions policies that apply to open-enrollment charter schools receiving federal funding; and (2) notwithstanding Subsection (a), may admit children of employees of the municipality to the school before conducting a lottery to fill remaining available positions, provided that the number of children admitted under this subdivision constitutes only a small percentage, as may be further specified by federal regulation, of the school's total enrollment. (d) Notwithstanding Section 12.111(a)(13), an open-enrollment charter school may admit a child of an employee of the school as provided by this section regardless of whether the child resides in the geographic area served by the school. Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995. Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1504, Sec. 14, eff. Sept. 1, 2001. Amended by: Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 317 (H.B. 2366), Sec. 1, eff. June 17, 2011. Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 691 (S.B. 2293), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2019. Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1107 (H.B. 2190), Sec. 1, eff. June 14, 2019.