School District Enrollment Choice Program

Del. Code tit. 14, ch. 4
in effect

Del. Code tit. 14, § 401 School District Enrollment Choice Program; establishment; statement of purpose; application.

(a) There is hereby established an enrollment choice program within the public school system of this State. (b) In establishing this program, it is the goal of the General Assembly to increase access to educational opportunity for all children throughout the State regardless of where they may live. It is therefore the intent of the General Assembly that this chapter be construed broadly to maximize parental choice in obtaining access to educational opportunities for their children. (c) For the school year commencing July 1, 1996, and each succeeding school year, a parent residing within this State may enroll that parent’s child in a public school in any reorganized school district, vocational-technical school district, or charter school in the manner provided in this chapter. (d) (1) The forms prescribed and policies adopted under this chapter, including the online application, shall be available on the websites of all of the following: a. Each reorganized school district. b. Each vocational-technical school district. c. Each charter school. d. The Department of Education. (2) The Department of Education’s school choice website must contain a link to the website with the reports under § 124A(a)(2) of this title.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 402 Definitions [For application of this section, see 83 Del. Laws, c. 316, § 3].

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) “Application” shall mean the standard application for educational options. This application, which consists of an online application or a written application, shall be provided by the Department of Education. (2) “District of residence” means any reorganized school district in which the parent of a student resides, and in the case of a military-connected student, means the anticipated district of residence. (3) “Good cause” means a change in a child’s residence due to a change in family residence, or a change in the state in which the family residence is located within 60 days of obtaining a new lease or mortgage, a change in a child’s parent’s marital status, a change caused by a guardianship proceeding, placement of a child in foster care, adoption, a change in a waitlist offer as defined in § 405(c) and (d) of this title, participation by a child in a foreign exchange program, a reported, recorded, and substantiated instance of “bullying” against their child as defined in § 4161 of this title, or participation by a child in a substance abuse or mental health inpatient or day treatment program, or a set of circumstances consistent with this definition of “good cause.” (4) “Online application” shall mean the standard application receipt and processing tool approved by the Department of Education and used by all reorganized school districts, vocational-technical school districts, and charter schools. (5) “Parent” shall mean parent, relative caregiver pursuant to § 202(f) of this title or legal guardian of the person of the child. (6) “Receiving district” shall mean any reorganized school district other than the district of residence in which a student seeks to enroll. Where the district of residence includes more than 1 school or more than 1 program within any school providing instruction at a given grade level, and a parent of a child entering such grade level applies to enroll that parent’s child in a public school program within the district of residence other than the program in which the child would normally be enrolled based on the child’s place of residence, the district of residence shall also be considered to be the receiving district for all purposes of this chapter, except for the purposes of § 408 of this title. (7) “Receiving local education agency” shall mean any public authority legally constituted by the State as an administrative agency to provide control of and direction for kindergarten through twelfth grade public educational institutions, other than the school district of residence, which administers any school or program in which a student seeks to enroll, including any receiving district. Where the local education agency is the school district of residence that includes more than 1 school or more than 1 program within any school providing instruction at a given grade level, and a parent of a child entering such grade level applies to enroll that parent’s child in a public school program within the district of residence other than the program in which the child would normally be enrolled based on the child’s place of residence, the district of residence shall also be considered to be the receiving local education agency for all purposes of this chapter, except for the purposes of § 408 of this title. Notwithstanding § 505 of this title, the term “receiving local education agency” shall include reorganized school district, vocational-technical school district or charter school. (8) “Working days” shall mean working days as determined by a local education agency’s administrative calendar.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 403 Pupil application; withdrawal [For application of this section, see 83 Del. Laws, c. 316, § 3].

(a) (1) Any parent of a school age child may apply to enroll that parent’s own child in a school or program in a reorganized school district, vocational-technical school district, or charter school by submitting an online application or written application, on a standard form provided by the Department of Education, to the Department of Education or to the receiving local education agency and to the district of residence on or after the first Monday in November and on or before the second Wednesday in January for enrollment during the following school year, except that a parent may apply to a receiving local education agency until the first day of the school year for enrollment in a kindergarten program during that school year. Any student not currently registered in a public school in the State of Delaware must be registered in their school of residence before submitting a Delaware standard application for education options. (2) a. To be eligible to apply to a school or program in a receiving local education agency under paragraph (a)(1) of this section, a child must first be registered in the child’s assigned public school within the district that the child would normally be enrolled based on the child’s place of residence. b. The registration required under paragraph (a)(2)a. of this section must be through the uniform registration process under Chapter 4A of this title, whether through internet-based or in person registration. c. During the registration process under paragraph (a)(2)a. of this section, there must not be unnecessary barriers or burdens to accessing school choice opportunities. (3) The Department of Education shall distribute applications to the appropriate receiving local education agency no later than 10 working days after the application deadlines set forth in this subsection. (4) Receiving districts may require the submission of information beyond that contained in the standard form provided that it requires the submission of the same information by the parents of children residing in the attendance zone for the school. (5) Notwithstanding the requirements of this subsection, charter schools, vocational-technical school districts, and magnet schools may accept applications submitted after the second Wednesday in January to fill remaining availability. (b) If a parent of a school age child fails to file an application by the deadline established in subsection (a) of this section, and good cause exists for the failure to meet the deadline, the receiving local education agency and the district of residence shall accept and consider the application in the same manner as if the deadline had been met. (c) The parent of a school age child may withdraw the application at any time prior to action on the application by the board of the receiving local education agency by giving written notice to the boards of the receiving local education agency and the district of residence. (d) The parent shall indicate on the standard form the schools and programs to which the parent is applying on behalf of the parent’s child, as well as the parent’s order of preference of the schools or programs.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 404 Receiving district and local education agency procedures.

(a) Within 10 working days after an application deadline, the receiving district shall transmit a notice to the district of residence that it has received the application. (b) The board of the receiving local education agency shall take action no later than the last day of February of the school year preceding enrollment to approve or disapprove an application for admission to a program in grades 1 through 12, and no later than June 15 of the school year preceding enrollment to approve or disapprove an application for admission to a kindergarten program. Charter schools, vocational-technical school districts, and magnet schools may act on applications accepted in accordance with the provisions of § 403(a) of this title to fill remaining availability. (c) With respect to any application filed in accordance with the provisions of § 403(b) of this title, the board of the receiving local education agency shall take action to approve or disapprove the application no later than 45 days after receipt thereof, unless the application is received prior to a lottery conducted as outlined in a local education agency’s enrollment policy in the case of over-enrollment. (d) The board of the receiving local education agency shall transmit a notice of the board’s action to the parent of the child, and to the board of the district of residence within 5 working days after board action. (e) The parent who applied for the child shall notify the board of the receiving local education agency in writing no later than the third Friday in March, whether an offer is accepted or rejected. (f) No later than November 30 of each year, the board of each receiving district shall transmit to the Department of Education notice of the capacity of each school in the receiving district for the following academic year and the projected enrollment for the following academic year. The capacity and projected enrollment figures may be revised until January 30. For the purposes of this subsection, “capacity” shall have the same meaning as set forth in § 405(d) of this title, and “projected enrollment” shall mean the total number of returning students and new attendance zone students the receiving district anticipates will enroll for the following academic year. (g) No later than October 31 of each year, each receiving district shall hold at least 1 public information session about choice opportunities available in schools and programs in that district for the coming academic year.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 405 Criteria for approval or disapproval [For application of this section, see 83 Del. Laws, c. 316, § 3].

(a) Each receiving local education agency shall adopt and make available a policy regarding the order in which applications for enrollment pursuant to this chapter shall be considered and the criteria by which such applications shall be evaluated. (b) Prior to the applicable application deadline established in § 403(a) of this title, each receiving district shall adopt and make available a policy establishing criteria for acceptance or rejection of applications and setting priorities for acceptances consistent with this section. Such criteria shall be reasonably related to the nature of the program or school for which the application is submitted and may not differ from the criteria used for acceptance or rejection of applications submitted by parents of children residing in the attendance zone of the school, if applicable, except that a district shall give priority to the following categories of students in the order listed: (1) First, to returning students who continue to meet the requirements for the program or school, including students graduating from 1 school to another within a single program; (2) Second, to students who meet the requirements for the program or school and who seek to attend based upon the residence of the student’s parent within the designated feeder pattern, if any, for the school; and (3) Third, to the siblings of students currently enrolled in the school or in a program in accordance with paragraph (b)(2) of this section who will be returning to the school for the following academic year, provided that any siblings seeking priority under this paragraph meet the requirements for the program or school. Priority must be given to siblings of students who live in the reorganized school district where the school is located, and may be given to siblings of students who do not live in the reorganized school district where the school is located. In addition to the above a receiving district may next give priority to students who have designated the program or school as a first, second, or third choice; to students who live within the district; to military-connected students who are the dependents of an active service member of the United States military, the Delaware National Guard, or a reserve component of the United States military; and to children of school employees; as long as they otherwise meet the criteria of the program or school. After a receiving district has admitted all qualifying students consistent with the criteria in this subsection, the receiving district, shall use a lottery process to admit additional students and generate a ranked waiting list. The Department may verify the randomness of the lottery process. (c) Each receiving local education agency shall accept applications, in a manner consistent with the policy adopted pursuant to this subsection, until there is a lack of capacity in each school and program. Students who meet the receiving local education agency’s criteria for acceptance in the policy but who are not selected due to a lack of capacity in the school or program shall be placed on a ranked waiting list maintained by the receiving local education agency until the first day of the receiving local education agency’s school year for which they applied. (d) Consistent with subsection (b) of this section, a receiving local education agency may disapprove an application because of lack of capacity in a particular program or school. For purposes of this section, “capacity” means the maximum number of students that a program or school can contain as determined solely by considerations of physical space, physical resources, specific program requirements, and class size for each grade level. For the purposes of this section, “lack of capacity” means that the school or program calculates projected enrollment for the following academic year to be at least 85% of its capacity. (e) A district which is subject to a court-ordered desegregation plan may approve and disapprove applications in accordance with § 406(a) of this title.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 406 Racial balance.

(a) If approval of all of the applications for transfer into or out of a district would result in the district being out of compliance with any applicable court-ordered desegregation plan, the district shall establish the number of majority and minority group pupils who may transfer into or out of the district. (b) Any action by the board of the district of residence to disapprove the application pursuant to this section shall be taken no later than March 15 of the school year preceding enrollment. (c) The board of the district of residence shall transmit a notice of the board’s action pursuant to this section to the parent within 5 working days after board action.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 407 Duration of enrollment in receiving district [For application of this section, see 83 Del. Laws, c. 316, § 3].

(a) (1) A pupil accepted for enrollment in a school or program pursuant to this chapter shall be entitled to remain enrolled therein until graduation from the school or completion of the program provided that the pupil continues to meet the requirements for such school or program, provided however, that upon the concurrence of the boards of both the district of residence and the receiving district, a pupil’s right to remain enrolled may be terminated prior to graduation from or completion of the program where such termination is based upon the pupil’s a. Failure to continue to comply with the receiving district’s requirements for attending school or class, or b. Multiple violations of, or one or more serious violations of, the receiving district’s student code of conduct. (2) A pupil accepted for enrollment in a school or program pursuant to this chapter shall remain enrolled therein for a minimum of 2 years unless, during that 2-year period, 1 of the following occurs: a. A pupil graduates from the school or completes the program; b. The pupil’s parent or parents cease to be residents of the pupil’s original district of residence; c. At the conclusion of any academic year during such 2-year period, the pupil ceases to meet the academic requirements for such school or program; d. If daycare was indicated on the relevant choice application as a reason for seeking enrollment, or if daycare was a reason for granting priority to consideration of or granting of the relevant choice application, or the provider of daycare services to the pupil ceases doing business or relocates to a location so distant from the original location as to render the original combination of daycare and choice enrollment no longer reasonably practicable for the pupil or the parent or parents of such pupil; or e. The board of the district of residence, the board of the receiving district, and the parent or parents of the pupil agree for any reason to terminate such enrollment; f. The provisions of paragraphs (a)(2)a. through (a)(2)e. of this section shall apply unless the receiving district, at its sole discretion, agrees to maintain a child in a choice placement. Due to the unique educational and developmental needs of primary age children, on a case by case basis, districts may grant exceptions to allow students in grades kindergarten through grade 3 to remain in school choice even if they fail to meet required educational standards; g. The pupil’s parents or guardians wish to terminate the agreement due to a set of circumstances consistent with the definition of “good cause” defined in § 402 of this title. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, a parent may apply to terminate that parent’s own child’s enrollment in the receiving district prior to the expiration of the minimum period established in subsection (a) of this section by submitting a written application, on a form provided by the Department of Education, to the child’s then-existing district of enrollment no later than December 1 for enrollment during the following school year. (c) If a parent of a child fails to file an application by the deadline of December 1 and good cause exists for the failure to meet the deadline, the child’s then-existing district of enrollment shall accept and consider the application in the same manner as if the deadline had been met. (d) The parent of a child may withdraw the application at any time prior to action on the application by the board of the child’s then-existing district of enrollment. (e) Within 10 working days of receiving an application to withdraw, the child’s then-existing district of enrollment shall transmit a notice to the district of residence that it has received the application. (f) The board of the child’s then-existing district of enrollment shall take action to approve or disapprove the application no later than December 15 of the school year preceding enrollment. (g) The board of the receiving district shall transmit a notice of the board’s action to the parent of the child and to the board of the district of residence within 5 working days after board action. (h) The action of a board in a child’s then-existing district of enrollment to accept an application to terminate enrollment pursuant to this section shall be final; however, nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a board in its sole discretion from conditioning its approval of termination pursuant to this section upon acceptance of the child into another district or program pursuant to an application submitted in accordance with chapter. (i) Unless accepted for enrollment in a school or program in another district pursuant to this chapter, a child whose enrollment in a receiving district concludes or terminates pursuant to this section shall automatically be re-enrolled in the child’s district of residence for the ensuing school year. Any such student shall be enrolled by the district of residence according to the feeder pattern in which the child’s parent resides unless, pursuant to the provisions of § 405(b) of this title, all available space has been filled by returning students, in which case the student shall apply and be considered for enrollment in any other school in the district of residence in which there is space available in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 408 State and local education funding.

(a) A pupil enrolled in a receiving district pursuant to this chapter shall be included in the unit count of the receiving district for all purposes relating to the allocation of all state and federal education funding and shall not be included in the unit count of the district of residence for any such purposes. (b) If a parent of a pupil enrolled outside the district of residence pursuant to this chapter moves during the school year to a district different from either the district of residence or the receiving district, the child’s first district of residence shall continue to be responsible for payments to the receiving district for the balance of the school year pursuant to subsection (e) of this section. The child’s new district of residence shall be responsible for all such payments during succeeding years, and such payments shall be calculated as the lower local cost per pupil, as defined in subsection (d) of this section, of the new district of residence and the receiving district. (c) The Department of Education shall annually calculate the local cost per pupil expended by each school district for each type of pupil for the school year immediately preceding and shall annually certify each district’s local cost per pupil expenditure by September 1 of each year. (d) Local cost per pupil as used in this section shall be calculated as follows: Total Operating Expenditure in Preceding Fiscal Year Total Division I Units minus Special School Units Number of Pupils per Unit Where: Total local Operating Expenditure in Preceding FY = Sum of all expenditures from local sources minus local expenditures for tuition minus local expenditures for debt service minus local expenditures for Minor Capital Improvement minus local cafeteria expenditures minus any other local expenditures deemed by the Secretary of Education to be inappropriate for inclusion for the purpose of this chapter. Division I Units for each District or Special School = Division I Units certified by the Department of Education as of September 30 of each year Pupils per Unit = Number of Pupils required for one particular unit of funding as specified in § 1703 of this title (e) The district of residence shall, except as provided for in subsection (h) of this section, pay to the receiving district the lower local cost per pupil expenditure of the 2 districts, adjusted by an inflation factor specified annually in the annual appropriations act, such payment to be made by November 30 of each year. In the case of a district of residence that has a higher local cost per pupil than the receiving district, the district of residence shall pay in to a special fund to be known as the “School Choice Fund,” the difference per pupil between their local cost per pupil expenditure and that of the receiving district. The Department of Education shall establish and administer the School Choice Fund as an appropriated special fund account. Deposits by districts of residence to this account shall also be completed by November 30 of each school year. (f) Once all payments have been made pursuant to subsections (b) and (e) of this section, the full amount in the “School Choice Fund” account shall be allocated to all receiving districts that had a local cost per pupil, as defined in subsection (d) of this section, that was higher than the district of residence for pupils choosing to attend schools in districts other than their district of residence. These funds shall be provided in a pro-rata fashion so that the gap that exists in a receiving district between the local per pupil cost in the receiving district and the amount paid by the district of residence is closed by an equal percentage in each receiving district. (g) Once all payments have been made pursuant to subsections (b), (e) and (f) of this section, the State, from the annual appropriations made for Division III Equalization and/or that portion of the Growth and Upgrade Contingency that represents actual Division III Equalization unit growth, will provide funding to all receiving districts that had a local cost per pupil, as defined in subsection (d) of this section, that was higher than the district of residence of pupils who choose to attend school in said receiving districts. This funding will be provided to each such receiving district so that the gap that exists in such receiving district between the local per pupil expenditures in the receiving district and the amount paid by the district of residence is closed by an equal percentage in each receiving district to the extent that the actual appropriations allow. (h) Any pupil, who because of educational need, requires services that are appropriately financed pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 6 of this title, either at the outset or subsequent to a decision to enroll in a public school other than a school in the pupil’s district of residence, shall remain the financial responsibility of the district of residence. The amount of the financial obligation shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 of this title. (i) Any payment received by a local school district pursuant to this section may be used for current operations, local share of minor capital improvements, local debt service payments or to make tuition payments. (j) In the event of any mid-year termination of a pupil’s enrollment under this chapter, nothing contained in this section shall prevent the district of residence and the receiving district from entering into an agreement providing for the pro-ration of student funding between or among the district of residence, the receiving district, a successor district of residence and/or a successor receiving district.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 409 Transportation.

(a) The parent of any child enrolled in a district other than the district of residence, or enrolled in a school within the district of residence other than the school in which the child would normally be enrolled based upon the residence of the child’s parent or parents, shall be responsible for transporting the child without reimbursement to and from a point on a regular bus route of the receiving district. (b) A child in grades 6 through 12 may use an annual student bus pass under § 2901(c) of this title.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 411 Pupils suspended, expelled, or truant in district of residence.

If a child for whom an application has been submitted pursuant to this chapter has been suspended or expelled, or has been absent from school without a valid excuse for more than 15 school days during a school year, in the district of residence, the board of the receiving district may, in its sole discretion, refuse to consider the application or refuse to approve the application, or refuse to enroll the child in the receiving district until the child has been reinstated in the district of residence, provided, however that nothing in this section shall be construed to enlarge upon the authority of any district to accept for re-enrollment any student who has been expelled from a school district in this State, as such authority is limited by the provisions of § 4130 of this title. “Valid excuse” shall have the same meaning as in § 2721 of this title.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 412 Credits; graduation.

A pupil who has been enrolled in a receiving district and who has met that district’s graduation requirements shall be granted a diploma by that district. That district shall accept credits toward graduation requirements that were awarded by another district.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 413 Discipline not affected.

Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to affect or alter district policies with regard to disciplining students, including suspensions or expulsions.

Del. Code tit. 14, § 414 Intra-district choice.

Where the district of residence includes more than one school or more than one program within any school providing instruction at a given grade level, a parent of a child entering such grade level may apply to enroll that parent’s own child in any public school program within the district of residence other than the program in which the child would normally be enrolled based on the child’s place of residence in the manner provided in this chapter, and in such cases, the district of residence shall also be considered to be the receiving district for all purposes of this chapter, except that the provisions of § 408 of this title shall not apply to any such applications or changes in enrollment.
Source: DE Code (Official Site)URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title14/c004/index.htmlFetched: 10/4/2026