15-824. Admission of pupils of other school districts; homeless children; tuition charges; definitions

A. The governing board of a school district shall admit pupils from another school district or area as follows:

1. On the presentation of a certificate of educational convenience issued by the county school superintendent pursuant to section 15-825.

2. For three hundred fifty or fewer pupils, to a high school without the presentation of such a certificate, if the pupil is a resident of a common school district within this state that is not within a high school district and that does not offer instruction in the pupil's grade. The three hundred fifty or fewer pupil limitation prescribed in this paragraph does not apply to a small isolated school district as defined in section 15-901. Tuition shall be charged as prescribed in subsection E of this section for each pupil admitted pursuant to this paragraph, each pupil from a school district that provides only financing for pupils who are instructed by another school district and each pupil from a unified district that does not offer instruction in the pupil's grade. The school membership of such pupils is deemed, for the purpose of determining student count and for apportionment of state aid, to be enrollment in the school district of the pupil's residence.

B. The residence of the person having legal custody of the pupil is considered the residence of the pupil, except as provided in subsection C of this section and in section 15-825, subsection B.

C. The current residence of a homeless pupil who does not reside with the person having legal custody of the pupil is considered to be the residence of the homeless pupil if the person having legal custody of the pupil is a resident of the United States. For the purposes of this subsection, " homeless pupil" means a pupil who has a primary residence that is:

1. A supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations.

2. An institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized.

3. A public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

D. The school enrollment of a pupil who is a resident of this state or who is admitted to a school district under section 15-823, subsection B, C, E, F or H is deemed, for the purpose of determining student count and for apportionment of state aid, to be enrollment in the school district of actual attendance, except as provided in section 15-825, subsection A, paragraph 1 and subsection A, paragraph 2 of this section and except for pupils for whom the superintendent of public instruction is charged tuition pursuant to section 15-825, subsections B and D and section 15-976 or for whom another school district is charged tuition as provided in subsections E and G of this section.

E. If tuition is required to be charged for pupils attending school in a school district other than that of their residence, the tuition shall be determined and paid in the following manner:

1. The number of high school pupils for which tuition may be charged to a common school district that is not within a high school district is equal to the average daily membership in the district of attendance from the common school district for the prior fiscal year, except that for the first year in which a common school district not within a high school district stops teaching high school subjects, the district of attendance may charge tuition for the number of pupils that is equal to the average daily membership for high school pupils in the common school district for the prior fiscal year. This number may be adjusted if the common school district increases its revenue control limit and district support level.

2. The tuition for pupils attending school in a school district other than that of their residence, except pupils provided for by section 15-825, subsections B and D and any pupils included in the definition of child with a disability in section 15-761, shall not exceed the cost per student count of the school district attended, as determined for the current school year. Tuition for pupils included in the definition of child with a disability in section 15-761 shall not exceed the actual cost of the school attended for each pupil as determined for the current year. The school district of attendance shall not include in the cost per student count a charge for transportation if no transportation is provided, and the charge for transportation shall not exceed the actual costs of providing transportation for the pupils served, as prescribed in the uniform system of financial records. The school district of attendance shall provide the school district of residence with the final tuition charge for the current year and with an estimate of the budget year's tuition charge by May 1 of the current year. The school district of residence shall pay at least one-fourth of the total amount of the estimated tuition by September 30, December 31 and March 31, and it shall pay the remaining amount it owes after adjustments are made by June 30.

3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2 of this subsection and subsection G of this section, if two school districts enter into a voluntary agreement for the payment of tuition, the agreement shall specify the method for computing the tuition amount and the timing of the payments. The agreement shall not be longer than five consecutive years. If two school districts enter into an agreement and choose to renew the agreement, each renewal shall not be longer than five consecutive years. The agreement shall specify that a parent or legal guardian of a pupil affected by a tuition agreement entered pursuant to this section or section 15-816.01 may choose not to send the pupil or pupils to a school district or school that is a party to the agreement.

4. Tuition of pupils as provided in section 15-825, subsection D shall not exceed the excess costs for group B children with disabilities minus the amount generated by the equalization base as determined in section 15-971, subsection A for these pupils. A school district may submit to the superintendent of public instruction a record of actual excess costs to educate a group B child with a disability if the costs are higher than the calculated excess costs or if a pupil has been placed in a private school for special education services. The superintendent shall determine if the additional costs will be paid, and if the costs are paid, whether the additional costs will be paid by the state or the resident district.

5. The amount received representing contributions to capital outlay as provided in subsection G, paragraph 1, subdivision (b) of this section shall be applied to the capital outlay fund or the debt service fund of the school district.

6. The amount received representing contributions to debt service as provided in subsection G, paragraph 1, subdivisions (c) and (d) of this section shall be applied to the debt service fund of the school district if there is one. Otherwise the amount shall be credited to the capital outlay fund of the school district.

F. A school district may submit to the superintendent of public instruction a record of actual costs paid by the school district to educate a pupil who qualifies for a certificate of educational convenience under section 15-825, subsection B. If the actual costs for that pupil exceed the costs per student count computed pursuant to subsection G of this section, the superintendent of public instruction shall reimburse the school district for these additional costs subject to legislative appropriation.

G. For the purposes of this section:

1. " Costs per student count" means the sum of the following for the common or high school portion of the school district attended, whichever is applicable to the pupil involved, as prescribed in the uniform system of financial records:

(a) The actual school district expenditures for the regular education program subsection of the maintenance and operation section of the budget divided by the school district's student count for the common or high school portion of the school district, whichever is applicable.

(b) The actual school district expenditures for the capital outlay section of the budget as provided in sections 15-903 and 15-905 excluding expenditures for transportation equipment and buildings if no transportation is provided and expenditures for the acquisition of building sites, divided by the school district's student count for the common or high school portion of the school district, whichever is applicable.

(c) The actual school district expenditures for debt service divided by the school district's student count for the common or high school portion of the school district, whichever is applicable.

(d) The result obtained in subdivision (c) of this paragraph shall not exceed:

(i) Seven hundred fifty dollars if the pupil's school district of residence pays tuition for seven hundred fifty or fewer pupils to other school districts or one hundred fifty dollars if the state pays tuition for seven hundred fifty or fewer pupils to a school district pursuant to section 15-825, subsection D or section 15-976.

(ii) Eight hundred dollars if the pupil's school district of residence pays tuition for one thousand or fewer, but more than seven hundred fifty, pupils to other school districts or two hundred dollars if the state pays tuition for one thousand or fewer, but more than seven hundred fifty, pupils to a school district pursuant to section 15-825, subsection D or section 15-976.

(iii) The actual cost per student count if either the pupil's school district of residence or the state pays tuition for more than one thousand pupils to other school districts.

2. " Legal custody" means:

(a) Custody exercised by the natural or adoptive parents with whom a pupil resides.

(b) Custody granted by order of a court of competent jurisdiction to a person or persons with whom a pupil resides unless the primary purpose for which custody was requested was to circumvent the payment of tuition as provided in this section.