Sec. 5. (a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) and section 4.5 of this chapter, a charter school must enroll any eligible student who submits a timely application for enrollment.

(b) This subsection applies if the number of applications for a program, class, grade level, or building exceeds the capacity of the program, class, grade level, or building. If a charter school receives a greater number of applications than there are spaces for students, each timely applicant must be given an equal chance of admission. The organizer must determine which of the applicants will be admitted to the charter school or the program, class, grade level, or building by random drawing in a public meeting, with each timely applicant limited to one (1) entry in the drawing. However, the organizer of a charter school located in a county with a consolidated city shall determine which of the applicants will be admitted to the charter school or the program, class, grade level, or building by using a publicly verifiable random selection process.

(c) A charter school may limit new admissions to the charter school to:

(1) ensure that a student who attends the charter school during a school year may continue to attend the charter school in subsequent years;

(2) ensure that a student who attends a charter school during a school year may continue to attend a different charter school held by the same organizer in subsequent years;

(3) allow the siblings of a student alumnus or a current student who attends a charter school or a charter school held by the same organizer to attend the same charter school the student is attending or the student alumnus attended;

(4) allow preschool students who attend a Level 3 or Level 4 Paths to QUALITY program preschool to attend kindergarten at a charter school if the charter school and the preschool provider have entered into an agreement to share services or facilities;

(5) allow each student who qualifies for free or reduced price lunch under the national school lunch program to receive preference for admission to a charter school if the preference is specifically provided for in the charter school's charter and is approved by the authorizer; and

(6) allow each student who attends a charter school that is co-located with the charter school to receive preference for admission to the charter school if the preference is specifically provided for in the charter school's charter and is approved by the charter school's authorizer.

(d) This subsection applies to an existing school that converts to a charter school under IC 20-24-11. During the school year in which the existing school converts to a charter school, the charter school may limit admission to:

(1) those students who were enrolled in the charter school on the date of the conversion; and

(2) siblings of students described in subdivision (1).

(e) A charter school may give enrollment preference to children of the charter school's founders, governing body members, and charter school employees, as long as the enrollment preference under this subsection is not given to more than ten percent (10%) of the charter school's total population.

(f) A charter school may not suspend or expel a charter school student or otherwise request a charter school student to transfer to another school on the basis of the following:

(1) Disability.

(2) Race.

(3) Color.

(4) Gender.

(5) National origin.

(6) Religion.

(7) Ancestry.

A charter school student may be expelled or suspended only in a manner consistent with discipline rules established under IC 20-24-5.5.

[Pre-2005 Elementary and Secondary Education Recodification Citation: 20-5.5-5-4.]

As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.8. Amended by P.L.91-2011, SEC.15; P.L.35-2014, SEC.2; P.L.221-2015, SEC.9; P.L.179-2016, SEC.3; P.L.250-2017, SEC.18; P.L.130-2018, SEC.87; P.L.192-2018, SEC.8; P.L.215-2018(ss), SEC.8; P.L.159-2019, SEC.9; P.L.211-2019, SEC.21; P.L.270-2019, SEC.3.