Amends TCA Title 49.

Present law contains provisions governing the identification of schools with spaces for additional students, a process for a student in an LEA to enroll in a school that the student is not zoned to attend, and open enrollment periods. This bill adds a requirement for LEAs to allow nonresident students who apply pursuant to the present law procedures to enroll in a school within the LEA if space is available, with exceptions as discussed below. This bill requires LEAs to adopt a policy to establish a process to participate in open enrollment for nonresident students and publish the policy on the LEA's website. This bill requires that the policy, among other things, provide a lottery procedure to determine student assignment and establish an appeal process for hardship cases. This bill specifies that it does not require an LEA to make alterations in the structure of a requested school or to make alterations to the arrangement or function of rooms within a requested school; establish and offer a particular program in a school if the program is not currently offered in the school; or alter or waive an established eligibility criteria for participation in a particular program, including age requirements, course prerequisites, and required levels of performance. This bill allows an LEA to deny a nonresident student permission to enroll in a particular program or school within the LEA only for the following reasons: (1) There is a lack of space or teaching staff within a particular program or school requested; (2) The pupil does not meet the established eligibility criteria for participation in a particular program, including age requirements, course prerequisites, or required levels of performance; (3) A desegregation plan is in effect for the school district, and the denial is necessary to enable compliance with the desegregation plan; or (4) The student is expelled from the school. This bill sets out the process for a student to request enrollment and a school to act upon the request. A student who requests to enroll in a school district in which the student does not reside and is denied enrollment may appeal the decision to the LEA in which the enrollment was denied for the student. This bill authorizes the state board of education to promulgate rules to effectuate this bill.