Opinion No. (2004)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General GREGORY L. GONOT Deputy Attorney General THE HONORABLE GEORGE NAKANO, MEMBER OF THE STATE ASSEMBLY, has requested an opinion on the following question: May a school district charge an application fee of $20 to cover its costs of processing an interdistrict attendance request submitted by a pupil residing within another district? CONCLUSION A school district may not charge an application fee of $20 to cover its costs of processing an interdistrict attendance request submitted by a pupil residing within another district. ANALYSIS The question presented for analysis concerns a pupil who resides in one school district but who wishes to attend school in another district. The latter school district proposes to charge the pupil a non-refundable fee of $20 to cover its costs of processing the pupil's application. We are informed that this district may receive as many as 800 applications each year and that each application requires several hours of secretarial and administrative time to process. We conclude that the school district may not charge a fee to process interdistrict attendance applications. Normally, a pupil is required to attend school in the…