Nebraska Administrative Code
Topic - EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF
Title 92 - NEBRASKA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Chapter 19 - SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
Section 92-19-002 - Definitions

Universal Citation: 92 NE Admin Rules and Regs ch 19 ยง 002

Current through March 20, 2024

As used in this Chapter:

002.01 Adult

Adult shall mean a person nineteen years of age or older, except that, for the purposes of entering into binding contracts or leases, a person eighteen years of age or older who is not a ward of the state is legally responsible for the contract or lease. (see Sections 43-2101 and 43-245(1) R.R.S.).

002.02 Child

Child shall mean an unmarried person under nineteen years of age.

002.03 Commissioner

Commissioner shall mean the Commissioner of Education.

002.04 Department

Department shall mean the State Department of Education, which is comprised of the State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Education.

002.05 District

District shall mean a Nebraska public school district, as defined in Section 79-101 R.R.S.

002.06 Enroll

Enroll shall mean admitting, allowing to attend, and providing services of the school to a person.

002.07 Guardian

Guardian shall mean a legal guardian who has been appointed by a court or who has accepted a testamentary appointment, such as provided in Section 30-2605 R.R.S.

002.08 Guardian

"Homeless children and youths" and "homeless student" shall mean a person who meets the definition of homeless children and youths in Title 42, United States Code, Section 11434a, which is:

002.08A An individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. 11302(a)(1) ); and

002.08B Includes:
002.08B1 Children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency shelters; are abandoned in hospitals.

002.08B2 Children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. 11302(a)(2)(C) );

002.08B3 Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

002.08B4 Migratory children (as defined in 20 U.S.C. 6399 ) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this section because the children are living in circumstances described in subsections 002.09B1 through 002.09B3.

002.09 Legal or Actual Charge or Control

Legal or Actual Charge or Control shall refer to the status of parents, legal guardians, persons standing in loco parentis to a child, persons with a power of attorney that delegates parental authority, or any other person who has been entrusted with, or assumed, the day-to-day care and full-time supervision of, and responsibility for, a child.

002.10 In Loco Parentis

In Loco Parentis shall refer to a situation in which a child, with the consent of a parent or legal guardian, goes to live with another person with the understanding that the person the child lives with is to care for the child and stands in the place of a parent or legal guardian. A person who stands in loco parentis to a child may demand from a school district every right to which his or her own natural child is entitled. (See Mizner v. School Dist. No. 11 of Sherman County, 2 Neb. (Unof.) 238 (1901)). A person standing in loco parentis to a child is one who has put himself or herself in the situation of a lawful parent by assuming the obligations incident to the parental relation without going through the formalities necessary to adoption, and the rights, duties, and liabilities of such person are the same as those of the lawful parent. The assumption of the relation is a question of intention, which may be shown by the acts and declarations of the person alleged to stand in that relation. (See Austin v. Austin, 147 Neb. 109 (1946), which is also referenced in a number of other cases, including State on Behalf of Hopkins v. Batt, 253 Neb. 852 (1998)).

002.11 Nonresident

Nonresident shall mean a person who does not have a residence in the district (see Section 002.14 for definition of Residence).

002.12 Option Student after the 2016-2017 school year

Option Student after the 2016-2017 school year shall mean for any student, including an open enrollment option student as defined in § 79-233(4) R.R.S. that has chosen to attend an option school district.

002.13 Parent

Parent shall mean the lawful father or mother of a child, including adoptive parents. A guardian or any other person in legal or actual charge or control of a child (see definition in Sections 002.08 and 002.10 of this Chapter) who enrolls a child in school under the provisions of this Chapter shall be considered to be acting as a parent for all education purposes, such as release of student records and the making of education decisions for the child unless otherwise restricted by law.

002.14 Residence

Residence shall mean that place in which a person is actually domiciled, which is one's established home and the place to which one intends to return when absent therefrom. It is the place where a person is actually living full-time, as opposed to vacationing or visiting. It should be noted that, pursuant to Section 79-215 R.R.S. and this Chapter, a child may have a residence for school enrollment purposes that is separate from the residence of his or her parents or guardian. An example of such a situation is when a child resides in a different district than his or her parents, under the legal or actual charge or control of an adult acting in loco parentis, or an adult who has a power of attorney under § 30-2604 R.R.S. (See also the opinion of the United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, in the case of Horton v. Marshall Public Schools, 769 F.2d 1323 (1985)). It should also be noted that the Legislature has provided for several circumstances in which a person may enroll in a school district other than the district in which that person has a residence (See Section 79-215 R.R.S. in Appendix C). Lawful citizenship or presence does not determine residency.

002.15 Residency

Residency shall mean having a residence in a place.

002.16 Resident

Resident shall mean a person who has his or her residence in a place. It should be noted that the Legislature has specifically provided in Section 79-215(1) R.R.S. that, except as otherwise provided in § 79-215 R.R.S., a student is a resident of the school district where he or she resides and shall be admitted to any such school district upon request without charge. The Legislature has also provided in § 79-215 R.R.S. for several circumstances in which a student either shall or may be enrolled in a school district in which they are not a resident. (See Appendix C). For example, a school board shall admit a student upon request without charge if at least one of the student's parents resides in the school district. (Section 79-215(2) R.R.S.).

002.17 Reside

Reside shall mean to live in a place that is one's residence.

002.18 Student

Student shall mean all persons (including children, emancipated minors, and adults) between the ages of five and twenty-one who have not completed high school or received a diploma of high school equivalency and who a school district is required or authorized to enroll.

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