While the State Board of Education does not have the authority to waive statutes on attendance, the State Board’s legal counsel has identified existing statutory authority to permit local school districts, in their discretion, to both enroll and allow military students to attend classes prior to their physical relocation to North Carolina. This guidance is being provided to local education agencies in North Carolina:

G.S. 115C-366(a9) directs that LEAs permit the remote enrollment of the children of parents with orders to North Carolina prior to their physical arrival in North Carolina.

G.S. 115C-366.1 gives LEAs the authority to enroll and allow attendance of out-of-state students. They may (but are not required to) charge out-of-state students tuition. There is an Attorney General opinion referenced on this subject: While this section does not expressly provide that local boards of education may enroll students domiciled outside the State, the authority to charge tuition for such students is necessarily dependent upon the authority, in the first instance, to enroll such students. This discretionary authority to enroll students domiciled outside the State, with or without the payment of tuition, carries with it the authority to establish additional terms and conditions for enrollment (e.g., that an adult within the system, through a guardianship or otherwise, agree to assume responsibility for the student). See opinion of Attorney General to Mr. C. Wade Mobley, Superintendent, Rowan County Schools, 55 N.C.A.G. 61 (1985).