Beverly Hills Unified pauses most nonresident enrollments after state wildfire order; limits openings to students who lost homes

The Beverly Hills Unified School District said Monday it would stop admitting nonresident students under a temporary interpretation of Gov. Gavin Newsom—s Executive Order N-6-25, except in cases where families can show their homes were destroyed or are uninhabitable.

President Marcus opened the board discussion about the order and enrollment by summarizing the board—s direction: "We are stopping the enrollment of non resident students," she said, adding an exception "unless they can prove that they have lost their home" or the home is inaccessible.

Superintendent Dr. Breggi told the board district staff had evaluated each applicant—s transcript and found 47 displaced students enrolled across ninth through 12th grades. "We have about 47 displaced students across all 4 high school levels at, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade," he said, and warned that taking additional students would require hiring new teachers and adding sections.

Enrollment services director Mrs. Collins Williams described the process used to place students: counselors individually review transcripts and provisionally enroll families who provide a lease or other initial documentation; families are activated in the district student information system (Aeries) only after counselors assign classes. "They have provisional enrollment until they're able to, update those other items but we did verify the residential lease," she said.

Board members and staff disagreed about which interpretation of the executive order the district should follow. Several trustees said they had intended to prioritize students who were unhoused because of the fires, while others said the county office—s broader interpretation had been used in the initial wave of enrollments. "I remember...we had talked about the whereas paragraph 5, saying that we were obligated to immediately enroll students who are now unhoused as a result of the fires," one trustee said. "All of these people were onboarded under the LACOE interpretation."

Board members also discussed co‑residency and verification. The board directed staff to allow co‑residency enrollments only for students who have lost their homes or whose homes are uninhabitable and to verify co‑residency before granting enrollment. Mrs. Collins Williams said she had approved a small number of co‑residency cases after on‑site verification and asked for resources to inspect additional claims: "I need 2 things. I need for you to opine whether or not we will accept co residency... And number 2, if we are going to accept any co residency then I need the resources to be able to go out and investigate."

Trustees asked for proof standards that could include FEMA documentation or insurance claims; the board agreed inspections should be completed before enrollment is finalized. Board members also instructed staff to treat current enrollments as temporary through the end of the 2024–25 school year; each enrolled family signed an affidavit acknowledging that the waiver of residency requirements covers only the remainder of the school year.

The board discussed budget consequences if enrollments exceed the district—s absorption capacity. Board members and staff said incidental costs such as devices and meals are manageable for the 47 students now enrolled, but hiring additional teachers and creating new class sections would be the largest expense. Staff estimated a half‑year cost for 100 additional students could be under $200,000 but said the main cost driver would be additional staffing if the district opened enrollment more widely.

Board members asked staff to bring a proposed policy amendment on co‑residency and verification to the next regular meeting, and to continue discussions with the county and state education agencies about funding and interpretation of the executive order.

The board adjourned to closed session after finishing the discussion.