2. a. After July 1, 1988 and until July 1, 2018, persons of school age who reside on federal property which is located entirely within the geographic boundaries of two or more school districts, one of which is a constituent district of a limited purpose regional district with more than six constituent districts in a county of the fifth class shall be deemed to be domiciled in a district to be designated by the executive county superintendent of schools. These persons shall attend the schools of the designated district and the designated district shall count these pupils in the resident enrollment of the district for all State aid and all federal funds provided under Pub. L. 81-874, 20 U.S.C. § 236 et seq.

b. The designated district shall be a district that contains within its boundaries a portion of the federal property on which the pupils reside. Not later than 10 days after the effective date of this act, the board of education of any school district that seeks to be designated by the executive county superintendent of schools pursuant to this section shall adopt a resolution by majority vote of its members indicating its interest and the resolution shall be forwarded to the executive county superintendent. Based on a determination of the best interests of the pupils residing on federal property and pupils residing in the districts seeking designation, the executive county superintendent shall, within 30 days of the effective date of this act, certify to the Commissioner of Education which local school district, if any, shall be the designated district. In the event that no board of education adopts a resolution indicating an interest in being designated pursuant to this section, the executive county superintendent shall not designate a district and the pupils residing on the federal property shall attend the schools of the district in which they reside.

c. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, those pupils residing on federal property prior to October 1, 1987 shall be permitted at the option of each pupil to continue in the school they were attending on September 30, 1987 until graduation from the school. For the purpose of calculating State and federal aid, each pupil who elects to remain shall continue to be included in the resident enrollment of the district in which they reside.

L.1988, c.12, s.2; amended 2018, c.13, s.1.