Non-resident Student Information

Penn-Harris-Madison is pleased to be able to offer enrollment to non-resident students on a limited basis.

Families who live in neighboring school districts are excited about the opportunity for their children to attend a P-H-M school and get an excellent education! Once admitted, they have access to every program and benefit resident students enjoy, except bus transportation from their home. The option to attend a P-H-M school remains in place as long as the student remains in attendance and in good standing. It is our intention all non-resident students we serve will graduate as Penn Kingsmen!

The state law that supports non-resident enrollment requires that a district list the grade levels where openings exist and establish dates when applications will be accepted for those openings.

The window to apply for available seats in our initial lottery closed on Friday, March 20, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. The applications we received were processed in accordance with P-H-M Policy 5111 and Indiana Code 20-26-11-32.

Since all spots were not filled after the lottery process was completed, the district will begin reviewing applications to fill remaining spots starting at 9:00 AM on June 1, 2026. Applications will be reviewed based on a first-come-first-served basis, determined by the submission timestamp. Non-resident applications will not be accepted after 4:00 PM on Friday, August 14, 2026 or once all non-resident spots are filled. If you are interested in one of the available spots, please complete the application linked below beginning on June 1, 2026 at 9:00 AM.

Click here for the 2026-2027 Non-Resident Application

If you have multiple students in grades Kindergarten – Fifth grade, you must submit an application for each one of them. If you are submitting application(s) for students in grades Kindergarten – Fifth grade AND you have students in grades 6 -11, there is a space on the application form for you to list those students who are in grades 6 -11. If a student who has applied gets placed at a P-H-M school, other school age students in the household listed on the application may also be placed at P-H-M.

If your student is placed at one of the available P-H-M schools, P-H-M will NOT accept a transfer request to any other P-H-M school. Parents/guardians agree that they are responsible for the transportation of their non-resident student(s) to and from school. They understand that final approval of non-resident status is subject to approval by the district. Parents/guardians agree that continuation of non-resident status is contingent upon their child(ren) maintaining attendance and behavior requirements as defined in Indiana Code 20-26-11-32. Non-Resident Student requests will be reviewed each school year. All students accepted on non-resident status will be asked to submit an Intent to Continue form annually. Enrollment may be granted for a period of one school year (July 1 – June 30). Non-resident admission will not automatically carry over to subsequent school years.

If you have any questions, please contact the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation Learning Division at (574) 259-7941 or email phmlearndivinfo@phm.k12.in.us

Information regarding the Non-resident process for the 2027-2028 school year will be posted in January 2027. Non-resident spots available for the 2027-2028 school year will be posted in March 2027.

If P-H-M receives more applications than seats available at any of the schools accepting applications for the 2027-2028 school year, in compliance with Indiana Code 20-26-11-32, a drawing will be scheduled for these seats at the Educational Services Center. The drawing will be open to the public.

Additional notes about non-resident eligibility:

For new non-resident families, applications will be accepted only for those grade levels with posted openings and only within the stated application timeframe. Applicants must further meet these two requirements:

The family must reside within the state of Indiana (Michigan residents are not eligible)
To be considered for a kindergarten opening, the child must have turned 5 on or before September 1, 2026.
Resident students attending a P-H-M school in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade who subsequently move outside the district within the state of Indiana may be approved to continue in attendance as non-residents without participating in the public application process. It is necessary to complete this form initially and then to submit an “Intent to Continue” form each year thereafter. (Michigan residents are not eligible).
A non-resident student whose behavior violates the P-H-M student code of conduct and results in formal disciplinary action or the student has a history of unexcused absences, may be denied the option to return.
A non-resident student who attends a PHM school for any period of time and subsequently withdraws, they will not be allowed to re-enroll at a PHM school at a later time.

Here are the most common questions associated with non-resident enrollment:

Are non-residents charged an application fee or tuition costs?

There is no tuition or additional expense for our non-resident students. Those families may expect to pay for the same things our resident families pay for such as lunch and extracurricular costs. And non-resident families are eligible to apply for the same types of financial assistance as resident families; for example, the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch program.

Is bus transportation provided for students who live outside the district?

We do not provide school bus service outside our district. Many of our non-resident students are driven to and from school by parents, while others have arranged car pools. Kids Club, P-H-M’s before- and after-school childcare program is available at ten of our eleven elementary schools and is a big help to parents whose children are not bus riders.

Once enrolled, must non-residents reapply each year thereafter?

Each year we ask our non-resident students to complete the “Intent to Continue” form. It is our hope that our non-resident students will remain at P-H-M for their entire public education. We base our staffing on the expectation that non-resident students will move with their classmates from elementary to middle to high school.

If you have other questions, please contact us at phmlearndivinfo@phm.k12.in.us .