This group wants to keep their children in public school, but wants the Davis School District to let students move from the crowded neighborhood high school to a roomier one outside their boundary.

And like voucher advocates, they've turned to legislators for help.

Now the Utah State Board of Education, under the watchful eye of lawmakers, is rewriting open-enrollment guidelines that dictate when a public school can close its doors to students from different neighborhoods or districts. The board will discuss, amend and possibly take a preliminary vote on the rule at its meeting today.

Board member Mark Cluff of Alpine presented a draft of the new rule to a legislative interim committee earlier this month. The discussion "turned out to be a fabulous meeting," according to Randy Smith, the DavisParents.org spokesman who spearheaded a legislative repeal of the existing rule.

"[Legislators] spent an hour and a half letting the State Office of Education know they expected the rule to protect children and not schools," Smith said. "They asked very specifically that they have an opportunity to review any rules before the board votes."

Smith said he's pleased with changes to the draft Cluff is expected to propose today. Specifically, Smith objected to language allowing schools to block transfers so they could protect programs, keep classes unreasonably small or hold off staffing empty classrooms.

Cluff said he expects the board to preliminarily approve the rule today and send it out for feedback from legislators and district officials.

"The district does have needs and issues," Cluff said. "We need to be sensitive to those as well as to meet the legislators' desires to have the schools as open as possible."

Legislative issues dominate today's meaty meeting agenda, which is packed with new or amended board rules demanded by 2007 legislation. Heated discussion is expected to center on Utah's new school voucher laws.

A rule governing the program is poised for passage, but the law itself has been shelved by a successful referendum petition. The board will discuss whether it will try to implement a second incomplete version of the law that remains on the books.

Whatever the board decides, advocacy groups opposing the decision will likely challenge it and ask a court to rule whether the second law can stand alone.

Teacher salaries, schedules and qualifications will also come up today.

A new policy will dictate how districts should disperse money appropriated for teacher raises and bonuses. The issue raised hackles when teachers complained that some district officials, fearing unstable funding, suggested the raises would be negotiable after this year.

Another rule outlines how districts can meet the "highly qualified teacher" requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. And Utah's looming teacher shortage will drive the presentation from a K-16 Alliance task force. The group has proposed boosting staff and building efficiency with extended-day and trimester schedules.

The board also will get an update from a pair of entrepreneurs who want to market Utah's Electronic High School curriculum to young adults nationwide.

The meaty agenda will keep state education leaders in an extra-long meeting.

"We've got to get busy and respond to the Legislature," said chairman Kim Burningham. "Some of the discussions could take some time."

nstricker@sltrib.com