When you get divorced and one or both parents move, which school zone applies? The answer to that is the same answer to most questions you ask a lawyer. It depends.
For a while now, the usual answer has been, generally, the school zone in which the Primary Residential Parent lives. And no, this is not a “joint decision” that has to be made by both parents. Wherever the PRP chooses to live (as long as the relocation statute isn’t triggered) is where the kids would go to school (assuming the kids go to public school, this obviously doesn’t apply for private school). Even if the parents have equal parenting time, and even if both parents agree that they want their child to attend a different school, (some) school districts will only permit the use of the PRP’s address.
But in 2019 the statute changed. Effective July 1, 2019, Tennessee Code Annotated § 36–6–410 now allows parents with equal parenting time to be joint PRPs, and the address of either parent may be used for school zoning.
So now parents with 50/50 parenting schedules don’t have to argue over who should be PRP, but they *can* argue about which parent’s address should be used for zoning. [side note: you should not be arguing. You should be collaborating.]
