Whenever any child is placed and cared for in any home for children, or is placed by the department of health and human services in the home of a relative or friend of such child pursuant to RSA 169-B, RSA 169-C, RSA 169-D, RSA 170-C, or RSA 463, such child, if of school age, shall be entitled to attend:
I. The public schools of the school district that the child attended prior to placement, if continuing in the same school district is in the best interest of the child as determined by the court, if the home is within a reasonable distance of the school to be attended, and if suitable transportation can be arranged without imposing additional transportation costs on a school district or the department of health and human services; or
II. The public schools of the school district in which said home is located, unless such placement was solely for the purpose of enabling a child residing outside said district to attend such schools, provided that the school district for a child placed in a group home, as defined in RSA 170-E:25, II(b), within a cooperative school district, shall be the cooperative school district, not the pre-existing district within the cooperative.