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School district open enrollment policies in a selection of districts (2023)
| Education Policy | |
|---|---|
| |
| Open enrollment and attendance zones research | |
| • Project overview • Intradistrict open enrollment • Interdistrict open enrollment • Attendance zone map drawing
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Open enrollment policies and practices govern whether and under what conditions students can move across the geographic boundaries used to determine their default school of attendance to attend other public schools. Intradistrict open enrollment allows students to attend a school in a different attendance zone than their residential address but in the same school district. Interdistrict open enrollment allows students to attend a school in a different school district. While state laws in many states set limits or requirements on open enrollment policies, many details of policy and implementation are left to local school boards and superintendents.
There are 27 states that have state rules explicitly allowing for intradistrict open enrollment policies. Nineteen states have rules making intradistrict open enrollment policies mandatory. There are 43 states that have state rules explicitly allowing for interdistrict open enrollment policies. Twenty-four of those states have mandatory interdistrict open enrollment programs. In states with mandatory open enrollment programs, significant details can be left up to the district.[1]
Key findings
Here are some key takeaways from diving into the details of district-specific open enrollment policies and practices:
- Necessary open enrollment forms and information were available online for most districts. They were easily available in two-thirds of districts.
- The most common hurdles preventing parents and guardians from transferring their students through open enrollment include
- school capacity,
- application date ranges and deadlines,
- conditions and qualifications,
- tuition and transportation,
- deterrent information presentation or accessibility, and
- surrounding districts or schools not accepting transfers.
- Most districts have restrictive conditions and/or bureaucratic hurdles to student transfers.
- Regardless of state laws, school capacity is a major factor determining the availability of interdistrict and intradistrict open enrollment transfer opportunities.
- Attendance zones determine most enrollment in both mandatory and voluntary open enrollment states through prioritization and displacement prohibitions.
- 60% of districts had no generally available interdistrict transfer options to highly rated surrounding districts.
- 56% of districts did not have clear, objective standards for determining school capacity.
Slide deck presentation
Data and sources
See also
- Education terms and definitions
- School choice information by state
- Higher education by state
- Charter schools in the United States
Additional reading
Footnotes
