Grading every state’s public school open enrollment laws
Reason Foundation

Commentary

Grading every state’s public school open enrollment laws

Open enrollment laws let students transfer from their assigned public schools to other public schools with open seats.

Reason Foundation’s “Public Schools without Boundaries 2024” ranks the K-12 open enrollment laws of all 50 states. Open enrollment laws let students transfer from their assigned public schools to other public schools with open seats. Reason’s study grades each state’s open enrollment laws in seven critical areas, including allowing cross-district transfers, inter-district transfers, and making public schools free for all students, which includes not charging transfer students additional fees or tuition.

While no state has fully adopted all seven best practices, one state—Oklahoma—has adopted six and scores 99 out of 100 in Reason Foundation’s open enrollment report. Idaho is next best, meeting five out of seven best practices for state open enrollment laws and scoring 98 out 100.

Based on the study’s open enrollment metrics, five states—Oklahoma, Idaho, Arizona, West Virginia, and Utah—received “A” grades in Public Schools Without Boundaries 2024.

Seven states—Florida, Kansas, Colorado, Delaware, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin—received “B” grades in the report.

Three states—Arkansas, North Dakota, and Montana— received “C” grades.

Two states—Iowa and California—got “D” grades, and the remaining 33 states scored an “F.”

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Using Reason Foundation’s best practices for open enrollment checklist as a measure: 16 states have statewide cross-district open enrollment laws for their public schools, 14 states have statewide within-district open enrollment laws, 27 states make public schools free to all students, three states require state education agencies to publish annual open enrollment reports, eight states have transparent district-level open enrollment reporting requirements, and three states have a strong appeals process for public school transfer students whose applications are rejected.

Alaska, Maine, Maryland, and North Carolina each scored 0 out 100, failing to meet any of these best practices for open enrollment laws.

A detailed summary of the study and its methodology are here. The full report, Public Schools Without Boundaries, is here (PDF). For more information on each state’s open enrollment policies, grades and scores, you can read their summaries linked below.

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Full Report: Public Schools Without Boundaries 2024

Previous Editions of Public Schools Without Boundaries