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.

Jude Schwalbach

Senior Policy Analyst

October 29, 2024

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.”

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.

State	Total Score (points out of 100)	Grade	Rank Among 50 States	Statewide Cross-District Open Enrollment (points out of 60)	Statewide Within-District Open Enrollment (points out of 15)	Public Schools Free to All Students (points out of 10)	Public Schools Open to All Students (points out of 5)	Transparent SEA Reporting (points out of 4)	Transparent District Reporting (points out of 4)	External Appeals Process (points out of 2)
Alabama	5	F	27	0	5	0	0	0	0	0
Alaska	0	F	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Arizona	95	A	3	60	15	10	3	2	4	1
Arkansas	79	C+	10	60	5	10	3	0	0	1
California	62	D-	14	30	15	10	5	0	0	2
Colorado	87	B+	7	60	15	10	0	0	2	0
Connecticut	45	F	22	30	5	10	0	0	0	0
Delaware	87	B+	7	60	15	10	0	0	2	0
Florida	89	B+	5	60	15	10	0	0	4	0
Georgia	55	F	16	30	15	10	0	0	0	0
Hawaii	38	F	23	NA	5	10	0	0	0	0
Idaho	98	A+	2	60	15	10	5	3	4	1
Illinois	35	F	25	30	5	0	0	0	0	0
Indiana	53	F	17	30	5	10	5	2	0	1
Iowa	66	D	13	60	5	0	0	1	0	0
Kansas	88	B+	6	60	5	10	5	4	4	0
Kentucky	35	F	25	30	5	0	0	0	0	0
Louisiana	48	F	21	30	5	10	0	0	2	1
Maine	0	F	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Maryland	0	F	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Massachusetts	50	F	19	30	5	10	5	0	0	0
Michigan	35	F	25	30	5	0	0	0	0	0
Minnesota	51	F	18	30	5	10	5	1	0	0
Mississippi	30	F	26	30	0	0	0	0	0	0
Missouri	35	F	25	30	5	0	0	0	0	0
Montana	76	C	12	60	5	10	0	1	0	0
Nebraska	84	B	8	60	5	10	0	3	4	2
Nevada	35	F	25	30	5	0	0	0	0	0
New Hampshire	35	F	25	30	5	0	0	0	0	0
New Jersey	36	F	24	30	0	0	5	0	0	1
New Mexico	45	F	22	30	5	10	0	0	0	0
New York	30	F	26	30	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Carolina	0	F	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Dakota	77	C+	11	60	5	10	2	0	0	0
Ohio	50	F	19	30	15	0	5	0	0	0
Oklahoma	99	A+	1	60	15	10	5	4	4	1
Oregon	35	F	25	30	0	0	5	0	0	0
Pennsylvania	45	F	22	30	5	10	0	0	0	0
Rhode Island	45	F	22	30	5	10	0	0	0	0
South Carolina	36	F	24	30	5	0	0	0	0	1
South Dakota	80	B-	9	60	15	0	3	1	0	1
Tennessee	49	F	20	30	15	0	0	0	4	0
Texas	36	F	24	30	5	0	0	1	0	0
Utah	91	A-	4	60	15	10	2	0	4	0
Vermont	48	F	21	30	5	10	3	0	0	0
Virginia	5	F	27	0	5	0	0	0	0	0
Washington	56	F	15	30	15	10	0	0	0	1
West Virginia	95	A	3	60	15	10	3	3	2	2
Wisconsin	80	B-	9	60	5	10	0	4	0	1
Wyoming	35	F	25	30	5	0	0	0	0	0
Total states with strong policies on the books				16/49	14/50	27/50	10/50	3/50	8/50	3/50
Percentage of states with strong policies				33%	28%	54%	20%	6%	16%	6%

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.