K-12 open enrollment is an increasingly common and popular form of school choice, allowing students to attend classes outside their assigned public school zone. Since 2021, 10 states have significantly improved their open enrollment laws, creating a boundaryless and student-centered education system.
While strong programs are new in some states, others, like Colorado, have fostered robust open enrollment laws for decades. As a result, today, more than one-quarter of Colorado’s K-12 students in traditional districts participate in open enrollment, attending the schools that they and their parents decided are the best fit.
Established policies like Colorado’s are hopefully a harbinger of what’s to come for students and families in other states.
Established 30 years ago, Colorado’s open enrollment law, known as the Public Schools of Choice program, requires all districts to accept transfer students free of charge, so long as space is available. New Colorado Department of Education data shows that more than 199,000 students — 28% of enrollment in traditional public schools statewide — used open enrollment during the 2023-24 school year.
This participation is impressive, especially compared with other states with robust open enrollment laws and bigger populations. Florida and Arizona, for example, saw nearly 273,000 and 115,000 students, respectively, transfer to public schools of their choice through their open enrollment programs.
More than 142,000 students, or 20% of all traditional public school students in Colorado, transferred to schools within their district last academic year, and about 57,000, or 8%, used cross-district open enrollment to switch to schools outside their zone.
Of the cross-district transfer students, 81% attended brick-and-mortar schools and nearly 11,000 — 19% — enrolled in online classes. Fewer than 1% of Colorado’s online transfer students used open enrollment to enroll full-time in a single district, meaning most used open enrollment to customize their educational experience a la carte, choosing specific classes from multiple districts.
While most of Colorado’s cross-district transfers occurred in urban or suburban schools, 12% — more than 7,000 students — chose to enroll in rural districts. Approximately 23% of rural districts relied on cross-district transfers for 20% or more of their total enrollment. This is noteworthy because rural districts and policymakers have worried about the impacts open enrollment and school choice could have on their schools, even though data from other states show that many rural school districts use open enrollment to attract students.
Small and rural school districts in other states, including California, increasingly rely on open enrollment transfers to help remain fiscally solvent. Riverside Unified School District school administrator Timothy Walker explained the importance of open enrollment programs, saying, “Does it make money? No. But does it keep our people employed? Yes. Does it keep our financial situation stable? Yes. Does it increase educational options? Yes.”
Students reap multiple benefits as well. Research on open enrollment finds a variety of reasons for transferring schools, including bullying, shortened commutes, smaller class sizes and access to specialized courses, such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and career preparation. According to data provided by the Colorado Department of Education, many students in that state, like their peers in Florida, Wisconsin and Arizona, transfer to top districts, including those receiving high ratings from the Colorado Department of Education.
Still, as Colorado Gov. Jared Polis pointed out last fall, lawmakers can further improve the state’s open enrollment policy by making the system more transparent. State Rep. Lisa Frizell introduced a bill this spring to make the process more transparent and family-friendly by requiring school districts to post the number of seats they have available for each grade and mandating that the Department of Education publish the number of transfers received and rejected by each district.
These reforms are essential to improving the public schools and strengthening open enrollment laws. Parents, policymakers and taxpayers must be able to access information and hold districts accountable, particularly if schools are groundlessly blocking transfers or charging fees and tuition to transfer students. At least 13 states, including Arizona and Wisconsin, have adopted some or all of these transparency provisions.
With eight states having adopted strong open enrollment laws since 2022, 21 now have cross- or within-district open enrollment. During the 2024 legislative sessions, state policymakers have introduced approximately 40 proposals in 21 states to improve their open enrollment laws.
In these places, students’ zip codes are no longer the only factor determining their educational options and futures. Instead, more students and families can choose the public schools that are the right fit for them.
A version of this column first appeared on The74Million.org.