Last year, six states signed strong K-12 open enrollment proposals into law. Half of these were passed with major bipartisan support. Already, policymakers in 16 states, including Virginia, have introduced at least 32 open enrollment proposals in 2024. These policies would let students attend public schools other than their residentially assigned schools.
While Virginia, along with most states, lets school divisions accept transfer students voluntarily, only 16 states have policies that require schools with extra space to accept transfer students from other school districts. Yet, even this doesn’t mean that every applicant has access. Virginia and 24 other states let school districts charge transfer students out-of-pocket tuition.
After reaching out to every Virginia school division that didn’t publish their tuition rates on their websites, Reason Foundation collected data on 81 of Virginia’s 131 school divisions, as shown in Table 1. Of these, 55, or 42%, of Virginia public school divisions charged non-resident tuition rates to transfer students. In some cases, public school tuition rates exceeded the average tuition rate in Virginia private schools by thousands of dollars.
For example, Falls Church Public Schools charged non-residents $24,000 per new enrollee for the 2023-24 school year at Meridian Public High School. Meanwhile, Alexandria City Public Schools charged non-resident students $18,500 for elementary students and $19,250 for secondary students.
For the divisions for which data was available, Table 1 shows if cross-division transfers are permitted and the rate charged to cross-division transfer students.
Table 1: Virginia Public School Divisions’ Tuition Rates Charged to Transfer Students
| School Division | Are cross-division transfers permitted? (Y/N) | Tuition Rates |
| Accomack County | N | – |
| Alexandria City | Y | $18,500 (elementary); $19,250 (secondary) |
| Amelia County | Y | $0 |
| Amherst County | Y | $500 |
| Appomattox County | Y | $1,000 for first child; $500 for each additional child |
| Arlington County | N | – |
| Augusta County | Y | $750 |
| Bath County | Y | $0 |
| Bedford County | Y | Tuition for 2023-24 is $4,250 per student |
| Botetourt County | Y | $1,000 |
| Bristol City | Y | $100 |
| Buchanan County | Y | $0 |
| Buckingham County | Y | $1,000 |
| Buena Vista City | Y | $0 |
| Campbell County | Y | $2,757 |
| Caroline County | Y | $4,567 |
| Carroll County | Y | $500 |
| Charlottesville City | Y | 2022-23 Tuition Rates Grades K-8: $1,337 for the first child in a family; $1,094 for each additional child from the same family Grades 9-12: $1,701 for the first child in a family; $1,458 for each additional child from the same family |
| Chesapeake City | N | – |
| Chesterfield County | Y | $8,988 |
| Clarke County | Y | $7,882 |
| Colonial Beach | Y | $0 |
| Cumberland County | Y | $0 |
| Danville City | Y | $1,000 |
| Dinwiddie County | N | – |
| Essex County | Y | $0 |
| Fairfax County | Y | $900 for the first student, $450 for the second student, $225 for third student and thereafter |
| Falls Church City | Y | Tuition varies based on the school: Mt. Daniel and Oak St- $18,400; Mary Ellen Henderson—$21,200; Meridian—$24,000 |
| Fauquier County | Y | $10,000 |
| Fluvanna County | Y | $5,224 |
| Frederick County | Y | $8,914 |
| Fredericksburg City | Y | $5,372 for each of the first two children; $2,686 for each additional child |
| Galax City | Y | $0 |
| Gloucester County | Y | $5,255 |
| Goochland County | Y | $4,000 |
| Grayson County | Y | $0 |
| Greensville County | N | – |
| Harrisonburg City | Y | $1,200 |
| Henrico County | Y | $6,000 |
| Henry County | Y | $0 |
| Highland County | Y | $0 |
| Isle of Wight County | Y | $5,216 |
| King William County | Y | $3,850 |
| Lancaster County | Y | $0 |
| Lexington City | Y | $1,100 |
| Loudoun County | Y | $14,000 |
| Louisa County | Y | $7,730 |
| Lynchburg City | Y | $3,400 |
| Madison County | Y | $4,300 |
| Martinsville City | Y | $0 |
| Middlesex County | Y | $1,000 |
| Montgomery County | N | – |
| Newport News City | Y | $6,165 |
| Norfolk City | Y | $7,718 |
| Northampton County | Y | $0 |
| Northumberland County | Y | $0 |
| Nottoway County | Y | $0 |
| Orange County | Y | $4,875 |
| Poquoson City | N | – |
| Portsmouth City | Y | $1,696 |
| Powhatan County | N | – |
| Prince William County | Y | $8,531 |
| Radford City | Y | $750 |
| Rappahannock County | Y | $9,876 |
| Richmond County | Y | $0 |
| Roanoke County | Y | $1,000 |
| Rockbridge County | Y | $200 |
| Rockingham County | Y | $1,000 |
| Russell County | Y | $0 |
| Salem City | Y | $900 for the first student, $450 for the second student, $225 for the third student and thereafter |
| Shenandoah County | Y | $5,032 |
| Southampton County | Y | $1,000 first child and $500 for each sibling |
| Stafford County | N | – |
| Suffolk City | Y | $11,886 |
| Tazewell County | Y | $500 |
| Warren County | Y | $5,451 |
| Waynesboro City | Y | $750 |
| West Point | Y | $12,800 |
| Williamsburg-James City County | Y | $12,978 |
| Winchester City | Y | $8,127 |
| York County | Y | $7,081 |
Overall, 55 school divisions charge non-resident tuition. At least eight school divisions charge more than $10,000 per transfer student.
Lexington City and Radford City Public Schools charge families $400 and $250 just to apply for a cross-division transfer. At least nine divisions prohibit student transfers from other divisions or significantly limit it.
At least 17 school divisions charge $1,000 or less per pupil for annual public school tuition, and 18 school divisions charge no tuition to transfer students. For the 72 school divisions for which data was available, the average per-pupil cost of tuition for parents enrolling their first child in elementary school was approximately $4,000.
These examples show the importance of robust statewide open enrollment laws that make public schools open to all students regardless of where they live or if their parents can pay expensive tuition.
Research from Florida and California shows that open enrollment benefits students since it lets them access schools with specialized courses, such as Advanced Placement (AP), escape bullying, that are highly ranked, or are a better fit. At the same time, reports from Ohio, Wisconsin, and California indicate that open enrollment encourages school districts to improve their competitive edge, helping them get better.
Currently, 14 states have robust statewide open enrollment policies and stop public schools from charging transfer students tuition. These states still give priority in admission to students residentially assigned to schools, but transfer students have access to them when the schools aren’t full.
For instance, Wisconsin’s Ashwaubenon School District and Waukesha School District accepted 1,203 and 1,211 cross-district transfer students during the 2022-23 school year, respectively. However, other districts, such as Pepin and Mercer School Districts, had fewer than 20 transfer students. More than 73,000 students used open enrollment in Wisconsin during the 2022-23 school year. On average, school districts enrolled 174 cross-district transfer students across the state’s 421 school districts. Moreover, none of these transfer students were charged a dime.
While half of states completely prohibit public schools from charging tuition to any public school students, more states need to adopt robust open enrollment policies to ensure that transfer students can fill empty seats.
Public schools should not block access to students whose families cannot afford to move into their boundaries or pay public school tuition out-of-pocket. Open enrollment laws that make public schools free to all students are key to weakening the barriers that stop many students from finding a school that’s a good fit.