Welcome to the ECS State Policies for Open Enrollment Database!

This database contains information about the state policies for open enrollment in each state. To one degree or another, open-enrollment policies allow a student to transfer to the public school of his or her choice. There are two basic types of open-enrollment policies in place in the states – intradistrict and interdistrict. Intradistrict open-enrollment policies allow a student to transfer to another school within his or her school district. Interdistrict open-enrollment policies allow a student to transfer to a school outside his or her home district, but often require both the sending district and the receiving district to agree to participate. Open-enrollment policies are either mandatory or voluntary in nature, depending on the state. Mandatory policies require districts to participate in the program, often depending on the availability of space. Voluntary policies allow districts to choose whether to participate, again often depending on available space.

From this database, you can generate profiles of the state policies for open enrollment in individual states and view 50-state reports on state policies for open enrollment.

Please contact Senior Policy Analyst Jennifer Dounay Zinth (303.299.3689 or jdounay@ecs.org) with questions or comments about the database.

Intradistrict or Interdistrict? Mandatory or Voluntary School District Participation? Transportation Costs Desegregation Provisions Citations All data points