Education Commission of the States researched open enrollment policies in all states to provide this comprehensive resource. Click on the questions below for 50-State Comparisons showing how all states approach specific open enrollment policies. View a specific state’s approach by going to the state profiles page.
Key Takeaways
- Forty-seven states plus the District of Columbia have state policies addressing open enrollment in some way.
- 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.
- Intradistrict: Students transfer to another school within their resident school district.
- Interdistrict: Students transfer a school outside of their resident district.
- Depending on the state, open enrollment policies are either mandatory or voluntary.
- Mandatory policies require districts to participate in open enrollment.
- Voluntary policies allow districts to choose whether to participate in open enrollment, often allowing districts the discretion to enter into transfer agreements with other districts.
- Several states have both mandatory and voluntary policies. This usually means requiring mandatory open enrollment in low-performing districts, in defined regions of the state or in other specific circumstances while allowing voluntary open enrollment in the rest of the state.
- In a few states, open enrollment is a function of geographic access to schools. For example, Montana and Georgia both require open enrollment for students facing lengthy transportation time or geographic barriers to attending their assigned schools.
50-State Comparisons
- Does the state have open enrollment programs?
- Do desegregation provisions impact open enrollment programs?
- Does the state set priorities for districts to follow when accepting students for open enrollment?
- Who is responsible for student transportation?
- Open Enrollment 50-State Report - All Data Points
Related Resources
Policy Snapshot: Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment Quick Guide
Open Enrollment: Overview and 2016 legislative update