Strengthening open enrollment laws is key to unlocking public school choice for kids

A new Reason Foundation report collected data from 19 states with K-12 open enrollment laws, regulations that let students attend public schools other than their assigned ones. While more than 1.6 million public school students used open enrollment across these states, the participation rates indicate that stronger policies could help thousands of additional students access public schools that better fit their needs. 

Currently, 29 states limit students’ traditional public school options to their residentially assigned public schools. Strong open enrollment laws, however, ensure that students can enroll in any public school with open seats, weakening the link between housing and schooling.

Students often use this policy to transfer schools to help them escape bullying, access specialized courses, such as Advanced Placement classes, enroll in more highly-rated school districts, be in classes with fewer students, and shorten family commutes for work and after-school activities.

In short, open enrollment helps students attend public schools that are a better fit.

Most states’ laws, however, fail to maximize students’ transfer opportunities. This analysis examines how open enrollment law design can affect public school transfer opportunities, comparing participation rates in states with strong and weak open enrollment laws. It then considers factors that might encourage higher participation rates in states with weak laws.

Open enrollment participation in states with strong open enrollment laws

Nationwide, 16 states have maximized public school students’ transfer opportunities by codifying strong open enrollment laws. These policies let students transfer to any public school so long as space is available in their grade level.

Florida’s open enrollment law enables parents to enroll their child in any public school that has not reached capacity. Reason Foundation obtained open enrollment participation data from 12 states with strong open enrollment laws, accounting for about 50% of all participants in the 19 states for which data was available. 

At first glance, it appears as though the strength of a state’s open enrollment law doesn’t make a difference in student participation. Upon closer review, however, students participated in these programs at a higher rate in states with strong open enrollment laws than in states with weak laws. On average, about 10% of students transferred in states with strong open enrollment laws, while only about 6% used open enrollment opportunities in states with weaker laws.

Figure 1 shows open enrollment participation rates in 12 states with strong open enrollment laws.

Figure 1: Open enrollment participation in states with strong open enrollment laws

Colorado and Delaware have the highest participation rates, 28% and 22%, respectively. These states have no private school choice programs, which could explain their high participation rates.

While several states, namely Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, had low participation rates compared to other states with strong open enrollment laws, this discrepancy is likely because these programs have only recently launched. For instance, less than one percent of Kansas public school students used open enrollment during the 2024-2025 school year, but it’s just the program’s first year of operation.

Based on data from other states, open enrollment participation in these states will likely increase with time. Wisconsin’s participation data showed that participation increased by about 14% annually since the program was launched, growing from about 2,500 participants during the 1998-1999 school year to nearly 61,000 students during the 2023-2024 school year.

Data from six other states—Florida, Michigan, Arizona, Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio—also generally showed participation steadily increasing over time, illustrating a hearty appetite for public school transfers as programs become more established. These trends indicate that participation rates in states with newly launched open enrollment programs will likely increase.

Open enrollment participation in states with weak open laws

Reason Foundation collected data from seven states with weak open enrollment laws, classified as such because districts can reject transfer applicants for reasons other than insufficient capacity. These states accounted for approximately 50% of transfers in the 19 states where data was available. But on average, the participation rates across these states was just 5%.

Figure 2 shows the student transfer rates in these states.

Figure 2: Open enrollment participation in states with weak open enrollment laws

In raw numbers, students in California and Texas accounted for nearly 48% of transfers in Figure 2. But California and Texas transfers made up only 3% and 4% of their respective public school enrollment.

Similarly, in New Jersey, low participation rates are by design, as the state has artificially capped participation since 2015. As a result, less than one percent of students used the state’s open enrollment program. These examples illustrate how weak open enrollment laws can hamstring students’ public schooling options.

What’s bolstering open enrollment participation in states with weak open enrollment laws?

Not every state with weak open enrollment laws had low participation rates. One possible explanation is that some states encourage districts to accept non-resident students with financial incentives through education funding mechanisms, especially when most state funds follow students to their new school district.

For instance, 9% of students in Indiana enrolled in traditional public schools using open enrollment. Most, if not all, state education funds follow students to their new school district, which can encourage many districts to accept transfer applicants.

Similarly, Michigan’s high participation rate could be because school districts could lose 5% of their state funding if they don’t participate in open enrollment. Most school districts cannot afford this penalty and join as a result. Only 2% of school districts did not participate in Michigan’s open enrollment program during the 2018-2019 school year.

This is consistent with research from other states that shows that fiscal incentives can affect districts’ participation. For example, Wisconsin data correlated higher transfer rates and funding portability. When more state funds followed transfers to their new school district, the number of transfers also increased. This could be because the additional funds encouraged districts to accept more applicants. 

Conversely, in California and Ohio, some districts accepted fewer transfer students after the state decreased the funding that followed transfer students to their receiving school districts. These examples highlight the importance of fiscal incentives in open enrollment programs, even in states whose open enrollment laws are less than ideal.

Another possible explanation is that some states have fostered strong cultures of public school choice. For instance, Minnesota’s open enrollment participation is 12%, far exceeding states with superior laws, such as Oklahoma. Minnesota was an open enrollment trailblazer, becoming the first state to codify a policy in 1987. In the ensuing decades, participation has risen, and open enrollment is now baked into the public education system’s DNA. 

Moreover, while Minnesota’s open enrollment law falls short of Reason Foundation’s best practices, the law could still foster high participation rates because all districts must participate. This means that some students will always have the opportunity to transfer. This provision is less restrictive for students than many other states’ laws, such as Ohio’s, which give districts full discretion to opt out of open enrollment programs.

Finally, with the exception of two small tax-credit scholarship programs, charter schools and open enrollment are the only school choice programs available to Minnesota students. The private school choice programs could also increase participation rates in open enrollment as the only free education alternative.

Conclusion

The comparison between states with strong and weak open enrollment laws isn’t perfect, as the states reviewed vary in number, demographics, and density. Nonetheless, these data indicate strong open enrollment laws often correlate with higher participation rates. This illustrates the importance of crafting strong open enrollment laws that maximize students’ transfer opportunities, letting students enroll in public schools that are the right fit, regardless of where they live.

While some states still have high participation rates despite having weak open enrollment laws, this could be because school districts have fiscal incentives to accept more transfer applicants. Yet these fiscal incentives alone shouldn’t replace strong open enrollment laws. If school districts have openings, transfer students should be able to fill them. This recalibrates the relationship between students and schooling, increasing student agency in school selection.

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Source: https://reason.org/commentary/open-enrollment-laws-key-to-public-school-choice/