- North Carolina’s new state budget directs the North Carolina Collaboratory to study and report on how open enrollment can be implemented within districts to give families more choices among traditional K–12 public schools
- Oklahoma leads the nation on open enrollment with a law that requires all districts to participate in cross- and within-district open enrollment, includes strong transparency and accountability measures, and allows year-round applications
- Despite its strong law, Oklahoma has faced challenges getting districts to comply fully with transparency and reporting requirements
North Carolina is starting to progress toward statewide K–12 open enrollment, a type of school choice that lets parents choose any traditional public school with open seats in lieu of their child’s assigned public school. Depending on the policy, parents can select other schools within their local district (within-district open enrollment) or schools in a neighboring district (cross-district open enrollment).
A provision in the new state budget directs the North Carolina Collaboratory to study and report on how local districts can implement within-district open enrollment. The report will include a survey of districts that have already implemented it voluntarily, such as Union County Public Schools. It will also discuss important considerations for making open enrollment mandatory statewide, such as how many application periods there should be each year, what sorts of transportation options might be available for participating students, and how capacity issues can “be addressed and communicated to parents.”
The study is a welcome development. Unlike most other states, North Carolina does not have any sort of a statewide open enrollment law, whether that be cross-district, within-district, or both.
Fortunately, a new report from the John Locke Foundation’s Center for Effective Education sheds light on how states like Oklahoma can serve as a model for North Carolina not only for passing a strong open enrollment law but also for implementing it successfully.
Oklahoma’s open enrollment law is one of the best in the nation
According to the Reason Foundation’s latest analysis, “Oklahoma has the best open enrollment law nationwide.” In 2021, the Oklahoma legislature passed a law requiring all districts to participate in cross-district open enrollment. In 2024, the legislature passed a law requiring all districts to offer within-district open enrollment as well. All students are eligible to change schools, and parents may apply to do so at any time during the school year as long as their desired school has open seats.
A key aspect of Oklahoma’s law is that all districts must participate in within- and cross-district open enrollment. This requirement prevents affluent or highly rated districts from choosing not to participate and thereby limiting the pool of available options, especially for the low- and moderate-income families who could benefit the most from being able to access these schools.
By making participation mandatory for districts, Oklahoma avoids some of the challenges experienced by Ohio, where districts can choose not to participate. A report published by the Fordham Institute in 2017 found that many suburban districts surrounding Ohio’s largest urban areas refused to accept open-enrolled students from their lower-performing urban neighbors. As a result, students residing in these urban areas were “walled off,” with severely restricted choices outside of their assigned schools.
Another feature of Oklahoma’s open enrollment law is that parents can submit transfer applications at any point during the school year. In doing so, the law maximizes families’ ability to use open enrollment to change their child’s school whenever the need arises. Oklahoma is one of only six states to allow open enrollment transfers year-round. Nineteen states set specific application periods by statute, while half of states do not address the issue.
Oklahoma’s law also features strong transparency and accountability provisions. For example, all school districts must report to the state how many open-enrolled students they can accept, how many applications were accepted, how many were denied, and why applications were rejected. Typically, applications are denied due to a lack of space, but other acceptable reasons include a lack of available programs, staff, or services; chronic absenteeism; and past violations of school regulations.
Families can appeal denials first to the receiving school board and then to the state board of education. A state agency conducts a random audit of 10 percent of school districts to ensure that cross-district open enrollment programs are being administered fairly and in compliance with state law and district policy (a similar audit is conducted of approved and denied applications of students with disabilities). The state reports key data annually, including “the number of approved and denied applications, appealed and upheld denials, remaining open seats, and student transfers, both at the state and district level.”
Together, these transparency and accountability provisions help policymakers evaluate whether the program is functioning fairly and lawfully. They also help families make informed decisions about their child’s education.
Despite its strong law, Oklahoma has faced implementation challenges
Despite the strong transparency measures in its statute, Oklahoma has experienced challenges getting districts to comply fully with these requirements. State law requires all school districts to post online the number of open seats per each grade level and school and to update these numbers quarterly. Nevertheless, a study published in the Oklahoma Education Journal in 2024 found that just 28 percent of districts fully complied with these requirements. A 2025 program audit conducted by the Oklahoma Office of Educational Quality and Accountability found that although every district had posted its open enrollment policy and capacity information online, not all had updated this information fully. Researchers suggest that lawmakers could improve compliance by providing funds to help districts comply with the law or by clarifying potential consequences for not doing so.
Legislation and district policy models show how to implement open enrollment
New model legislation developed by the John Locke Foundation shows how North Carolina could follow Oklahoma’s example in passing a strong statewide open enrollment law. Yet school boards interested in starting within-district open enrollment programs at the local level don’t have to wait for the General Assembly to act. Locke’s model within-district open enrollment policy provides a framework districts can use to do so.
