What is open enrollment?
Open enrollment is a process that enables a student to enroll in their school district of choice, regardless of their home address. Parents and students are motivated to open enroll for a variety of reasons, some academic and others extracurricular. Whatever the reason, open enrollment has become popular and at times controversial.
Nationwide, 46 states plus the District of Columbia (D.C.) have policies addressing open enrollment in some way. States’ open-enrollment policies may allow for voluntary or mandatory participation at the district level, and they can also allow for intradistrict transfer, interdistrict transfer, or both.
Minnesota created the nation’s first interdistrict open-enrollment policy in 1988. Today, Minnesota’s interdistrict open enrollment continues to be mandated by state law. School districts must participate; however, school boards can close open enrollment if there is not adequate space.
For example, the Wayzata Public School Board voted to close grades 1-12 open enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year due to capacity restrictions and capped the number of approved kindergarten-age student open-enrollment applications to 1% of the class size. Statewide, according to the Minnesota Department of Education, in the 2017-18 school year, more than 80,000 Minnesota students, or 9%, were open-enrolled. In Minnetonka public schools, there are more than 3,600 open-enrolled students from 41 different Minnesota school districts.
The open enrollment application process as defined by the State of Minnesota:
After the application process, the school district has more authority on how it is administered. Each school district board must adopt specific standards for acceptance and rejection of applications. This is typically associated with class size or capacity for non-resident enrollment. These standards cannot include previous academic or athletic achievement, disability conditions, proficiency in English, prior disciplinary proceedings or the student’s district of residence.
Funding for educating students is derived primarily from two sources: state aid and local property tax, whereas funding for buildings and capital related items, such as computers, is usually only funded by local property taxes. If a school district is operating with excess capacity or is experiencing a temporary or long-term decline in students, open enrollment can provide additional state aid for each non-resident student and provide some stability for the district’s operations. In 2019-20, each K-6 student generates $6,438* for the serving district. Each 7-12 student will generate $7,725* for the serving district. As long as the serving district does not need to add additional staff or build additional facilities to serve a nonresident open enrolled student, it is beneficial to the serving district. In some instances, even with adding additional staff or facilities, it remains beneficial to use open enrollment to operate as efficiently as possible.
How does open enrollment affect homeowners?
One thing is for certain: owning a home in a high-demand school district increases its value more rapidly. Fazendin Realtors advises clients, whether they currently have or ever plan to have children, that the school district is a factor that should be closely considered when choosing a home to purchase. As any economist will tell you, high demand and low supply create favorable conditions for sellers. (Click here to see our tips on preparing your home for sale.) In most cases, school districts that have a robust open enrollment population implies demand and usually a lack of housing within the district. Some may argue that their property taxes and referendums have increased to enable a district to attract and educate students from outside the district and there is truth in that. However, increased taxes are usually offset by the increase in property value.
Open enrollment is a complex topic and this article is intended to give a basic explanation of Minnesota’s policies and how it affects Minnesota homeowners. There are many resources available online to help people understand how open enrollment functions.
Here are a few helpful websites:
“The Courting of Non-Resident Students Continues to Fuel Tension” by the Star Tribune – Note: You will need a Star Tribune subscription to read this article.
“Choice Ironines: Open Enrollment in Minnesota” – This article is from 1990, the year open-enrollment first began.
“50-State Comparison: Open Enrollment Policies (2018 Update)” by the Education Commission of the States
As always, a great resource to help you determine the school district of your current home, or soon to be new home, is your Fazendin Realtor. Find your Realtor today!
Andy Fazendin – Owner/Broker
*This funding amount was from the State of Minnesota only and derived primarily from state sales tax and income tax.Sources: Minnesota Department of Education, Education Commission of the States (ecs.org), MinnetonkaPublicSchools.org, and WayzataSchools.org