(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s open enrollment program is getting high marks in a new national report from the Reason Foundation that looked at all 50 states.
Wisconsin is tied for ninth.
“Open enrollment, allowing students to transfer from their assigned public schools to other public schools with open seats, is increasingly becoming one of the most important school choice programs,” the Reason Foundation wrote in the report.
Wisconsin gets top marks for its cross-district open enrollment program, and that open enrollment is free to all students. But the report dings Wisconsin for its open enrollment rules for students who want to change schools inside their school district.
“On average, 10% of students in Arizona, Florida, and Wisconsin used open enrollment during the 2021-22 school year, totaling more than 450,000 students. Nearly 177,000 of these transferred to schools in other districts,” the report notes. “In Wisconsin, open enrollment was the most popular form of school choice and the second most popular in Arizona and Florida during that time.”
Wisconsin also got a mention in the report for the number of students in out-state Wisconsin who took advantage of open enrollment.
“In Wisconsin specifically, rural school districts received the most transfers after suburban school districts – 31% overall,” the report adds.
The Reason Foundation also said Wisconsin’s open enrollment students largely give students a chance at a better education.
“Wisconsin school districts with better ratings gained more transfers on net than those with lower ratings. In fact, during the 2022-23 school year, the top-rated Wisconsin school district increased its enrollment by 13,000 students, while lower-rated districts lost more than 54,000 transfer students overall,” according to the survey.
In all, the Reason Foundation report notes that just a third of states get good grades for their open enrollment programs, but that may change next year.
“Only 16 states had strong open enrollment laws in 2023. However, three states – Indiana, Nebraska, and Oklahoma – significantly improved their open enrollment laws during the 2024 legislative sessions,” the report notes. “At the same time, policymakers in 21 states introduced at least 40 bills that aimed to improve open enrollment laws.”
Oklahoma’s open enrollment program is the top-rated program in the report, followed by Idaho, then West Virginia and Arizona who are tied for third.
Alaska, Maine, Maryland, and North Carolina are all tied as the worst rated states.
