“I don’t want this to ever happen to anyone else.”
In 2011, Ohio mom Kelley Wiliams-Bolar was convicted of lying about her residency to get her daughters into a better school district. She was sentenced to 10 days in jail and two years of probation.
In nearly half the states in our country, parents who use an address other than their own to enroll their children in a public school can be criminally prosecuted—leading to steep fines and, in some cases, incarceration.
When Good Parents Go to Jail is a new report on this subject from national watchdog group Available to All. It examines state laws that punish parents for trying to navigate an unjust framework that assigns schools based on geography, not what students need, often placing the highest quality options out of reach for lower-income and marginalized students.
The report includes stories from parents like Williams-Bolar, who now serves as parent liaison for Available to All. It also documents how districts and schools track down families they believe don’t belong by using private investigators and other strategies to maintain their exclusivity.
Thankfully, state policymakers in many places are taking action to address this. They’re removing penalties for “address sharing” and allowing parents to enroll their students across boundary lines, thereby creating more choices for students within the public school system.
Private school choice–via state-level programs that allow families to use state funds for private school tuition—has dominated headlines. These programs are a way for families to access educational options that might otherwise be out of reach. But even with a huge number of states expanding access to private schooling, the majority of America’s students still attend public schools.
That’s why it’s so important to understand how public school boundaries have perpetuated inequity for decades, creating exclusive pockets within the K-12 system that prevent many families from obtaining a quality education for their children.
Drawing geographic boundaries in ways that exclude students from opportunity occurs within and across school districts nationwide. It stems from a discriminatory practice related to homeownership, called redlining, that emerged in the early to mid-20th century. It has had far-reaching effects on numerous aspects of American society, including K-12 schools.
Redlining involved the systematic denial of financial services, such as loans and mortgages, to individuals and communities based on their racial or ethnic characteristics. This discriminatory practice often resulted in the concentration of minority populations in specific neighborhoods, with decades-long limited access to resources and opportunities.
Consequently, schools in these redlined areas were disproportionately underfunded. They lacked essential educational resources and quality buildings. This perpetuated a cycle of inequality, where students from marginalized backgrounds faced significant barriers to obtaining a quality education.
Sadly, the legacy of redlining continues to resonate in widespread educational disparities today. This highlights the urgency for ongoing efforts to address historical injustices and ensure equitable access to education for all students, regardless of their racial or socioeconomic backgrounds.
Here’s the bottom line: We cannot achieve an equitable public education system when school attendance is determined by ZIP code. Where you live shouldn’t determine the quality of education you are assigned to receive. All families deserve to find—and choose—a schooling environment that meets the needs of their children.
Instead of literally punishing families for trying to access better public education options for their students, we should be breaking down those boundaries. Open enrollment is one policy that gets us there.
Open enrollment policies in K-12 education refer to the practice of allowing students to enroll in a public school outside of their designated, or zoned, school. These policies are designed to provide families with more choice and flexibility in selecting a public school that best fits their child’s needs and preferences.
There are two main types of open enrollment: cross-district (sometimes called inter-district) and within-district (sometimes called intra-district).
A 2022 analysis and state-by-state breakdown by the Reason Foundation found that only 11 states have mandatory open enrollment laws (either inter- or intra-district) that allow students to easily transfer to other public schools; 26 states allow public schools to charge tuition to public school transfer students.
A 50-state scan by the Education Commission of the States found 27 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have state policies explicitly permitting, but not mandating, intra-district open enrollment. There are 43 states that have state policies explicitly allowing, but not mandating, inter-district open enrollment.
Source: Reason Foundation, Open Enrollment Best Practices by State, November 2022
[Map Key: Dark red = 0/5 best practices; Light red = 1/5 best practices; Yellow = 2/5 best practices; Light green = 3/5 best practices; Dark green = 4/5 best practices]
While not all school buildings can house every student who wishes to attend, ExcelinEd believes that, by state policy, every public school should be open to every student who lives in that state. Accordingly, we have developed a number of model policies related to open enrollment and K-12 public school choice:
Other organizations that work on public school choice and student access also have developed resources and model policies on open enrollment. These can further help shape state policy toward more equitable student- and family-centered access to public education:
In addition to enacting open enrollment policies, some states are moving to break down barriers that currently prevent homeschooling families and/or students enrolled in nonpublic schools from accessing services, courses and activities available through public schools.
A recent analysis by the national advocacy organization yes. every kid. found that 24 states explicitly outline a policy for nonpublic students to access classes and/or clubs offered by their public schools; 15 of those states make it mandatory for school districts to participate. Further, 10 states treat access to a public school as a right for all students regardless of where they attend school on a full-time basis.
The report utilized a 12-factor analysis of state laws to create a map showing varying levels of access to public education across the United States:
Source: yes. every kid, Public Education Your Way, July 2023
The public policy pendulum is swinging toward more educational freedom across the board, and some states are leading on open enrollment policies. Consider these examples:
ARIZONA
Arizona has a robust system of intra- and inter-district school choice. Students and families are not charged tuition when they transfer districts. Additionally, school buses are allowed to cross district lines in order to transport students.
FLORIDA
The Sunshine State has one of the most expansive open enrollment systems in the country. All school districts are required to participate in both intra-district and inter-district open enrollment, and they must regularly report the number of available seats for each grade. Lastly, they are not allowed to charge tuition or fees to students who transfer to their district.
WISCONSIN
The Badger State requires school districts to take students from outside their district but, unfortunately, does not require districts to make all schools within their district available. They do not allow districts to charge tuition to transfer students, and they require districts to have a transparent process for accepting and rejecting applications. State law requires districts to publish data on the number of open seats, transfers and acceptance and rejection rates.
State law also requires that money follows students. The legislature sets a statewide per-pupil funding amount that follows a student to their new school district and deducts that amount from the sending district. This practice incentivizes districts to enroll transfer students.
Where other types of school choice have experienced differing levels of partisan support over the years, there’s a clear path forward for open enrollment when it comes to the court of public opinion.
Last year, school choice research organization EdChoice began including open enrollment as a policy in its monthly tracking survey, a partnership with national research firm Morning Consult. According to results in August 2023, support for open enrollment is consistently high, and opposition remains low.
EdChoice found similar levels of support in its 2023 Schooling in America survey, which tracks K-12 education trends over the past decade.
With so much focus on the issue of open enrollment—and what can happen to parents who share addresses to gain access for their children to a quality public school—there’s clear opportunity for policymakers to break down longstanding geographic barriers in public education.
ExcelinEd believes that all families should have the freedom to access a public school that best suits their child’s needs. Full and open access to public schooling fosters a dynamic and competitive educational landscape that ultimately benefits students and our society as a whole.
Further, allowing parents to enroll in a range of tuition-free options can incentivize schools to continuously innovate and improve their programs to attract families, raising overall educational standards. Choice empowers parents to match their child’s learning style, interests and aptitudes with a school’s specific strengths, leading to more engaged and successful students. It also fosters accountability among schools, as they must consistently demonstrate their effectiveness with students to maintain their enrollments.
In conclusion: Policymakers can embrace any or all of ExcelinEd’s model policies to improve access to public schools. These policies support all families, so they don’t have to lie about where they live, move to a new community or pay out of pocket to access a great public school education for their kids.
