North Carolina flunks open enrollment, but is change coming?
Last week, the Reason Foundation released its annual “Public Schools Without Boundaries” report, which evaluates each state’s open enrollment laws and ranks them based on how closely they align with a list of seven best practices.
For the third year in a row (see here for 2024 and here for 2025), North Carolina tied with Maryland, Maine, and Alaska for last place with an overall score of 0/100 and a grade of “F.” Meanwhile, Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Vermont improved their open enrollment laws, with varying degrees of success.
Open enrollment is a form of school choice that lets parents choose a traditional public school for their kids instead of their residentially assigned one, provided there are open seats. Within-district open enrollment allows students to attend any school within their home district, while cross-district open enrollment allows them to attend a school in another district.
Open enrollment can generate a number of benefits for students, families, and schools themselves. Benefits can include:
