Funding Education Opportunity: The best K-12 open enrollment proposals of 2025

Good morning,

K-12 open enrollment is an increasingly popular form of public school choice that lets students transfer to public schools other than their residentially-assigned ones. The latest national polling from EdChoice-Morning Consult showed that 75% of parents with school-aged children support open enrollment laws. 

And state policymakers are taking note. Since 2020, nine states have significantly strengthened their open enrollment laws, opening opportunities for students and increasing transparency for parents and lawmakers. Most of these states have improved their laws by ensuring students can transfer to any public school with open seats outside their assigned school district (cross-district open enrollment) or by letting students transfer to any school with open seats inside their assigned district (within-district open enrollment).

Last year, state policymakers introduced 85 open enrollment-related proposals. This year, 18 states have already introduced 41 proposals related to K-12 open enrollment during the 2025 legislative sessions. Approximately half of these proposals would positively impact the state’s scores on Reason Foundation’s open enrollment scoresheet, which examines each state’s open enrollment laws in seven critical areas, including allowing cross- and within-district transfers, and making public schools free for all students, which includes not charging transfer students additional fees or tuition. Figure 1 highlights the states whose 2025 open enrollment proposals would pack the biggest punch for students and parents if codified.

Most notably, Alaska’s open enrollment proposals would launch the state from dead last on Reason’s ranking of open enrollment policies to 5th best nationwide, surpassing states with good open enrollment policies, such as Florida and Colorado. Similarly, three other states–Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas–are reviewing proposals that could improve their open enrollment scores from grades of ‘F’ to ‘A’ in Reason Foundation’s rankings. 

In other cases, legislative proposals in Mississippi and Wyoming would make modest but important improvements to their open enrollment laws. For example, Wyoming Senate File 109 would ensure students could transfer to any public school with open seats inside their assigned district. 

Mississippi House Bill 1435, on the other hand, would ensure that students don’t need permission from their assigned school district to transfer to another district and establish transparency provisions that make open enrollment more family-friendly. 

Overall, if all the bills in Figure 1 are signed into law, the number of states with strong cross-district open enrollment laws would increase from 16 to 21. Additionally, the number of states with strong within-district open enrollment laws would increase from 14 to 20.

Even in states where proposals don’t significantly improve open enrollment laws, many are still small steps in the right direction. For instance, Oklahoma House Bill 2259 ensures that current transfers can remain in their new school district year after year without reapplying annually.  

In other cases, proposals need only minor tweaks to be vastly improved. Rhode Island Senate Bill 112 requires all districts to adopt an open enrollment policy that lets students transfer schools, but it should be clarified that transfer applicants can only be rejected due to schools having insufficient capacity. 

As the 2025 legislative sessions continue, policymakers should ensure that open enrollment proposals are designed to maximize learning options so every public school student can attend a school that is the right fit.

From the states

In other recent important education and school choice developments across the country, Tennessee policymakers finally passed a private school choice law. School choice proposals also advanced in Texas and Idaho.

Tennessee lawmakers in both chambers passed House Bill 6004, which establishes an education savings account program. It would provide 20,000 scholarships valued at $7,100 to students to pay for private school tuition and other approved education expenses. The bill awaits Gov. Bill Lee’s signature, who called a special legislative session to pass an expansive private school choice policy.

In Texas, Senate Bill 2 was passed by the Senate. House Speaker Dustin Burrows stated that the proposal already has enough support to pass in the lower chamber. This proposal would provide $10,000 scholarships to 100,000 students to pay for private school tuition and other approved education expenses. Participants with disabilities would receive an additional $1,500. Home-schooled students are also eligible to receive scholarships of $2,000. Gov. Greg Abbott supports the proposal and declared school choice to be an emergency item.

The Idaho House passed House Bill 93, establishing a $50 million tax-credit scholarship program. Participants would receive scholarships valued at $5,000, which could pay for private school tuition, tutoring, and other approved education expenses. Students with disabilities are eligible to receive $7,500 scholarships.

What to watch

Florida private school scholarship participation continues to surge.

More than 120,000 students applied for Florida’s private school scholarships in the first two days of applications opening. While most applicants sought scholarship renewals, 18% of them were new to the program. Since all of Florida’s private school scholarships became universal, participation has skyrocketed. Between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, participation increased by nearly 85,000 students.

The latest from Reason Foundation

–Alaska aims to be the 10th state to improve K-12 open enrollment in five years 

–Southern California school districts are serving fewer students and facing massive budget deficits 

The expiration of federal COVID-19 relief funds and the loss of students in California’s public schools is causing financial turmoil in many districts. With fewer students meaning less funding for school districts, some districts may have to permanently close schools to right-size operations and best serve remaining students. 

–Assessing the fiscal impact of the Montana Academic Prosperity Program for Scholars

Reason Foundation conducted a fiscal analysis of Montana House Bill 320, which would establish a tax-credit education savings account program that would be available to all students. The analysis examines the potential fiscal impact of the program on the state budget and finds that the net program costs would be affordable to taxpayers–comprising no more than 0.2% of the state budget in its first year. Further, the analysis finds that the total amount of tax credits allowed under the program could be quadrupled and would still equal no more than 1% of the state budget.

–Fiscal Analysis: How Arkansas’ Education Freedom Account program is impacting taxpayers and students 

“For each participating student who would have otherwise enrolled in an Arkansas public school, the state’s EFA program generates about 10% in net state savings because EFA scholarship values are 90% of per-student public school formula funding from the prior year. On the other hand, EFA students already using private education represent a pure cost to the state because they weren’t previously receiving any public resources,” Reason Foundation’s Christian Barnard explains.

Recommended reading 

Trump’s plan to abolish the Education Department could fall short yet still hamstring the agency
Erica Meltzer at Chalkbeat

“Sweeping education cuts could be felt just as much by red states as blue states, Resh pointed out. Meanwhile, he said, Congress can’t sit on the sidelines forever. The government is only funded through March. That could force Congress to confront Trump’s spending decisions or provide an avenue to legitimize them.”

The Whirlwind in Washington
Frederick Hess at Education Next

A more nuanced view posits that the [Trump} administration’s ultimate goal is to reduce Washington’s sway in schools and colleges but that accomplishing this requires first uprooting the discriminatory practices and destructive dogmas abetted by past federal activity. Indeed, some conservatives versed in deterrence theory argue that only when Republicans harness the Department of Ed like this will Democrats discover the merits of shrinking Washington’s footprint.

The State of Educational Opportunity in America: A 50-State Survey of 20,000 Parents
50Can and Edge Research

“With many of the activities and experiences explored in this study, lack of opportunity is not just a phenomenon among low-income families. It is a middle-class challenge as well. In many cases, the challenges and barriers faced by middle-class families are much closer to that of low-income families than high-income families.”

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Source: https://reason.org/education-newsletter/the-best-k-12-open-enrollment-proposals-of-2025/