North Carolina

According to the Reason Foundation, North Carolina received an F for its state-level open enrollment policies — 0/100, shared with only three other states. North Carolina received this grade because it has no state-level policy requiring inter- or intradistrict open enrollment for all students, banning tuition charges to transfer students, or requiring data reporting.

Recent polling by The Carolina Journal shows large majorities of North Carolinians support intradistrict open enrollment, and some districts have already set up a limited form of interdistrict open enrollment.

Families in Union County can apply to any district school operating below 85% capacity, for example, while those in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools may select from a limited group of schools within their attendance zone. A few other districts provide similar options, but most students in North Carolina do not have a true open enrollment option.

The lack of a robust open enrollment system is all the more striking given the private school choice programs the state has implemented in recent years, including a voucher program and education savings accounts.