Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment is the process by which parents/guardians residing in an Iowa district may enroll their children into another Iowa school district under the terms and conditions of Iowa Code section 282.18 and 281--Iowa Administrative Code 17.

The deadline for students entering Grades 1-12 is March 1st. The deadline for students entering kindergarten is September 1st.

2017-2018 Open Enrollment

2017-2018 Open Enrollment Application

2017-2018 Open Enrollment Application Directions

2018-2019 Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment Application 2018-2019

2018-2019 Open Enrollment Guidelines

Current Handbook

Open Enrollment Handbook 2017-2018

Open Enrollment Tuition

The amount of open enrollment tuition for the 2017-2018 school year for a regular education student is $6,591 which is the state cost per pupil from the previous fiscal year.  The tuition bill for open-enrolled-in students should also include the following supplemental funds if applicable:

• Teacher Leadership,(TLC) In FY18, districts receiving TLC through state aid for the first time (grant districts in FY17) will pay open enrollment at the rate of $312.16, which is their prior year’s per pupil rate.  The remaining districts will pay open enrollment at the rate of $319.72, which is the prior year’s per pupil rate.
• Non-English speaking supplementary weighting (0.22times $6,591), if the student were included in the resident district’s LEP supplementary weighting calculation from October 2016.  
• Eligible concurrent enrollment and Project Lead the Way (PLTW) courses in which the student will be enrolled and included in the generation of supplementary weighting on October 1, 2017 (course weighting factor times the percent of time the student is enrolled in the course times the resident district’s current school year’s cost per pupil).

For a student served pursuant to an IEP, open enrollment tuition is calculated on actual costs of special education rather than the prior year's state cost per pupil amount.  TIB will be used for special billing.  TLC for special education students will be billed outside of TIB.

Open enrollment tuition is billed and paid on a semester basis, (on or before February 15 and July 15) Iowa Code section 282.20 subsection 3.  Under special circumstances that terminate or suspend open enrollment status, it is necessary to prorate tuition on a per diem basis.

Athletic Eligibility Guidance

Athletic Eligibility of Students Open Enrolling due to Bullying and Harassment

On April 7, 2016 House File 2264 signed into law by Governor Branstad allows the following exception to ninety day ineligibility for participation in athletic competitions for students open enrolling:

“… if the district of residence determines that the pupil was previously subject to a founded incident of harassment or bullying as defined in section 280.28 while attending school in the district of residence.”

This means any student will be immediately eligible for varsity athletic competitions if the resident district has determined that the student exercising open enrollment was subject to a founded incident of harassment or bullying as defined by Iowa Code section 280.28.

Guidance on Varsity Athletic Eligibility of Students Open Enrolling due to Bullying and Harassment