Parents again have a chance to enroll their children in a school other than the district where they live. The online open enrollment application period for the next school year opens this week and runs through April 30.
Open enrollment is a tuition-free opportunity to apply to attend a public school in a school district other than the one in which they live.
Department of Public Instruction official Mike Bormett oversees the Open Enrollment program. The program began in 1999 and Bormett says it's grown dramatically. He tells us how many students are involved in the current year...
"..There were just under 63,000 students who participated in open enrollment and were attending school in a district other than which they lived. It's considered the state's largest parental option program...."
Parents are responsible for transporting the student to the non-resident district. Districts will notify applicants by June 5 if they were successful in enrolling in their desired school system. Bormett details how parents can apply....
"...They should go to the Department of Public Instruction's website..dpi.wi.gov That's out homepage, then there's a search box and just type open enrollment the link will take you to our open enrollment page..."
Bormett says parents can apply in up to three non-resident school districts. School districts get reimbursed for the students transferring into their districts, while also losing aid for students who go to other districts.
