We Can All Take a Breath Now

Opposition to open enrollment in Kansas was strong a few years ago. Superintendents from “good” districts lamented that throngs of students whose parents couldn’t afford to buy a house in their district would rush in. Parents in Facebook groups said their teachers would burn out more quickly and children would lose coveted positions on sports teams as the unwashed flocked to “their” schools. Fortunately, the Kansas Legislature passed a strong, mandatory open enrollment law anyway.

This fall is the first time Kansas families can choose a school in a district other than the one in which they live. The crowds of uninvited students haven’t appeared. The Shawnee Mission district admitted it could accept as many as 1,000 transfer students. It actually received a few dozen.

What could possibly be the explanation? Maybe people underestimated parents. Parents who make the effort to join the transfer program, find a way to get their children across town every day, and accept that their children’s friends will most likely not live in the same neighborhood may not be as susceptible to the “shiny object” explanation as superintendents feared. Perhaps the program is working as designed—as a much-needed option for those who are truly struggling in their assigned public school.

Maybe the word just hasn’t gotten out. It will likely take some years for the program to grow to participation rates that other states have experienced after decades of open enrollment. Parents will take their time to learn about all of the options within a reasonable distance and will get more comfortable with asserting their right to take a seat in another district.

Maybe some of the unpleasant things claimed about poor parents put them off at first. Legislative hearings in 2022 led some folks in upscale districts to say the quiet part out loud. They aren’t interested in throwing open their doors to low-income, potentially low-performing students.

Time will tell. The fact remains that public schools belong to the public and they should be free and open to any student who wants to attend them.