How the Kansas open enrollment law is playing out in Wichita-area schools

Aaron McCarty sees houses going up everywhere around Maize and thinks of the families who will fill them — and the children who will fill up classrooms.

So he believes the Maize school district’s decision to shut off the enrollment of students from other towns makes sense, he said.

1. All Kansas school districts now operate under the same open enrollment rules, but Maize and other districts have said they can’t take anymore students.
2. The Andover school district opened up to students from elsewhere for the first time, while Derby plans for the largest fresh intake in the Wichita area.
3. School districts warn that the impacts of the law create unpredictable financial impacts.

“Are we going to need more teachers, and can we keep the teachers we have?” McCarty said. “You want to be able to predict how many kids are coming in.”

A new Kansas law lets students attend any school that has room. But Maize Unified School District 266 is one of a handful of districts across the state not accepting nonresident students this fall.

Like Maize, almost all districts blocking open enrollment are in wealthier areas of the state. The average household income in Maize exceeds $100,000, and other Kansas districts that said they have no room reflect similar wealth. The U.S. Census reported statewide average household income as $94,000 in 2022.

Supporters of the open enrollment law saw it as a way to give families a choice and encourage local districts to work harder to keep students. Opponents feared it would take away control from local districts and further increase the gap between rich and poor districts. After all, more students mean more state tax dollars for a local district.

So far, the new open enrollment law has had limited effects.

By the numbers

Kansas lawmakers revised the state’s open enrollment policy in 2022. The new law requires districts to determine how many students they can handle.

If a district expects to enroll fewer students, it must open up spots to students from other districts. But there is no state-mandated formula. Each district sets its own numbers.

The Maize district found , based on current enrollment and projected growth, that it didn’t have any room for out-of-town kids this year. The district forecasts an enrollment of 7,533 by 2029, up from 7,400.

“We’re predicting and guessing the best we can,” Maize Superintendent Raquel Greer said. “We don’t want to be in a situation in August where it’s like, ‘Oh, we need to hire five new teachers.’ That’s the reason we decided to not do out-of-district enrollment.”

Other Wichita-area districts opened about 1,600 seats to nonresident students. Five districts of note will welcome 461 new pupils.

State money follows kids

Open enrollment isn’t new in Kansas. The state has allowed school districts to accept students from outside their boundaries for about 30 years. But even districts that have long accepted nonresident students are worried about the new law’s effect.

In past years, districts could enroll local students in July and August, then decide if or how many out-of-district kids to accept.

The new law turns that on its head, requiring districts to estimate how much room they have for out-of-district kids in the spring — months before schools know how many students have signed up for classes.

“Enrollment impacts everything — our funding, our staffing decisions, our facilities,” Leavenworth Superintendent Kellen Adams said. “There’s just that level of uncertainty now.”

Open enrollment is filled with uncertainties. School districts don’t know how many students they will lose to other districts until head counts are finalized in September.

They also don’t know if all of the nonresident students they admitted will actually enroll.

School buses don’t have to transport out-of-district students. It’s usually up to those parents to get their kids to school by other means, and some may decide the destination is just too far. Other students may have applied to more than one school district or chosen to stay at their current school. Students can start attending, then change their minds and go back home.

Suburban Wichita districts mostly admitted young students, a commitment likely to have long-term consequences. The new law requires them to keep those students on their rolls until they graduate high school, drop out or decide to return to their home districts.

Wichita Public Schools, conversely, saw the most demand at the high school level. Northwest High School was the most popular choice .

“High school in general is where we’ve seen the highest level of demand,” said Dee Dee Stroot, executive director of innovation and implementation for Wichita Public Schools.

Ups and downs

Any swings in enrollment could lead to a significant financial gain or loss for districts.

This year, schools will send their head counts on Sept. 20. The state uses those numbers to calculate how much it sends to schools.

The formula pays at least $5,800 for every student, and the payment can surpass $15,000 for students who need more resources, such as kids with special needs or who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

Kansas schools spend an average of $17,650 per year on each student. Whatever state aid doesn’t cover, local property taxes and federal dollars have to cover.

Wichita Public Schools relied on about $137 million in local revenue last year, against nearly $592 million from the state and nearly $192 million from the federal government. The total funding comes out to $20,176 per pupil.

State aid follows students to their new districts, but local property taxes and federal money don’t.

It falls to districts taking in students from elsewhere to work out how to cover any extra costs, without being able to tax the local communities the students came from.

Federal dollars are less predictable than state and local money.

Federal aid is assigned per district via complex U.S. government rules, such as for COVID relief. On average, federal aid covers 11% of district revenues nationwide, but it made up 20% of Wichita Public Schools’ revenues in 2023-2024 thanks to an influx of COVID-relief grants.

“If you look back to 2019-20, federal revenues were $85.4 million, a far cry from FY24’s $191.7 million,” said Susan Willis, USD 259 chief financial officer, in an email. “The 2024-25 anticipated federal revenues will be much closer to ‘normal.’”

The home district keeps the local taxes and federal dollars but may end up spending it anyway.

In Leavenworth, Adams said, a student leaving the district represents an average of $7,000 in lost state funding.

Ten fewer students, he said, equal one less teaching position. But those students would likely be scattered across grades, so the district has to eat the cost.

No backstop

The state doesn’t have much open enrollment oversight. Each district has broad leeway to admit and reject students.

Districts have the last word on enrollment capacity and whether students are in good standing.

Frank Harwood of the Kansas State Department of Education will conduct open enrollment audits, but his office can’t do much beyond passing along statistics to state lawmakers.

“We’re just collecting information,” Harwood said, “and we’ll make a report to the Legislature.”

Enrollment trends could well echo those of the previous year, he said. About 93% of districts had some form of open enrollment before the new law.

Wichita Public Schools enrolled about 900 out-of-district kids last year. Those students are entitled to come back and are not included in the new open enrollment numbers.

Andover has open enrollment for the first time, with 125 new incoming students. Derby welcomed 510 last year.

Districts won’t know the total number of returning students until September.

This story has been updated with data from Goddard Public Schools.

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