Open Enrollment for Non-District Resident Students

ISD 199 Open Enrollment for Non-Resident Students

Open enrollment, Board Policy 509: Enrollment of Nonresident Students, provides the opportunity for non-resident families to attend a District 199 school. The open enrollment statute allows the board to pass a resolution to limit the open enrollment of non-resident students to a number not less than 1% of the total enrollment at each grade level in the district.

District-Wide Open Enrollment

  1. Enrollment of non-resident students in grades 6 - 10 is limited to a maximum of 5% non-resident students or up to 95% of the staffing enrollment threshold for each grade level. Grades 11 and 12 are not included in the staffing enrollment threshold limits due to additional enrollment considerations in those grades. The Director of Learning will approve or deny open enrollments based the parameters set by the School Board.

  2. Enrollment of non-resident students in grades K – 5 is limited to 90% of the staffing enrollment threshold for each grade level within a building. The Director of Learning will approve or deny open enrollment for non-resident students based on the parameters set by the School Board.

  3. Non-resident students who apply for Open Enrollment and have a sibling currently open-enrolled in the non-resident district, students who are part of a Minnesota Department of Education approved Achievement and Integration plan, or students who have a parent or legal guardian who is a Minnesota resident who is an employee of the non-resident district, will be given priority over students who do not fit any of those criteria.

  4. There is no deadline to submit the application; however, applications are processed in the order they are received. As per the Minnesota Department of Education non-resident students can expect to receive an approval or disapproval from the non-resident district 90 days after applying for the current or upcoming school year based on the parameters set by the School Board.

  5. Elementary requests for open enrollment may be approved; however, the district retains the right of building assignment for the student.

  6. Once resident students have been accepted into the Atheneum program (grades 2 – 5), open enrollments will be accepted up to the class size enrollment threshold for each grade level.

  7. Students moving during the school year outside of the ISD 199 attendance boundaries may apply for open enrollment and will be able to finish the school year at the current school.

  8. Open enrolled students will continue at their assigned elementary school throughout their elementary school experience unless there are extenuating enrollment situations which require the District to balance class sizes between buildings.

  9. If a grade level is closed to open enrollment, students will be placed on a waiting list. Families will be notified of available space for open enrollment if space becomes available.


November 27, 2017