Somewhere in your district right now, a parent is convinced the school one town over has better teachers, shinier gym floors, and a lunch menu straight off a cruise ship. So they fill out an open enrollment application, and it lands on your desk. Although this pattern is repeated every year across South Dakota, every year the same handful of deadlines and denial decisions trip up administrators. Before the applications start stacking up, let's run through the ground rules.
Your capacity standards are the whole ballgame. Under SDCL 13-28-44, every board must adopt specific, written capacity standards for its capacity of a program, class, grade level, and school building operated by the board and the pupil/teacher ratio. Here's the part people forget: those standards are the only thing you're allowed to use to accept or deny an application. Not "everyone knows that family." Not the student's disciplinary rap sheet. Just capacity—determined by those standards. If your resolution hasn't been dusted off since the day it was adopted, now is the time for your board to review it.
Mind the deadlines and the five-day clock. Applications are due the last Friday in September (first semester) and the last Friday in January (second semester) under SDCL 13-28-43. You must review them in the order received after you have requested and received the complete student records (including all special education records). You have five days from the date of your decision (not the date you receive the application) to notify the applicant. Also remember, the school board does not need to approve or disapprove applications, and this activity can be delegated to “the board’s designee” such as the superintendent.
Siblings cut the line. If an applicant is the sibling of a student already open-enrolled and currently attending your district, that application jumps to the front and receives priority over everyone else.
The IEP myth that will get you in trouble. Repeat after us: a student needing special education is never an automatic "no." If you think you can't meet the student's needs, there is a process you must follow prior to denying the application. Under SDCL 13-28-42.1, you must pull the records and convene an IEP team meeting with representatives from both districts.
As always, reach out to us with any questions at ksb@ksbschoollaw.com or 402-804-8000.
Looking for more information on student-related issues? KSB School Law's 2026–2027 Quarterly Webinar Series — "Play Like a Pro (And Keep Your District Out of the Penalty Box)" — is built specifically for South Dakota administrators and follows a student from the front door to the sidelines and back: how they get in, whether they show up, what rights they carry once they're here, and every other way they land on your roster. Four one-hour sessions, each loaded with the forms and checklists to put the law into practice:
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Where Do They Belong? Every Enrollment Question That Isn't Open Enrollment (April 2027)
Be on the lookout for a blog post with registration information in early September!