The final year for open enrollment in the Bismarck School District netted 40 applications, mostly for kindergarten.

Bismarck School Board members approved the open enrollment requests at the school board meeting Monday.

"This was the last chance" to open enroll, Superintendent Paul Johnson said.

A new policy starts in April that ends open enrollment in the school district, unless a sibling already attends a Bismarck Public School. Open enrollment only applies to families who live outside the district boundaries. Families within the district can still request a transfer between schools.

Along with the policy change came tighter rules for placing students in schools. The school and the grade must have space. This makes schools like Murphy and Northridge off-limits for open enrollment requests, although the district discourages school preferences. A rare exception to the school assignment policy could be if a sibling already attends.

Space constraints caused the district to eliminate the open enrollment policy. They wanted to stem the growth from out-of-district students in light of its need for additional schools.

The last year of open enrollment saw about the same number of students open enrolling in the district as the current school Year. In 2007-08, the district open enrolled 41 students. Once a student is open enrolled in the district, they can attend the district until they switch to another district.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@bismarcktribune.com.)