SAUK RAPIDS -- With the 2018 referendum in the rear view, Sauk Rapids-Rice is moving ahead with its new open enrollment policy.

There was a new decision made at the board meeting Monday night. The district will shut down open enrollment for 2nd and 7th grade across the district. Kindergarten at both Pleasantview and Mississippi Heights were closed as well.

Interim Superintendent Bruce Watkins says they made this decision to make sure kids fit with the policy update. He says they want to make sure they'll have space in schools, and these were their largest classes moving forward.

"They're the two largest classes we have, and the board's previous action was to make sure students fit into the middle, and high schools moving forward. So if they're closed at this number, they'll always fit."

Next year's 2nd-grade class is at 374 kids, and 7th is at 370.

The district made the initial decision last month, before the referendum, to cap and reduce open enrollment. The plan will cap the open enrolled students coming into the district at the same level of students leaving the district through open enrollment elsewhere. That number was not capped before.

For an example, when the new policy goes into effect, if there are 600 students leaving, the district will cap open enrollment at 600 for that year. If 500 leave the next year, the district will cap the number at 500, and so on.

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