Apply to SFUSD Schools by Jan. 31

Scheduled to be published in Sing Tao Daily in Chinese on Sunday, Jan. 12.

By Dr. Maria Su

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that it's already time for families to be thinking about enrollment for next school year. With the enrollment application deadline for the 2025-26 school year coming up just around the corner – on January 31 – I want to share how you can learn about each of our schools and how we have made our enrollment process this year simpler and more transparent. 

Learn about schools

Here are some key tools families can use now to help you find the best schools to add to your application: 

• Use SchoolFinder to create a filtered list of schools that match the criteria you are looking for, such as proximity, start times and language programs.

• Check out our Enrollment Guide to learn more about the schools you are interested in and get informed about other things related to enrollment such as transportation, after-school programs and special education.

• Sign up for a tour to get a true feel for the schools on your list!

I’m also excited to announce that we are hosting our first-ever Bayview Enrollment Fair on Jan. 22 to showcase our incredible elementary schools in the Bayview area. Come meet the wonderful principals and teachers at our schools in the Bayview! You can learn more about the fair at sfusd.edu/bayviewfair. 

On a related note, more four year olds will be eligible for transitional kindergarten (TK) in the 2025-26 school year. With more students eligible for TK, we’ve added 18 new TK programs for the 2025-26 school year! You can learn more about our TK programs at sfusd.edu/tk. 

How is the new SFUSD enrollment process simpler?

Since I became superintendent, one of the most common questions that I have been asked is, “What are we doing to improve enrollment?” One way that we can improve enrollment in SFUSD is by reducing obstacles for our families to get into the schools that they want. To that end, we have eliminated the multiple application rounds and will be allowing applicants to wait on several schools’ waitlists at once. Here’s how this new process will work:  

• Anyone who applies by Jan. 31, 2025 will be notified of their school assignment on March 17, 2025. If they don’t get their first choice school we will automatically add them to the waitlist of any school higher on their preference list than the one they were assigned (for example, if they get their fourth choice school we will add them to the waitlists for their top three schools).
• We will allow students to be on a maximum of five waitlists at a time.
• Parents can use ParentVue to view their waitlist number for each school and have a better sense about when they might get an offer from one of their waitlist schools. The change also decreases the amount of applications families have to submit and deadlines that they need to remember.

How else will these changes improve our enrollment process?

Families will get their “final” school assignment earlier: In this new process, hundreds of families could start receiving offers in April. Between April 21 and Aug. 31, 2025, we will update waitlists and make offers to everyone at the top of each schools’ list, as space allows. An earlier school assignment means more time for families to prepare for their new school or more time for sending and receiving schools to better support students. 

For more information about this simplified enrollment process, or about any other aspect of our enrollment process, you can visit our Enrollment Center in-person or call the center at 415-241-6085 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays. You can also find more information at sfusd.edu/enroll

Key dates 

Lastly, I want to share some key dates for families to keep in mind related to enrollment for the 2025-26 school year: 

• January 31, 2025 - Application Deadline - Deadline to submit, cancel, change or update any choices for grades TK-12.
• Week of March 17, 2025 - Families who applied by January 31, 2025 will receive school offer letters. 
• March 27, 2025 - Families must accept their school offer to hold a place, or decline and apply for a different school. 

We hope that this new enrollment process and all the different ways you can learn about our schools will make it easier for families to find the best school for their child. Whether you are a new or returning family, we look forward to welcoming you to SFUSD!