Enrollment Process Simplification

• SFUSD is moving to one application deadline, followed by running waitlists. The process will be ongoing rather than staged into "rounds."
• Applicants only need to apply once, by January 31, 2025. Once assignments for on-time applicants are announced in March 2025, applicants who did not receive their top choice school will get automatically placed onto waitlists for their top choice schools, up to 5 schools, without having to re-apply. 
• Late applicants, who missed the deadline, can submit waitlist applications to join the same process. While they are waiting, they will be assigned to a school that has space and will learn about that assignment in April.
• Rolling waitlist notifications will begin in April, so that applicants can enroll as soon as seats become available.

When families are added to a school’s waitlist, they will be able to know their waitlist position number, beginning in March when assignment letters are sent. As students are enrolled off the waitlist on a rolling basis between April and August, they will be able to see their waitlist number gradually decreasing as they get closer to the top of the waitlist.

For all those who applied by January 31, the waitlist order will be determined based on lottery results from the Main Round, including tiebreakers and random numbers. After the waitlist order is determined, new tiebreaker information (for example, if a family were to move into a neighborhood that receives preference for a given school) will not change waitlist standing with one exception: siblings. If one sibling is admitted to a school, that will change the other sibling’s waitlist spot. 

Families who join the waitlist after the Main Round application deadline will be added to the bottom of the waitlist for their choices, after all on-time applicants.

Families can cancel their waitlist choices at any time, in ParentVUE or by emailing or calling the Enrollment Center.  Also, if a family receives a waitlist offer that they do not wish to accept, they can decline it and remain enrolled at their previous assigned school.

Each student can be on a maximum of 5 waitlists. 

Each waitlist is specific to a school, grade, and program. If a student is applying to multiple programs at the same school, they will be on a different waitlist for each of their program choices. 

Yes. Families will be able to cancel their waitlist choices, change their order, or join additional waitlists after they receive their initial waitlist status notification. 

Applicants who join a new waitlist will be added to the bottom of it (as will all new applicants). If they change the order of their existing waitlist schools, they keep their position on each waitlist.

If aplicants are already on 5 waitlists, they will need to cancel one of their requests in order to join a new waitlist.

Applicants who apply on time must wait until they receive their assignment letter in late March before changing their waitlist choices or adding new ones. 

No changes to the Wait List will be accepted after August 6.

The Enrollment Center will begin to offer spots to students from schools’ waitlists on April 21, 2025. On this same date, students can enroll immediately into any school where there is still space and no waitlist, regardless of whether they applied on time or not. The Enrollment Center expects to make new waitlist offers every few weeks until the end of August.

Families who cannot attend their assigned school due to unique hardships such as medical or family situations will be able to request an Appeal for one school. Appeals are considered only for cases where the student’s needs cannot be met at the assigned school, and can be met at a different specific school placement. An independent appeals committee reviews appeal requests and determines whether to approve or deny each request. Decisions made by the appeals committee are final, and cannot be further appealed. Details and dates for the appeals submission will be shared at the time of Main Round school assignments.

Yes, in some cases, applicants get moved to the top of the waitlist based on a correction, an approved Appeal, or a new sibling placement. In these cases, the other students on the same waitlist will see their position number increase, meaning there are more applicants between them and the front of the line.

Families will have the option  to accept or decline the offer to transfer to their waitlist school. They will be able to Accept or Decline in ParentVUE, or by emailing or calling the Enrollment Center. If a family declines their waitlist offer, their previous school assignment will be preserved. If a family accepts their waitlist offer, it will replace their previous assignment. 

If a family does not reply by the deadline, their offer will expire. They will no longer have the option to transfer into that school. Their lower-ranked choices will also be lost at that point, but their higher-ranked choices will not be impacted. 

ParentVUE is not accessible outside the United States, so in order to accept or decline a waitlist assignment while outside of the country, families should email or call the Enrollment Center. 

Once a family receives an offer for one of their requested schools (for example #2), they will continue to be on the waitlist for their higher-ranked choices (for this example, #1). 

The Enrollment Center will send a message for each distinct school/program offer when an applicant reaches the top of that waitlist, and the family will have the option to accept or decline each offer. 

As soon as a family receives an offer to one of their requested schools, they are automatically removed from schools that are lower on their choice list, regardless of whether they accept or decline the offer to transfer. For example, if a family receives their #2 choice, their requests to your #3, #4, and #5 schools are canceled automatically. 

Families should ensure that the order of waitlist schools reflects their true order of preference at all times. If an applicant prefers their #3 school more than their #2 school, the family should edit their application so that the order of their choices matches that preference. When an applicant changes the order of their existing choices, the applicant’s waitlist position will remain the same for each school. Editing the application in this way will not push an applicant to the bottom of the waitlists.

Yes, families can continue to join waitlists for additional schools. However, after the Main Round application run deadline (1/31), applicants will be placed at the bottom of the waitlist at the time they apply.

Interdistrict applicants should submit the application by the January 31, 2025 deadline. Interdistrict permits will be due by February 17, 2025.  Interdistrict students can only be assigned if an approved permit is received from their district of residence.

Interdistrict applicants who apply and submit their interdistrict permit on time may receive a school assignment in March, along with SF residents.

Interdistrict applicants can also participate in the waitlist process, regardless of when they submit their application and permit. As more SF residents join waitlists, they will go ahead of interdistrict applicants on the same waitlists. Each time this happens, interdistrict applicants may see their position number increase, meaning there are more students between them and the front of the line.

The Enrollment Center will be providing training  for family-facing staff at school sites during the Fall of 2024, and will include information about the new process in family enrollment workshops in October and November. The annual Enrollment Guide will reflect this change, and district webpages including sfusd.edu/apply will contain additional details, dates, and resources.

In late 2023, staff sought family and school feedback on these changes. We conducted 15 different community feedback sessions in English, Spanish, and Cantonese, in which over 200 people participated, and surveyed a total of 882 families and other stakeholders. Engagement included 25 different Site Leaders who we engaged asynchronously and through a virtual meeting. Responses were largely in favor of the proposals:

• The proposed changes have a great deal of support across the board: 74% of respondents supported the proposal to eliminate Round 2 and 79% supported allowing multiple wait lists, with only 10% and 9%, respectively, opposing these proposals.
• We looked across race, income, and zip code, and for every demographic at least 60% of respondents supported both proposals. (To see family responses disaggregated by race/ethnicity and income, and school responses please review our data slides.)
• School Principals are also very supportive of the proposed changes: 80% and 76% supported each of the 2 proposed changes.