Frequently Asked Questions

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What are the age requirements?

California law now requires that a child must be five years old on or before November 1, 2012 to be legally eligible for Kindergarten and six years old on or before November 1, 2012 to be legally eligible for first grade.

Transitional Kindergarten

Important Update regarding Transitional Kindergarten (TK) in SFUSD

In mid-January, the Governor proposed eliminating funding and the mandate for Transitional Kindergarten as part of his state budget proposal.  The legislature is required by law to adopt its budget by July 1 of each year. Given the uncertainty of whether or not California is going to fund and continue to mandate Transitional Kindergarten, SFUSD will offer TK at Havard Early Education School and McLaren Early Education School to students who are born between November 2 and December 2, 2007.

At this time the SFUSD Educational Placement Center is accepting applications from parents who wish to enroll their child in a TK program at these two sites.  SFUSD will guarantee a TK placement at one of these two schools.  If these schools become fully enrolled, SFUSD will offer every eligible student a TK placement at another SFUSD Early Education school.

Next Steps for Parents interested in TK at Havard or McLaren Early Education schools:

• If you have already submitted an enrollment application for Transitional Kindergarten and would like to enroll your child in TK at an Early Education school, please indicate on the supplemental Early Education School TK Enrollment form your order of preference for Havard and McLaren Early Education school.
•  If you have not already submitted an enrollment application and you would like to enroll in Transitional Kindergarten at an Early Education school, please submit the regular Kindergarten enrollment form and the supplemental Early Education School TK Enrollment form stating your order of preference for Havard and McLaren Early Education schools.

Please submit your application for TK by May 25, 2012.  Notification of assignment will be mailed out to families by June 1, 2012.

Why is the district changing course and not offering TK in elementary schools district-wide next year as originally planned?

In the Governor’s proposed budget for the 2012-2013 school year, school districts would not receive any funding for Transitional Kindergarten and the state would not mandate districts to offer it. Given that SFUSD cannot afford to offer Transitional Kindergarten in every school if it is not funded by the state, SFUSD will offer TK at two sites:  Havard Early Elementary School and McLaren Early Elementary School.

While the California Department of Education continues to provide updates and the situation may change over the course of the next several months, the uncertainty regarding the Governor’s proposal prevents the District from providing TK in the elementary schools as originally planned.  SFUSD’s elementary school assignment process is already underway for approximately 14,000 families, and the District cannot place TK applicants into integrated kindergarten programs without potentially disrupting kindergarten assignments district-wide if the TK requirement is eliminated..  In order to minimize disruption to the majority of the applicant families and to act in a financially responsible manner, the District needs to plan for stand-alone TK programs at sites that can accommodate TK children.       

The Governor’s budget is just a proposal. What if the legislature decides to mandate and/or fund Transitional Kindergarten for the 2012-2013 school year?

SFUSD will meet the requirement currently in law by offering TK spots at two Early Education sites with room to grow in 2012-2013: Havard and McLaren Early Education schools. SFUSD will notify any parent who has requested a TK slot to determine whether or not they wish to enroll in TK at Havard or McLaren Early Education schools.

How do I hold a spot for my child in TK at Havard and/or McLaren Early Education schools?

At this time the SFUSD Educational Placement Center is accepting applications from parents who wish to enroll their child in a TK program Havard or McLaren. Families should complete both the general enrollment application and the TK supplemental form.

What if more families want to go to Havard or McLaren for TK than there are spaces available?

Havard and McLaren Early Education Schools have room to grow. If there are more requests for a site than spaces available, the SFUSD Kindergarten tie-breakers will be used to determine placement. If more families request TK than there are spaces available at both sites, then another site may be identified.

If I do not want to hold a spot for my child in TK at McLaren or Havard Early Education schools, what else can I do to ensure a school placement for him or her?

If your child is in preschool and will not turn 5 by the November 1^st deadline, the District recommends that you ensure your preschool provider can maintain a space for your child for the 2012-2013 school year. If your child is not enrolled in a SFUSD Early Education school and you would like to enroll him or her for the 2012-13 school year, you may find out more information about eligibility for SFUSD preschool placements by contacting the Early Education Department at (415) 750-8500.

Twins and Multiples

If placement for twins, triplets or multiples into the same school grade and program is desired, each application must indicate the same school and program choices in the same order.

The parent/guardian must answer “YES” to the question on section 6 of the application form indicating that the twins should be assigned together. 

The student assignment process will seek to place students in the same school if space is available.

If assignment cannot be offered to one of the requested schools, then the students will be assigned together into the school closest to home with openings as space allows.

If you do not indicate that you want your twins to be assigned together, then they will be treated as individual students throughout the assignment process.  If they are separated, and a parent submits an amended application, then one twin will receive a sibling priority to the school in subsequent assignment periods for any available openings.

What happens if I check the “Yes” box on the enrollment application to have my twins assigned together?

If you check the “yes” box, indicating that you want your twins to be assigned together, then the student assignment process will treat them initially as individual students in the computerized process.  Once one twin receives a tentative assignment, the other twin will be linked with the sibling and the process will seek to assign the sibling to the school if space allows.  If there is no space for the second twin, then neither twin will be assigned.  If neither twin receives an assignment to any choice school, then both twins will be assigned to the school closest to home with two openings.

What happens if I don’t check the “Yes” box on the enrollment application to have my twins assigned together?

If you do not check the “yes” box indicating that you want your twins assigned together, they will go into the assignment process as individual students for the entire process.  There will be a possibility that they may be separated in this process. 

What are my options if the twins are separated?

The parent may submit an amended application form for the May or August Placement Periods for one twin to join the other.  The twin will receive a sibling priority in the assignment process to join their sibling for any future openings.  The assignment of a sibling is a higher priority after appeals, but can only be offered if there are openings at the school and program.  There cannot be a guarantee that there will be openings to accommodate siblings.

I want my twins assigned together, but I am concerned about getting a lower choice school, what are my options?

Parents of twins and multiples must make a decision regarding how they want the twins’ assignment to work.  Linking them together will ensure that they will be assigned together, but the trade-off will be that they both may be assigned to a lower choice or non-choice school.

Having twins treated separately in the process may result in, but not guaranteed of, one or the other twin receiving an offer to a higher choice school.

My twins are in a non-transitional grade (not K, 6^th or 9^th) but I would like to transfer them both to another school.  What are my options?

Applying for and receiving an assignment into a school and program in a non-transitional grade is only limited to available openings since students presently attending are expected to promote to the next grade.

It is recommended that parents of twins who want to transfer to another school or program check the “yes” box on the enrollment application so that the twins will only transfer if there are two seats available.  Otherwise, there is a risk that one twin may be assigned and the other not.  Once a twin receives a new assignment, they relinquish the former placement and there may be no opportunity to return.

Tie-Breakers

What is a tie-breaker?

Tie-breakers are preferences used to help place students in a requested school when the number of requests for a school is greater than the number of spaces available.

What are the tie-breakers for your elementary school choice?

Students requesting General Education Programs will be assigned to their highest ranked request as long as there is space at the school.  If there are more students applying than there are openings at a school, choice assignments will be made by looking to all the possible combinations of tie-breakers in the following hierarchical order:

1 Siblings

younger siblings of students who are enrolled in and will be attending the school during the year for which the younger sibling requests attendance

2 Attendance area SFUSD PreK (this only applies to kindergarten) 

students who live in the attendance area of the school and are also attending an SFUSD PreK program in the same attendance area

3 NCLB/Open Enrollment (this does not apply to kindergarten) 

 Students who attend a Program Improvement or Open Enrollment school as identified by State and Federal guidelines

4 Test score area

students who live in areas of the city with the lowest average test scores

5 Attendance area

students who live in the attendance area of the school

6 No tie-breakers

students who do not have a tie-breaker

Assignments are made to a requested school by looking to all the possible combinations of tie-breakers in hierarchical order.  For example, a request with sibling, SFUSD PreK, and low test score area tie-breakers will be ranked higher than a request with only a sibling tie-breaker.  Higher ranked tie-breakers always trump any combination of lower ranked tie-breakers.  For example, a request with a sibling tie-breaker is ranked higher than a request with a SFUSD PreK and low test score area tie-breaker.

If these tie-breakers do not resolve ties, then ties will be resolved by random lottery.

What are the tie-breakers for your middle school choice?

Students will be assigned to their highest ranked request as long as there is space at the school.  If there are more students applying than there are openings at a school, choice assignments will be made by looking to all the possible combinations of tie-breakers in the following hierarchical order:

1 Siblings

younger siblings of students who are enrolled in and will be attending the school during the year for which the younger sibling requests attendance

2 Middle school feeder (this only applies to 6th grade)

requests from students enrolled in an elementary school that feeds into the requested middle school.

3 NCLB/Open Enrollment (this does not apply to 6th grade)

Students who attend a Program Improvement or Open Enrollment school as identified by State and Federal guidelines

4 Test score area

students who live in areas of the city with the lowest average test scores

5 No tie-breakers

students who do not have a tie-breaker

If these tie-breakers do not resolve ties, then ties will be resolved by random lottery.

This phase in process will be effective for the 2012-2016 school years. Beginning in2017, the process will change to an initial assignment into the feeder middle school.  

What are the tie-breakers for your high school choice?

Students will be assigned to their highest ranked request as long as there is space at the school.  If there are more students applying than there are openings at a school, choice assignments will be made by looking to all the possible combinations of tie-breakers in the following hierarchical order:

1 Siblings younger siblings of students who are enrolled in and will be attending the school during the year for which the younger sibling requests attendance

2 NCLB/Open Enrollment (this does not apply to 9th grade)

Students who attend a Program Improvement or Open Enrollment school as identified by State and Federal guidelines

3 Test score areas

students who live in areas of the city with the lowest average test scores

4  No tie-breakers

students who do not have a tie-breaker

What are the tie-breakers for your city-wide schools?

Students requesting General Education Programs at a city-wide school, will be assigned to their highest ranked request as long as there is space at the school. If there are more students applying than there are openings at a school, choice assignments will be made by looking to all the possible combinations of tie-breakers in the following hierarchical order:

1 Siblings

younger siblings of students who are enrolled in and will be attending the school during the year for which the younger sibling requests attendance

2 SFUSD PreK (this only applies to kindergarten) 

students enrolled in an SFUSD PreK program at the city-wide school

3 NCLB/Open Enrollment (this does not apply to kindergarten, 6th or 9th grade)

Students who attend a Program Improvement or Open Enrollment school as identified by State and Federal guidelines

4 Test score areas

students who live in areas of the city with the lowest average test scores

5  No tie-breakers

students who do not have a tie-breaker

What are the tie-breakers for your elementary city-wide language programs?

If you’re applying for a city-wide program that has eligibility requirements, first the student must meet the eligibility requirements.  Then we use the tie-breakers.

Students will be assigned to their highest ranked request as long as there is space at the school.  If there are more students applying than there are openings at a school, choice assignments will be made by looking to all the possible combinations of tie-breakers in the following hierarchical order:

1 Current program with sibling

Requests from students who are currently enrolled in and wish to continue in the program AND who are the younger siblings of students who are enrolled in and will be enrolled in the program at the school at issue during the year for which the younger sibling requests attendance.

2  Current program pathway

Requests from students who are enrolled in and wish to continue in the program.

3 Siblings

other younger siblings of students enrolled in the program (and who will be continuing)

4  SFUSD PreK (this only applies to kindergarten) 

students enrolled in an SFUSD PreK program at the city-wide school

5 NCLB/Open Enrollment (this does not apply to kindergarten, 6th or 9th grade)

Students who attend a Program Improvement or Open Enrollment school as identified by State and Federal guidelines

6 Test score areas

students who live in areas of the city with the lowest average test scores

No tie-breakers

students who do not have a tie-breaker

If these tie-breakers do not resolve ties, then ties will be resolved by random lottery.

Are test scores a tie-breaker?

If you live in an area of the city that has low average test scores (the lowest 20 percent), this counts as a tie-breaker in school placement. The purpose of this policy is to expand opportunities for all San Francisco students.

Placement Appeals

The Medical and Family Hardship Appeals Committee meets after the first two placement periods to review appeals based on medical or family hardship. If the committee approves an appeal, it is sent to the Educational Placement Center for assignment into a school that can meet the student’s needs and that has space available.

Attendance Area

What is an attendance area?

Elementary attendance areas are geographic borders drawn around elementary schools throughout the district. Middle and high schools do not have attendance areas/geographical borders. 

How does my attendance area affect school placement?

We create attendance areas so there can be a system of helping you get placement in your attendance area school if you wish. You are not required to choose your attendance area school, nor can you be guaranteed a placement at your attendance area school. Middle school students get an initial placement offer based on the elementary school they attend, regardless of where they live. If middle school students decide to choose different schools, they will get an attendance area tie-breaker based on where they live.

Does every elementary school have an attendance area?

No. City-wide schools and city-wide programs do not have an attendance area.

Attendance Area SFUSD PreK Tie-Breaker

How will the attendance area SFUSD PreK tie-breaker work?

This is an attendance area tie-breaker that will apply to students who live in an attendance area and attend an SFUSD preK in the attendance area.

Will this tie-breaker apply to me if I attend an SFUSD preK but do not live in the attendance area?

No. This is an attendance area tie-breaker that will only apply to students who live in an attendance area and attend an SFUSD preK in the attendance area.

City-Wide Schools & Programs

What does ‘city-wide’ mean?

City-wide means there is no attendance area, and as a result city-wide schools and programs do not provide a tie-breaker for students who live near the school.

Which schools are city-wide?

• Alice Fong Yu (K-8 immersion school)
• Bessie Carmichael (K-8)
• Buena Vista Horace Mann (K-8 immersion school)
• Chinese Education Center (newcomer)
• Chinese Immersion School at DeAvila (immersion school)
• Fairmount (immersion school)
• Lawton (K-8)
• Lilienthal (K-8)
• Marshall ES (immersion school)
• Mission Education Center (newcomer)
• Revere (K-8)
• Rooftop (K-8)
• SF Community (K-8)
• SF Public Montessori School

To discover more about these schools, take a look at new school guides.

What are examples of city-wide programs?

Newcomer programs are a great example. These serve students who have recently arrived in the US and help them learn English. Other city-wide programs are language programs listed as city-wide on the application form. These are language programs that are available only at a limited number of schools, and have a separate enrollment capacity.

Special Education

What about placement for students receiving special education services?

The Individual Education Program (“IEP”) team will determine appropriate placement for special education students. To the extent possible, given the unique needs of students as outlined in their IEP, the student assignment process used to assign general education students will be used to assign special education students. We are currently redesigning special education services, and more information will be available as the redesign of special education unfolds over the coming months. For more current information, contact the Educational Placement Center.

Transportation

What about transportation?

The transportation infrastructure iscurrently being revised to meet the guidelines of the new Transportation Policy.  The district will offer limited general education transportation services to a limited number of SFUSD’s elementary and middle schools.  Bus routes that are currently in place for the 2011-12 school year maybe discontinued in 2012-13 or at a later date.   New routes may include limited bus service from areas of the city with the lowest average test scores, as well as routes that will support the elementary to middle school feeder patterns. Additional information about transportation services for 2012-13 will be available in February 2012.  During the summer of 2012, updated school bus routes for the 2012-13 school year will be mailed to students in schools that will receive transportation services along with an application for transportation services.   All students who would like access to or from a school that offers transportation services will be required to submit a request for general education transportation services.  Since SFUSD may not be able to provide general education transportation services to all families who request services, we encourage you to review the following web pages to explore other transportation options: www.sfmta.com, www.sfsaferoutes.org, www.walkingschoolbus.org, www.sfbike.org/kids, www.WePool2School.org.

For additional information, please call Transportation Services at (415) 695-5505.  For the most current information, please talk to a counselor in the Educational Placementor.

Click here to see the most recent update on the re-design on Transportation services for the 2012-2013 school year.

More About The Policy

How does this policy relate to Lowell and Ruth Asawa SF SOTA high schools?

If you’re applying to Lowell High School or the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, their admissions policies have not changed and this new school placement policy does not apply.  Lowell High School uses academic admission criteria, and Ruth Asawa School of the Arts has an audition process.

How does this policy affect students who are already in a school?

The policy will take several years to implement fully and will begin with students entering transitional grades in Fall 2012.  All currently enrolled students may remain at their current school.

Can I transfer to a different school?

If you’re currently enrolled in a school and are interested in a transfer for any reason, you can submit a transfer request. We’ll process your transfer when feasible or where required by law.

How do we know if the assignment process is meeting the goals of the student assignment policy?

The SFUSD is developing specific criteria and many measurements for the success of the new student placement system. The Superintendent will conduct an annual assessment and develop an annual report that will be presented to the Board of Education by January of each year starting in 2012.

Great things are happening for our kids in San Francisco public schools.