Enrollment Process Simplification

• SFUSD is moving to one application round, followed by running waitlists.
• Applicants only need to apply once, for the Main Round application deadline by January 31, 2025. We will not have a separate Round 2 or Wait Pool round. Once Main Round assignments 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. 
• After the Main Round, new applicants can submit waitlist applications to join the same process.
• Applicants will be able to wait on up to five schools’ waitlists rather than having to pick just one waitlist choice.
• Open Enrollment and 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 and are automatically placed on a waitlist after receiving their Main Round school assignment, the waitlist order will be determined based on lottery results from the Main Round, including tiebreakers and random numbers. 

Families who join the waitlist after the Main Round application deadline will be added to the bottom of the waitlist for their choices.

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. They will, however, be added to the bottom of any new waitlists when they join (as will all new applicants). If they change the order of their existing waitlist schools, they keep their position on each waitlist.

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

The waitlist application opens immediately after the Main Round application deadline. For the 2025-26 school year, the Main Round application deadline is January 31, 2025; the waitlist application opens on February 1, 2025.

Applicants who apply in the Main Round must wait until they receive their Main Round assignment letter in late March before submitting a waitlist application to change or add waitlist choices, if they wish to do so at that point. 

The waitlist application closes in August, a few days before the first day of school .

The Enrollment Center will begin to offer spots to students from schools’ waitlists on April 21st, 2025. This date is also when we will begin Open Enrollment, when students can enroll immediately into any school where there is still space and no waitlist. 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 Main Round application by the Main Round deadline. For the 2025-26 school year, that deadline will be January 31, 2025. 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. 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.