Open Enrollment

Families may apply for Open Enrollment (OE) to any school within SCUSD, including: 

• Schools of Choice are specialized schools/programs where enrollment is based solely on the OE lottery.  
• Neighborhood Schools are schools with attendance boundaries based on the home address. Neighborhood schools must first accommodate students who live within the attendance boundaries before accepting students on OE.

• Parents/Guardians who would like to request that their child attend a school other than their assigned neighborhood school.
• If a parent/guardian currently has a child attending a school via open enrollment and has a new sibling who will also be enrolling,
• If you applied for OE last year and were not admitted, you will need to reapply this year if you want to be considered for your school of choice.
• Students with an approved Intradistrict Transfer who would like to continue attending the current school in the following year.
• SCUSD Employees living outside the district boundaries.

1. To qualify for Open Enrollment (OE), students must be currently attending an SCUSD school or be pre-enrolled for the upcoming academic year.
2. Families must submit an OE application during the designated application period. Only one application is allowed per student. Please note that submitting an application will not impact your student's current enrollment at their home school until you accept an OE offer.
3. Enrollment Center personnel will review OE applications for accuracy, apply established priority criteria, and subsequently conduct the lottery.
4. School sites collaborate with the Enrollment Center to determine space availability based on current and projected enrollment. 
5. Families will receive notification regarding the acceptance of their OE application or their placement on a waitlist.
   • Families are allotted five days to accept the OE offer.
   • Students placed on a waitlist will remain on the waitlist until the subsequent OE period.
6. School sites and the Enrollment Center continuously monitor enrollment and may make OE offers through the subsequent enrollment period.

This section applies to students currently enrolled in a school within the SCUSD boundaries. You will need your child's student identification number to apply for Open Enrollment (OE). If you do not know your child’s student identification number, please contact the Enrollment Center.

OE Instructions for Current SCUSD Students (TK-11)

1. Complete the OE Application through the online application system Scribbles. 
   • OE Step-By-Step Instructions (English)
   • OE Step-By-Step Instructions (Spanish)
2. After submitting your OE Application, its status will be displayed as "submitted" on your Family Dashboard. A confirmation email with a unique confirmation number will also be sent to you. You also have the option to configure your account settings to receive phone and text notifications.

Note: When applying for OE and reporting "sibling priority" (i.e., a sibling is already enrolled at the school of choice), please be advised that the connecting link in the database to establish sibling status is the "sibling's permanent identification number." If you are unsure of the sibling's permanent identification number, please contact the Enrollment Center.

This section applies to students who are NOT currently attending SCUSD.

New students to SCUSD for the upcoming school year must be pre-enrolled through our centralized Enrollment Center before applying for Open Enrollment (OE), as you will need your child's student identification number to apply for OE. The OE Application system verifies that all student IDs are active or pre-enrolled.

Timeline for Student Registration:

• To ensure eligibility for an OE application, it is essential to register your child as soon as possible.

• It may take approximately three to five business days from the date you submit your child's registration for the Enrollment Center to verify it and issue a student identification number.

• Once registered, it takes the OE Application System up to 24 hours for the new student ID to become visible and usable in the application system
• Important: Families who register their child on the very last day of the OE application window will not be eligible to submit an OE application.

You can visit the Enrollment Instructions webpage for more information about the registration process.

OE Instructions for New Students

1. Determine your school of residence using the School Locator
2. Register online through our online registration system to obtain your permanent student number.
   • Enrollment for the 2026-2027 school year opens December 1, 2025. 
   • Due to the high volume of registrations, the processing time for new student registration is typically three to five business days. You will receive your child's student ID number via email.
3. 24 hours after receiving your child’s student ID number, you may complete an application through the online application system Scribbles. 
   • Important: Families who register their child on the last day of the OE application window (February 6) will not be eligible to submit an OE application.
     • OE Step-By-Step Instructions (English)
     • OE Step-By-Step Instructions (Spanish)
4. After submitting your OE Application, its status will be displayed as "submitted" on your Family Dashboard. A confirmation email with a unique confirmation number will also be sent to you. You also have the option to configure your account settings to receive phone and text notifications.

Note: When applying for OE and reporting "sibling priority" (i.e., a sibling is already enrolled at the school of choice), please be advised that the connecting link in the database to establish sibling status is the "sibling's permanent identification number." If you are unsure of the sibling's permanent identification number, please contact the Enrollment Center.

Application Period: January 7, 2026 - February 6, 2026

Families may submit one application per student for kindergarten through 12th grade. Although the date of your application does not affect your chances in the lottery, we encourage you to begin the application process as early as possible in case you need assistance. 

You do not need to submit an OE application if you would like your child to attend their school of residence.

Notification Period 

Once the application period closes, all applications are entered into a random lottery system. Families will be contacted with an offer or a waitlist number via their preferred method of contact, as listed in their online enrollment account (email and/or text). Notifications will be sent no later than the end of the day:

• High School: February 24, 2026
• Middle School: February 26, 2026
• Elementary School: March 10, 2026

Students are offered placement based on space availability. If you receive an OE acceptance letter, your confirmation response is due within 5 days of the offer.

Application Period: April 1, 2026 and closes on the first day of school

The Late Application Period for Open Enrollment (OE) allows families a second opportunity to apply for OE. Students currently on the OE waitlist who wish to select a second choice, or those who missed the OE deadline, may apply during this period. Applications received during this period will be placed on the current waitlist in the order received. Only one application per student will be accepted during the Late Application Period. 

Students may be on two waitlists; however, once a family accepts an OE offer, they are removed from all waitlists.  

Students are offered placement based on space availability. If you receive an OE acceptance letter, your confirmation response is due within 5 days of the offer.

To complete a Late Open Enrollment Application, follow the “Step-By-Step Guide” in the “Open Enrollment Instructions” section above. Once the Late Open Enrollment Application is submitted, you will see the status of your application as “submitted” on your Student Dashboard. 

Late applications will not be accepted after the first day of school.

Board Policy 5116.12 outlines lottery priorities, which include: 

1. Siblings of students who will be enrolled at the same school for the subsequent school year.
2. Students currently attending the school through the Overload process and who apply for Open Enrollment during designated Open Enrollment windows
3. The children of employees who work at the school.

4. The children of other employees.

As long as the employee privilege remains in place, siblings of employees’ children attending district schools will be afforded the same priority status as resident siblings.

Note: Twins applying to the same school must be entered separately and will each receive a lottery number. When applying, also check the "Twins" box and enter the Permanent Student Number of the sibling twin.

Information sessions for new families are available for elementary choice programs, either online or in-person. All information sessions can be viewed here:  Information Session Dates and Times online and more information can be found on the school's website. 

Middle and high schools host transition information sessions for incoming 6th and 9th graders will be shared through ParentSquare messages.

• A School of Choice is a specialized school/program where enrollment is based on the Open Enrollment lottery.  Kindergarten offers are based on the Student to Teacher ratio. Offers for grades 1-5, vary and are dependent on the number of current students who disenroll from the school/program and Student to Teacher ratio.
• Neighborhood Schools are schools with attendance boundaries. To find your neighborhood school, please refer to the district's School Locator webpage. OE offers to neighborhood schools vary as students who reside within the school boundary must first be accommodated. 

• For a School of Choice your child’s OE waitlist number indicates how many students must withdraw/decline an offer from the program before an offer can be made to your child.
• For Neighborhood Schools we closely monitor current enrollment numbers and historical trends. Students may not be offered a seat until enrollment numbers become more accurate which may be closer to the beginning of the school year.