Waitlists will be available on Feb. 24, 2026.

Students who do not receive an assignment are placed on a waitlist for their first-choice school only. Waitlist placement is in ranking order of their applicable tiebreakers.

Most waitlist movements starts in March, but waitlists will remain active through May 31. Enrollment Planning consistently monitors school assignment numbers and waitlists throughout the spring and summer to make as many moves as possible.

After May 31, any remaining waitlists will be dissolved, meaning they will no longer exist. Students remaining on the waitlist must attend their current assigned school.

This number fluctuates annually, and it is not possible for Enrollment Planning to know ahead of time. We encourage families to remain positive and optimistic, check your waitlist status on The Source, and to plan accordingly to attend your currently assigned school if you do not receive your choice assignment by May 31.

See the historical choice data for school choice results by school and grade level.

As open choice seats become available, the Enrollment Planning Department will notify families directly via email and/or phone and offer the seat to their student.

• Offers made between March andApril will have a 48-hour deadline to accept or decline the offer, otherwise, the offer will be extended to the next student on the waitlist.
• Offers made in Maywill have a 24-hour deadline to accept or decline due the approaching dissolution of the waitlist.

If you have not been contacted by May 31, your child is expected to attend their current assigned school at the start of the school year.

If you are offered a seat, you can choose to not accept the offer and remain at your current assigned school. You will be removed from the waitlist, except in the case of elementary dual language immersion programs. In these cases, you can decline the offer and remain on the waitlist for the preferred language to become available until May 31st.

Applications are processed based on the following ranking order:

• Sibling priority (if applicable). Students receive highest priority for assignment if they have a sibling attending for the current and following school year that choice school they are applying to.
• Geo-zone priority (for option schools only). Option schools have “geo-zones.” These geo-zones are a specific designated geographic area in close proximity to the Option school. Students living in these geo-zones receive higher priority after sibling. This map shows the geo-zones.
• Feeder School priority (if applicable).The feeder school tiebreaker applies when a student is attending an elementary school outside of the attendance area of their assigned middle school. The tiebreaker is applied for the middle school which would be the feeder of the school they are attending.
• A Lottery Number is the final tiebreaker; a random number between 01 and 99,999 generated for each student participant in school choice. The lower the number, the higher the ranking of the student for placement.

Standard Tiebreakers for available seats after assignment of attendance area students:

Attendance Area Elementary and K-8 Schools

1. Sibling
2. Lottery

Attendance Area Middle Schools

1. Sibling
2. Feeder School
3. Lottery

Attendance Area High Schools

1. Sibling
2. Lottery

Option Schools (all grades)

1. Sibling
2. Geographic Zone
3. Lottery

Students applying to a school where a sibling already attends and will be attending the following year are assigned a “sibling tiebreaker” that moves them higher on the waitlist.

Families applying for multiple siblings to the same school may request to “keep siblings together.” If selected, SPS will only offer a choice seat if we can offer seats for all siblings at that school. That means we may skip over a “keep together” sibling on the waitlist if all choice seats cannot be offered.