L.A. Unified Schools Start Open Enrollment

It’s open enrollment time at Los Angeles Unified schools.

From now until May 24, students may apply to attend any public elementary, middle or high school--except some magnet campuses--regardless of where they live.

For students who apply to schools with limited spaces, placement is not first-come, first-served, according to Shel Erlich, a Los Angeles Unified School District spokesman.

Schools that have more applicants than spaces will select students in a lottery May 29; a waiting list will also be created.

All district schools now have applications and lists of how many spaces each school has available. School bus transportation will not be provided for students who choose to transfer from their local schools, Erlich said.

Enrollment for schools that have more spaces than applicants will be open until Sept. 13.

Students may apply to more than one school, but may only put in one application per school, Erlich said.

If a student is placed at a new school but his or her siblings are not, those siblings are granted the choice to attend that school as well.

Students who wish to remain in their local schools are unaffected by the open enrollment process.

According to the district, more than 18,000 students have switched schools under the open enrollment program, which began in the 1994-1995 school year.