Who is eligible?
Students in grades K-9 are eligible provided that they have attended school in the sending district for at least a full year before applying to a choice district. If a student started the previous school year in one district within the state and then moved to another district within the state, the student is still eligible for school choice for the following year.
What are the criteria for considering a transfer request?
School choice in New Jersey is designed to help match students to school curriculum-related programs that correspond to their interests. School boards will not consider transfer requests for extracurricular, athletic or social reasons. They may deny a transfer request if the transfer would cause the student to spend so much time in transit that his or her learning ability would suffer. Additionally, a school board may deny a transfer request if the transfer would upset the ethnic, racial, economic or geographic diversity of the student population of a school.
School boards may not deny a request for transfer because of intellectual or athletic ability, disability, English-language proficiency or any other basis prohibited by state or federal law. However, the board may deny the request of a special-education student if the student’s personalized education program could not be reproduced in the transfer school or if the transfer would place too great a burden on the transfer district.
How many requests will be granted?
A district may decide to cap transfers at 7 percent per grade per year, or it may also request to have its cap raised to 10 or 15 percent if this amount of transfers will not harm the education of the students that remain in the district. If a district receives more transfer requests than it can grant, it will hold a lottery to decide who is allowed to transfer. However, it may give preference to siblings of its resident students who are already attending schools in other districts.
Application Deadlines
There are two application cycles to decide which students will be allowed to apply for a transfer for the following year. The first cycle is held in the fall. Applications must be submitted by November 1 (or if November 1 falls on a weekend, the next business day after November 1) and parents will be notified whether or not their child will be allowed to participate by November 27 (or the next business day).
The second cycle will be held in the spring to fill new openings and openings left after the first cycle. Applications must be submitted by March 1 (or the next business day) and the decision will be returned to parents by March 25 (or the next business day).
If your child is offered the chance to transfer, you must then submit an application to the district that your child wants to transfer to. For the first cycle, you must submit this application by December 5 and you will receive a decision by January 5. For the second cycle, you must submit the application by April 5 and you will receive a decision by May 5.
If your child’s application is accepted by the transfer district, you must notify the transfer district whether or not your child will enroll for the following year. For first cycle applications, you must notify the transfer district by January 15. For second cycle applications, you must do this by May 15.
The Waiting List
Some school districts may choose to include a waiting list for each cycle. If the district your child wants to apply to has spaces left because many of the students who were offered the chance to transfer chose not to enroll, those on the waiting list may be given the chance to enroll. For the first cycle, the district will notify parents of students on the waiting list by January 25 if there are additional spaces left over. The parents must then notify the transfer district by February 4 of their plans to enroll or not to enroll. For the second cycle, parents will be notified by May 25 and they must respond by June 4.
| Deadlines for Application for Interdistrict Transfer | ||
| Cycle 1 | Cycle 2 | |
| Applications submitted to home districts | November 1 | March 1 |
| Home districts notify parents of acceptance | November 27 | March 25 |
| Applications submitted to transfer districts | December 5 | April 5 |
| Transfer districts notify parents of acceptance | January 5 | May 5 |
| Parents notify transfer districts of intent to enroll | January 15 | May 15 |
| Waiting list students are offered enrollment | January 25 | May 25 |
| Waiting list students notify transfer districts of intent to enroll | February 4 | June 4 |
Once a student submits notification of intent to enroll, they must enroll in the transfer district unless both the home and transfer districts agree to allow the student to return to the home district. If the student’s parents or legal guardians move to another district, the student is not required to enroll in the transfer district.
Appeals
Parents may appeal to the Commissioner of the State Board of Education if their request is denied.
Intradistrict Transfers
Each district has its own policy regarding intradistrict transfers. Inquire at your district board of education to learn how to transfer your child to another school within your district.
Your district is required to allow your child to transfer to another school within the district if his or her school has been classified as “in need of improvement” under No Child Left Behind.
Under this law, if no other school in your district has the capacity to accept your child, your district must try to form an agreement with another district so that its students may transfer. Learn more in the article What No Child Left Behind Means for Your Child
Transportation
If your child transfers, your home district must pay for transportation up to a capped amount. If the district is unable to transport your child for less than this amount, you will be granted this amount and you will be responsible for arranging for your child’s transportation.
Additional Resources
Check out these articles from GreatSchools.net:
Charter Schools Offer an Array of Choices
Get the Best Education for Your Child in New Jersey
See the New Jersey Department of Education's webpage on Interdistrict School Choice
