Intradistrict Transfer Request Process

• Neighborhood priority is applied to a transfer request if the student resides in the historic neighborhood of the District-wide magnet school they are requesting, and the District-wide magnet school has been selected as Choice #1. Neighborhood priority is only applied to Kindergarten and TK requests.
• If requesting College Park Mandarin Immersion, Fiesta Gardens International School, North Shoreview Montessori, or Parkside Montessori for grades 1-5 (and 6-8 at Parkside, North Shoreview, and Fiesta Gardens), students will be assessed before being accepted into the program; Kindergarten and TK students do not need to be assessed. 
• Students requesting Bayside Academy Mandarin Immersion Program must have completed the elementary immersion program at College Park.

• A student must be either currently enrolled and attending school in the SMFCSD, or be registered for the upcoming school year, in order for a transfer request to be processed.
• Plan to attend the school of assignment unless you receive communication that the transfer has been granted.
• Priorities are weighted in the lottery - Choice 1 is weighted higher than Choice 2.  Priority is applied to Choice 1. Click here for the list of transfer priorities.
• Transfer requests are granted only if there is room in the school and grade level requested.
• A transfer request is not a school registration and is not a guarantee of enrollment.
• You may request up to two (2) schools of choice.
• Transfers can be granted after the lottery if space becomes available.  The last day a transfer can be granted is the Friday before the first day of school.
• All transfer requests expire the Friday before the first day of school for the 2026- 2027 school year - August 7, 2026. Transfers will not be granted after that day.

Student Services will annually review the enrollment capacity at all school sites to determine space availability for purposes of enrollment and transfer requests. Available space is determined by program capacity, staffing entitlement, program considerations, and facilities. Student Services will annually establish and publish enrollment cut off dates for the purpose of determining district enrollment priorities.

Transfer Requests are approved based on the following descending order of priorities:

1. Continuing 5th and 8th Grade Students – former residents of the school’s attendance area who have moved into another school’s attendance area within the district and wish to complete their final year at the original school, provided space is available.
2. District Employees – children of district employees who have requested attendance through the Employee Preference transfer process. Employees need to work at least 50% of 1 FTE or a minimum of 20 hours/week to be eligible for this priority.
3. Siblings – siblings of students concurrently (at the same time) enrolled on an approved intradistrict transfer.
4. Overflow Students – students overflowed to another school who are requesting to remain at the overflow school.
5. Continuing Students –  current students who move to another attendance area within the district and wish to remain at their current school. 
6. Continuing Interdistrict Transfer Students – students living outside the district currently enrolled in one of the district schools with an approved interdistrict transfer and requesting to continue at the same school, providing they continue to meet transfer student criteria.
7. Preschool Students – preschool students who live within the district and attend a feeder SMFCSD preschool program (Language Immersion or Montessori) and are requesting the same program at the same site for TK or K.
8. Neighborhood Students - 1/3 of the seats for the incoming Kindergarten and TK classes at College Park, Fiesta Gardens International School, North Shoreview Montessori, and Parkside Montessori shall be set aside for in-district students from the historic neighborhood
9. New Intradistrict Transfer Students – students who live within the SMFCSD who are requesting a transfer to attend a District-wide magnet school.
10. Interdistrict Siblings – siblings of interdistrict transfer students concurrently (at the same time) enrolled in the district.
11. Elementary to Middle School Interdistrict Transfer Students – elementary students on an interdistrict transfer requesting an ongoing interdistrict transfer to a district middle school.
12. Out-of-District Preschool Students – preschool students who live outside the district and attend a feeder SMFCSD preschool five days a week.
13. New Interdistrict Transfer Students – all other out-of-district transfer requests.

SIBLINGS

Siblings of concurrently (at the same time) enrolled students attending a school on an intradistrict transfer will receive sibling priority in the intradistrict transfer lottery at the requested school if space is available. If requesting concurrently and one sibling is approved through the lottery process, additional siblings will have sibling priority added to their transfer request.

SAN MATEO-FOSTER CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT STAFF

Children of district employees working 20 hours or more per week or at least 50 percent of 1.0 (one) FTE at the time of application and during the year for which the application is made will receive priority in the transfer process provided they submit a transfer request by the posted transfer deadline and space is available. Employment status must be verified annually. Employee priority applies to those who are directly employed by the San Mateo-Foster City School District.

For a full listing of intradistrict transfer regulations, please see SMFCSD Board Policy 5116 .1.

In order to request a transfer to a neighborhood school (a non-magnet school), one of the following site-based priorities is required:

• Continuing 5th/8th grader - former residents of the school’s attendance area who have moved into another school’s attendance area within the district and wish to finish their 5th or 8th grade year, provided space is available
• Child of District employee - child of a District employee who works 20 hours a week or 50% of 1 FTE
• Sibling - siblings of students concurrently (at the same time) enrolled on an approved intradistrict transfer
• Overflow - students overflowed to another school who want to remain at the overflow school
• Continuing - current students who move to another attendance area within the district and wish to remain at the current school

For the 2026-2027 school year, students are eligible to enter:

• Kindergarten if they have reached 5 years of age on or before September 1, 2026. Date of birth is between September 2, 2020 - September 1, 2021.
• Transitional Kindergarten (TK) if they have reached 4 years of age on or before September 1, 2026. Date of birth is between September 2, 2021 - September 1, 2022.

Early admittance to Kindergarten or TK is not permitted.

Kindergarten-aged students are not admitted to TK.

Students are enrolled based on the grade eligible by their date of birth. There are no exceptions.