School Choice

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If accepted, out-of-district families will need to provide the following information during online registration:

• Verification of child’s age. Acceptable documents include a copy of the child’s birth certificate, baptismal record, or hospital record.
• Verification of current address. Acceptable documents include a copy of current lease, proof of home ownership, or a utility bill such as gas, electric, water or cable.
• For high school students, also provide transcripts from previous school for grades 9-12.
• Proof of vaccination. Colorado law requires all students attending Colorado schools and licensed childcare facilities to be vaccinated against certain diseases unless they have a medical or non-medical exemption on file (Colorado Board of Health rule 6 CCR 1009-2).

Approval of out-of-district enrollment is based on available space, programming, and staffing at the requested school. When the number of applicants exceeds the number of spaces available, students will be selected by a random selection lottery. Each enrollment window will have its own capacity limits by school. In addition to space and program availability at the selected school, enrollment may be denied based on attendance/truancy and/or behavior.

Yes. The Out-of-district application is for all of the WPS neighborhood schools. The Innovation Schools have a separate application that all interested students must fill out, regardless or whether or not they live in the district. Please contact the school directly to request the application. In addition, Hidden Lake Secondary School requires that families attend an enrollment night before students can be considered for acceptance. If you are interested in attending HLSS please attend one of their upcoming enrollment events. Learn more about the Hidden Lake Enrollment process.

No. Returning out-of-district students will be rolled up to the next grade in their same school or to the next assigned school if student has reached the highest grade level at their school. All out-of-district students are granted acceptance to WPS schools on a probationary basis. Out-of-district enrollment is based on available space, programming, and staffing at the requested school and enrollment may be rescinded at any time due to attendance or behavior issues.

When an in-district student has been enrolled in any school under the School Choice program, that school becomes the new “home school” through the highest grade offered at the school.

Out-of-district students and students enrolled in a school other than their district-designated neighborhood school are responsible for their own transportation. If space is available on an existing transportation route, parents/guardians may apply for the district’s ridership program.

Applicants for School Choice enrollment are initially accepted without regard to educational disability. However, if an accepted student has an IEP or Section 504 plan, the District will request a copy during the registration process, which occurs after acceptance but before enrollment. The District will use the IEP or Section 504 plan to determine whether the requested school can meet the educational requirements of the current IEP or 504 plan with existing staff and program elements. If not, an IEP or Section 504 team will be convened to determine whether the student can receive a free, appropriate, public education (“FAPE”) in the requested school notwithstanding the limitations at that school. If the IEP or Section 504 team determines the student cannot be provided FAPE in the requested school, then enrollment will be denied.

Denial decisions about out-of-district enrollment may not be appealed.

Please contact SchoolChoice@wps.org with questions.