By Jeannette Andruss on Jan 23, 2024

Public School Districts opening enrollment for the 2024-25 school year

O.C. public schools are starting to plan for next school year, especially for students starting universal transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or those seeking to transfer campuses.

Photo by Jaime Lopes / Unsplash

Attention parents in Orange County! You might not realize it, but it’s already time to start thinking about the 2024-25 school year. School districts across the region are opening up enrollment for next school year.

For parents of students starting school for the first time or those transitioning from elementary to middle school, or middle school to high school, this is a time to explore options for what’s next in your students' educational journey.

Public school students are generally assigned to attend their neighborhood school, but districts do offer intradistrict transfers for students wishing to attend another campus within their district boundaries. Students looking to enroll in a public school campus outside their home district can also apply for an interdistrict transfer.

For local school districts, the open enrollment period is an important time to showcase what their campuses are offering, especially as many school districts face declining enrollment and seek to attract more families. In Orange County, the the public school student population has declined by nearly 36,000 since 2018-2019, according to EdSource.

School districts including the Anaheim Union High School District and the Ocean View School District are in the process of consolidating campuses due to a drop in the number of students attending their schools.

Enrollment for the 2024-25 school year in the Ocean View School District opens January 26. It has 14 campuses serving TK-8th grade students in Huntington Beach, Westminster, and Midway City. The district is promoting a series of Parent Information Nights in the coming weeks with the marketing tagline: “Come Fall in Love with OVSD.”

Flyer advertises parent information nights for the Ocean View School District.

Ocean View is one local school district that offers transitional kindergarten next school year to any student who turns four years old by Sept. 1. Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) is a new public school grade level that precedes kindergarten. California has been phasing in UTK for the past several years.

Westminster School District also offers UTK to children turning four by Sept. 1. The district has 17 schools with students from TK-8th grade. The campuses are located in Westminster, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, and Midway City. WSD is holding information nights at each of its elementary schools on January 24.

The Los Alamitos Unified School District is another O.C. district holding an information night for parents as it opens up enrollment. It will host parents of incoming UTK and kindergarten students on Jan. 25. The district has nine campuses located across Seal Beach, Rossmoor, and Los Alamitos.

Flyer for the Los Alamitos USD promotes the district's UTK/Kindergarten information night.

For people living outside the Los Alamitos USD boundaries, applications for new students seeking inter-district transfers will be accepted starting February 26. The district will not accept transfer applications from new 11th or 12th graders seeking to attend Los Alamitos High School for the 2024-25 school year, according to the district’s website.

Enrollment for UTK in the Cypress School District begins in February. For students outside the CSD looking to enroll in one of its six TK-6 campuses, the transfer enrollment period is from February 5 through April 19, according to the CSD website.

Students attending public schools in O.C. seeking to leave their district of residence must fill out paperwork from their home district to transfer to a public school outside of their district. Check with your local district for more information.

Public School Districts opening enrollment for the 2024-25 school year

Click on each district below for information about enrollment:

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