The parent/legal guardian and student must be an Arizona Resident (physically live in Arizona) to apply for Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption.

1. When a Chandler Unified student is NOT on an Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption and is wishing to attend a DIFFERENT school within the Chandler Unified School District boundaries.
2. When a student lives in another Arizona school district boundary other than Chandler Unified School District and wishes to attend a school in the Chandler Unified School District boundary.
3. When a student is attending a Chandler Unified school and they move out of the attendance school boundaries of the current school during the school year, and they want to continue at the same school.
4. When a student is applying for a Dual Language Immersion, Early Entrance into Kindergarten, Elite Performance Academy or Gifted Services.

Priority Group 1: Resident transfer students who currently attend the school and their siblings

Example #1: John lives in the Conley Elementary attendance boundary and his son attended Andersen Elementary last school year and his son will return to Andersen Elementary next school year.

Example #2: Grant lives in the Santan Elementary attendance boundary and his daughter attended Basha Elementary last school year and she will be returning. Grant will submit an Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption Application for his kindergarten son to attend Basha Elementary.

Priority Group 2: Children of employees and previously accepted and enrolled non-resident students

Example #1: Simon works at Perry High and he will submit two Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption Applications for his children to attend CTA Freedom.

Example #2: Randy lives in the Gilbert Elementary School District boundaries and his children attended Santan Elementary last school year. They are returning to Santan for the current school year.

Priority Group 3: Resident transfer students

Example: Karen lives in the Tarwater Elementary attendance boundary and she will submit an Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption Application for her son to attend Hancock Elementary.

Priority Group 4: Previously accepted and enrolled non-resident students' siblings

Example: Tim lives in the Tempe Elementary School boundaries and his 1st grade daughter attends Andersen Elementary (Priority Group 2). He will submit an Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption Application for his kindergarten son to attend Andersen Elementary.

Priority Group 5: Non-resident students

Example: Gary lives in Maricopa and will submit an Open Enrollment Application for his daughter to attend Jacobson Elementary.

The following information is for incoming *kindergarten - 6th grade (7th-8th for Elite Performance Academy).

*Documents are not required at the start of the school year for kindergarten students.

If your child is NOT attending a CUSD school, the following Academic Profile documents are required for the school to review your Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption Application: (PDF preferred) for submission; 

• attendance report
• *discipline report
  • If your student does not have a discipline report, please request a statement from the school office on letterhead signed by an administrator that your student does not have a discipline report. 
• report card.

If appropriate, have the 504 Plan, Gifted Test scores, and the full IEP ready if one or more of these applies for your student.

Please understand CUSD does not request student records for Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption Applications. It is the parent/legal guardian's responsibility to provide the required documents for a non-enrolled CUSD student.

You have two options to submit these documents.

Option 1: Attaching the documents (PDF preferred) to the application

Option 2: Uploading the documents to a secure folder (PDF preferred) 

Preparing your documents to be submitted via the online Open Enrollment Application, look in the Apple Store or Google Play Store for an app like CamScanner-Phone PDF creator or similar, to turn your phone into a mobile scanner and create a PDF of your documents.

NOTE: The District does not take responsibility for any apps that you may download.

If you choose to submit the required Academic Profile documents to the secured folder, the documents MUST be received within 5 school days of the submitted application or the application will be DENIED.

For students currently attending one of our schools, no need to submit Academic Profile documents. The school administration will review your student's Academic Profile within Infinite Campus.

• An application is needed for EACH student.
• When completing the application, you will have the option of selecting one (1) school in category, Category 1 (Classic curriculum, Chandler Traditional Academy curriculum, Dual Language curriculum) and/or Category 2 (Gifted curriculum).
• Submitting multiple applications for one child will result in the application being denied or admission being revoked.
  • Example: You submitted an application and you have not heard the status of the application, you then submit another application. Both applications will be cancelled.
  • If you share custody with the absent parent, please decide who is going to submit the application.
    
• Providing false information on the application will result in the application being denied or admission being revoked.
• An email confirmation will be sent once the application has been submitted. If you do not receive your email confirmation after 20 minutes, please check your junk mail or spam folder for the email confirmation. If you still haven't received the email confirmation, send an email to Elementary Education to verify your application was received.

Please allow yourself enough time to complete the application in one session. You will not be able to save it and come back later to complete it.

Once an elementary Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption Application is approved, it is not necessary to reapply to the same school each year, unless the student wishes to change schools.

An approved Open Enrollment/Boundary Exemption Application does not carry over from school to school.

• All completed applications will be assigned to a Priority Group from the Office of Elementary Education.
• The school administration will verify their class ratios of capacity and this will determine how many Open Enrollment Applications will be approved for each grade level.
• The school office will access their online Open Enrollment Report(s) to review their applications. The applications are reviewed by the Priority Group and by the date and time for each grade level. The student's Academic Profile (attendance report, discipline report and grade report) will also be reviewed. If the student is currently NOT attending a CUSD school and the required Academic Profile documents are not uploaded with the application, you have five (5) school days to provide them. Your email confirmation will have the link to upload the documents.

Category 1 and Category 2 are reviewed separately, and one does not impact the other.

• If your School Choice is approved, you will receive an email from the Office of Elementary Education with your next steps for registration/transfer and the school will contact you by phone and/or email. 
• The parent/legal guardian must confirm the acceptance of the approved Open Enrollment with the school office within five (5) school days from the approval email date or the seat will be offered to the next applicant.
• School registration/transfer may take place AFTER you receive the Open Enrollment approval email. See the Student Registration and Enrollment Information section for more information on registration.
• Once accepted, continuing Open Enrollment is subject to review each year without reapplication if continuing at the enrolled site. 
• It is expected that the student on an Open Enrollment will remain at the approved school for the entire year. Revoking an Open Enrollment requires district approval.

The application and the student's Academic Profile (attendance, discipline and grades) are reviewed by the school administration. If the school administration has denied your application, you will receive an email with the reason for the  denial.

Capacity Wait List

If capacity does not exist, no seat available, no need to reapply. Your application will be placed on a Capacity Wait List. If a seat becomes available during the applying school year, you will receive a new email with your next steps for registration/transfer, followed by an email and/or phone call from the approved school. 

If you decide to submit a new Open Enrollment Application to a different School Choice, your Open Enrollment Application that was denied for capacity will no longer be considered.

Category 1 and Category 2 are reviewed separately, and one does not impact the other.

• If you would like to cancel your application because you want to change your School Choice, please contact the School Choice and ask them to cancel your application. Then you can reapply to a different school.
• If you change your mind about your submitted application, please contact the School Choice and ask them to cancel your application.
• If you made an error on the application (wrong birth date, a name spelled incorrectly, wrong name, wrong gender, address entered incorrectly), forward your email confirmation to tobin.stephanie@cusd80.com with the corrected information. We cannot make changes to your Category 1 and/or Category 2 School Choice selections.

The 2025-26 School Review Dates will be published on Friday, November 8, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. 

The requested school will review applications, November 18-August 1, 2025 for the 1st quarter.

*The ONLY applications processed outside of the time frame above are: (a) families that are currently attending one of our CUSD schools and have moved out of the school boundary and are requesting to stay at the same school (b) Arizona resident families that are moving into one of our attendance boundary schools and are wanting to request a different school other than their home attendance boundary school (c) emergency placements.

The requested school will review applications, September 2-12, 2025 for the 2nd quarter.

*The ONLY applications processed outside of the time frame above are: (a) families that are currently attending one of our CUSD schools and have moved out of the school boundary and are requesting to stay at the same school (b) Arizona resident families that are moving into one of our attendance boundary schools and are wanting to request a different school other than their home attendance boundary school (c) emergency placements.

The requested school will review applications, December 1-12, 2025 for the 3rd quarter.

*The ONLY applications processed outside of the time frame above are: (a) families that are currently attending one of our CUSD schools and have moved out of the school boundary and are requesting to stay at the same school (b) Arizona resident families that are moving into one of our attendance boundary schools and are wanting to request a different school other than their home attendance boundary school (c) emergency placements.

The requested school will review applications, February 17-February 28, 2026 for emergency placements ONLY for the 4th quarter.

*The ONLY applications processed outside of the time frame above are: (a) families that are currently attending one of our CUSD schools and have moved out of the school boundary and are requesting to stay at the same school (b) Arizona resident families that are moving into one of our attendance boundary schools and are wanting to request a different school other than their home attendance boundary school (c) emergency placements.

We understand the importance of knowing the status of your Open Enrollment Application. Please be patient, as it may take some time before hearing about the status of your application. The applications are NOT reviewed by the Office of Elementary Education, as they are reviewed by the school in the order that they were received (date and timestamp). You will receive an email from the Office of Elementary Education once your application has been reviewed by the school.