Nonresident - Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, as an eligible BSD employee your student will be considered the same as a resident student in the application process. They may apply to be included in the incoming lotteries or apply to be added to the waitlist. If your student’s grade is incoming kindergarten or 6th grade and you are interested in Choice Schools/Programs, please submit a Choice School/Program entry level application to be included in the entry level lotteries. If your student is not entry level or you missed the application period, you may submit a waitlist application. Refer to the email sent to your @bsd405.org email address for additional information.

Your student may to continue enrollment in the feeder pattern of the approved school.  For additional information please refer to Procedure 3120.1P, Criteria for consideration of Attendance Area Transfers.

Student Placement will email the request to submit a Choice Transfer Request to your resident district in January. Please wait until you receive the email before submitting it.

Yes, your student may retain enrollment at the approved school and continue in the feeder pattern. For additional information please refer to Procedure 3141P, Criteria for consideration of nonresident applicants.

You will receive an email in late January requesting that you renew your Choice Transfer Request and must submit it by the requested deadline.

Your student may retain enrollment at the approved school and continue in the feeder pattern. For additional information please refer to Procedure 3141P, Criteria for consideration of nonresident applicants.

Yes, this is required each year. You must submit a Choice Transfer Request to the school district where you live, even if your student has never attended school in your resident school district.

Student Placement will email a reminder in January to renew your CTR for the upcoming school year. Please wait to submit the Choice Transfer until Student Placement asks for it as this helps create efficiencies. Thank you in advance for submitting it as soon as you are asked. Students who do not submit the Choice Transfer each year will be withdrawn.

Yes, new nonresident students who are interested in enrolling in a Bellevue School District school for the next school year need to first submit an application. Nonresident students cannot take the spot of a resident student, so they will be placed on the lists after resident students. They will be placed on the waitlists in the order they apply (they are not placed in a lottery), so do not delay!

Most likely, yes! Many of our schools are accepting nonresident students. Nonresident students must be in good standing regarding grades, attendance and discipline in order to attend our schools.

New nonresident students who are interested in enrolling in a Bellevue School District school for the next school year may submit their information to be added to the waitlist. Learn more on the Transfer Into the Bellevue School District webpage.

You may apply to the waitlist. A link will be available on the Transfer Into the Bellevue School District webpage. Applicants will be placed on the waitlist in the order the applications are received. The nonresident waitlist will be available until October 1; it will not be carried over from year to year.

Applicants may apply for only one neighborhood (attendance area) school:

• Elementary: Ardmore, Bennett, Cherry Crest, Clyde Hill, Enatai, Lake Hills, Medina, Newport Heights, Phantom Lake, Sherwood Forest, Somerset, Spiritridge, Stevenson, Woodridge
• Middle: Chinook, Highland, Odle, Tillicum, Tyee
• High: Bellevue, Interlake, Newport, Sammamish

You will be able to indicate whether you are interested in other schools if space is available. If space becomes available at the requested school and we are able to place nonresident students, we will contact you with a placement offer. If space is not available at the requested school in your student's grade level, we may contact you about other schools that have capacity.

Thank you for your patience as we go through this process. We will contact you as quickly as possible, but please know it may not be until around the start of school.

If your student is placed on a waitlist, please plan on attending your resident school district. If space becomes available, Student Placement will contact families immediately with a placement offer. It is important to get students in their schools as soon as possible. There is no need to continually check with Student Placement to see if your student has changed their position on the waitlist.

No. Any student with multiple requests will be removed from consideration and all requests may be denied.

Nonresident students may apply for the following choice school or language programs. They will be placed below resident students on the school or program list requested by grade level, in the order received:

• Elementary language programs – Arabic Language Program (Ardmore), Hindi Language Program (Ardmore), Korean Language Program (Newport Heights), Japanese Language Program (Bennett), Puesta del Sol (Spanish Immersion), Spanish Dual Language Program (Lake Hills, Sherwood Forest, or Stevenson)
• 6^th grade entry – Big Picture (nonresident students may submit a waitlist application)

Nonresident students will not be accepted for less than full-time enrollment.

Although we hope to be able to offer a spot to nonresident students who apply to attend a BSD school, resident applicants have priority. Placement offers are dependent on enrollment numbers and staffing (actual or projected) at our schools. 

Your chances of being accepted into the Bellevue School District increase if you have flexibility regarding which school you would like your student to attend.

Sometimes placement may not be offered until just before or just after the start of school in September, so please make plans to attend school in your home district in the event we cannot offer your student a spot. 

If BSD can place your student, you must reply to the email offer received from Student Placement. We will reply with next steps and enrollment instructions, including how to provide the required nonresident paperwork during the enrollment process.

Nonresident students who have been accepted to the Bellevue School District do not need to provide residency documents.

Instead, follow these directions during the enrollment process:

• Select the “I will deliver a copy…” option when asked to upload residency documents.
• Then, upload a copy of the confirmation email you receive after you submit the choice transfer request in the field titled “Choice Transfer Confirmation.”

Each year all nonresident students, including the children of eligible nonresident employees, who are attending the Bellevue School District, must submit a Choice Transfer to their resident school district (the one associated with their address) requesting to be released to the Bellevue School District.