Lake Washington School District offers two options to parents who are looking for alternatives to the assigned neighborhood school. One option is to investigate choice schools, which are open to residents from all over the district. Each choice school has its own application process. The choice school section has more information on applying to choice schools, as well as information on each school. Parents must provide transportation to their student who attends a choice school.

Variance within Lake Washington School District
The other option is to receive an approved variance to another school in the Lake Washington School District. You can apply for a variance to any school within the district. Applications are not guaranteed acceptance. Whether your variance is approved or not depends primarily on whether there is room at the school to which you applied. Refer to the "Closed Schools" charts listed below to determine whether a school you may be interested in is available for a variance request.

Limits on Variances at High Schools
At the elementary and middle levels, schools are open or closed at each grade level. In the past, high schools have accepted all variance requests from students who live in the district. Beginning with the 2013-14 school year, each district high school will have a limit on the number of in-district variances they can accept.

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Closed means closed to all new In-District Variance Requests and Inter-District Transfers.

How to apply for an In-District variance:
Transferring to or from LWSD? See Between District Transfers

• Go to your current neighborhood school and ask the school's office to provide you with an In-District Variance Request Form.
• Fill out the In-District Variance Request Form completely and turn it in to your neighborhood school to which your student is currently assigned.
• The principal or his/her designee will sign the form and forward it to the requested school, one school request per form.
• You may not request a school that has been identified with a "closed" designation. This type of request will not be forwarded to those identified "closed" schools.
• The requested school will notify you whether or not your variance has been approved. Typically, elementary schools notify parents within the May/June time frame, though kindergarten variances may not have decisions communicated until August. Secondary schools are generally able to notify parents within the school registration window/March, provided the request was made within the identified Open Enrollment time period.

When to apply:

• The next open enrollment takes place from February 1 to 28, 2013. Apply any time during that period: no priority is given based on the date of application so long as it falls within those dates.
• Applications made during open enrollment period will be given first consideration. Decisions will be made on a school-by-school basis, depending on space availability. 
• Applications made after the open enrollment period will still be considered. However, due to space and staffing availability constraints, parents may not find out if their variance has been approved until just before the new school year begins.

When to re-apply:

• Once a student has been granted an in-district variance between two LWSD schools, they do not need to reapply. They can continue attending that school.
• Students going into 6th grade or 9th grade must file for new variances since they will be going to a new school, in a middle or high school. That new in-district variance may be granted if space is available.

Schools with no space available are closed
Before the open enrollment period, the district determines which schools will have room to accommodate variances and which will be closed to variances. A school may be open only for specific grades. Check this website or ask any school for a copy of the list.