Changes to How the District Handles Overenrollment

Dear SCUSD Families,

We are writing to you about a change in the way the District will be handling overenrolled schools this year.

Sometimes, the number of students in a grade level exceeds the maximum capacity allowed for that grade, and the District must transfer some students to another school during the school year. This process is called ConCapping.

For the 2026-27 school year, there will be changes to ConCapping process as part of our stipulated judgment with the California Attorney General’s Office.

We are simply informing you of the changes to this process, and we are not notifying you of an imminent ConCap situation at your student’s school.

What is ConCapping?

ConCapping is short for Contract Capacity. This process must happen because the District signed an agreement with the District teacher’s union known as the collective bargaining agreement, or the CBA. The District and the teacher’s union agreed to the following maximum number of students in a classroom:

• Kindergarten to 3^rd grade: 24 students per teacher
• 4^th- 6^th grade: 30 students per teacher

The District recognizes that this process may be difficult and inconvenient for families, and the District will make every effort to transfer students only when necessary.

When you enroll your child in their elementary school, you must acknowledge that you understand that your child may not be able to attend their neighborhood school due to space limitations, and that your child may be enrolled in another school that has an opening.

Why is ConCapping Changing?

In January 2026, the District signed a stipulated judgment with the California Attorney General regarding past enrollment policies and practices that were found to be unlawful. The stipulated judgment requires the District to change how it used to choose students for ConCapping. The District used to choose the last student to enroll as the first student chosen to be transferred out of the school. This selection process violated state law.

The stipulated judgment requires the District to develop a new Board Policy and Administrative Regulation about ConCapping and to form a ConCap Work Group.

The Work Group includes staff from school sites most affected by ConCapping and parents and guardians of current District students who have been ConCapped.

The Work Group will review data on how ConCapping affects different student groups, gather community input, and make suggestions on how to improve the ConCapping process.

The Work Group will hold public meetings during the school year where families and community members can share their views. The District will announce each meeting on on ParentSquare 20 days, 10 days, and 1 day before the meeting, and will post a summary of each meeting on the District website within 14 days.

The District would like to hear from you. Please consider participating, especially if your family has experienced ConCapping.

What is the process and who will be ConCapped?

While the Work Group continues to develop the new policy, in order to comply with state law and the stipulated judgment, the following ConCapping process will be in place for the 2026–2027 school year.

Over the summer:

Whenever possible, Principals will inform families during the week before school begins if their student’s grade is overenrolled.  If a family is notified, they will have a chance to volunteer to transfer their child to a school with space at this time. When a family volunteers, they will receive notification of their option(s) from the District’s Overenrollment Technician.

The District greatly appreciates volunteer transfers before the start of the school year, so that student learning is minimally disrupted. Any student who is ConCapped, including volunteers, will have the option of returning to their original school if space opens up later in the school year, or the student may remain at their new school. The student will also have the option to return to their original school the next year or remain at their new school for the remainder of elementary school.  The student will also be excluded from the ConCap Lottery for the next year.

First day of school through the 15th day of school:

On the first day of school, Principals will continue to ask for volunteers, if ConCapping is still needed.

If not enough families volunteer, then the District will run a lottery to select the student(s) to ConCap. The District will run the ConCap Lottery between the 10^th and 15^th day of the school year.

The first run of the lottery will include every student in the overenrolled grade who registered at their school between the last day of the previous school year and the date of the ConCap Lottery.

If the first run of the ConCap lottery cannot select enough students to ConCap, then there will be a second ConCap lottery run.

The second ConCap lottery run will include every student who registered during the third trimester of the previous school year.

If the second run of the ConCap lottery still cannot select enough students to ConCap, then there will be a third ConCap lottery run.

The third ConCap lottery run will include every student who registered during the second trimester of the previous school year.

The District will continue this process until the grade is not overenrolled.

The following students will not be ConCapped under state and federal law and the stipulated judgment:

• Students identified as experiencing housing instability or homelessness
• Foster Youth
• Students with disabilities whose IEP designates they require a specialized academic setting (SDC)
• Students who have been administratively transferred
• Students with a sibling who is already enrolled at the same school are exempt from the lottery. This exemption does not apply when siblings are enrolling at the school at the same time.
• Students whose parent is an employee of the school.
• Students who were ConCapped into or out of the current school they attend the previous school year.

After the 15th day of school

After the 15^th day of school the School Site shall inform new families as quickly as possible that the school they want to enroll into is full. The Overenrollment Technician, in conjunction with the school site office staff and administrator, shall work with the families to place their students at schools with space.

Foster youth and students experiencing homelessness have special protections under federal and state law. Ed. Code, § 48853.5 and 20 U.S.C. § 5312; Ed. Code, § 48852.7 and 42 U.S.C. § 11432. They may enroll in the school that is in their best interest. This means that in rare circumstances, a foster youth or student experiencing homelessness may move into a school with an overenrolled grade in the middle of the school year. If this happens, then the school may have to run the ConCap lottery in the middle of the school year to select a student who is not a foster youth or student experiencing homelessness for transfer.