Admissions
Buffalo School Choice Admissions Process
The Buffalo Public School District's Board of Education approved the citywide choice plan in 2002. The plan means that families may select any Buffalo public school, with available seating, in which to enroll their child. It also gives students the opportunity to attend a school closer to home or a daycare provider.
The choice application process begins each year in mid-September with an application submission deadline date the first week of December.
Grade 6
In an effort to keep families together, three types of assignment preferences are available.
- Sibling Preference—50 percent of available lottery seats are given to applicants who have a sibling residing within the same household and currently attending a Buffalo public elementary school or applying to one. The request must be made on the application.
- Proximity Preference—25 percent of remaining seats (after allowing for sibling preference) are given to students residing within a 1.5 mile distance from the school. This request must be made on the application.
- Attendance Boundary Preference—This is available for those students in the original boundary for #59, 356/64 and #67.
- How to Apply
- Applications are available from the Student Placement Office, 717 City Hall, Buffalo, New York 14202, (716) 816-3717, and all Buffalo public elementary schools.
- Parents are able to prioritize five schools for their child's possible enrollment.
- Students applying to criteria-based programs must take the exam and submit all of the additional documents, as indicated on the application;
- Students participating in the lottery must hand-deliver the application or it must be postmarked on or before the deadline date.
- Late applications are not accepted from current Buffalo public school students.
- All students that are currently in the highest grade level of a Buffalo public school must apply.
Grade 9
- Sibling Preference—This is available for lottery assignments only.
- How to Apply
- All current Buffalo public school eighth grade applications must be submitted by the school counselor.
- The application must be submitted with a parent signature.
- Placement into a lottery component is based upon seat availability; assignments are made by computerized lottery.
- Placement into a criteria program is based on the student meeting the qualifications and seat availability. Some schools require an entrance test. Applications and qualifications are reviewed by a committee to determine acceptance into the program.
- School counselors advise each rising Buffalo public school eighth grader on the requirements of criteria-based programs and also the most appropriate choices for students, based on their academic performance and interests.
- All new entrants must meet the same criteria for acceptance or be selected by computerized lottery into a specified program.
- Students are able to prioritize three choices which may be a combination of lottery and criteria-based programs.
- Waiting pools are established and remain active through the first marking period for all current Buffalo public school students. Also, waiting pool status is removed if a student accepts placement into another Buffalo public school prior to the end of the first marking period.
- Rising eighth graders that do not receive one of their choices are assigned to a school nearest their home, based on seat availability.
