Fairfax and Alexandria Public School Attendance (buying a home, transfer, buying)

[AdumaU]

I am currently looking at buying a home that is zoned to Alexandria Public School. However, the home is right on the border with Fairfax county and a Fairfax middle school is much closer than the Alexandria middle school that the home is zoned to.

Is it possible to apply for a transfer or waiver to attend the Fairfax school?

[JD984]

Originally Posted by AdumaU

I am currently looking at buying a home that is zoned to Alexandria Public School. However, the home is right on the border with Fairfax county and a Fairfax middle school is much closer than the Alexandria middle school that the home is zoned to.

Is it possible to apply for a transfer or waiver to attend the Fairfax school?

There are some properties that literally may sit in two jurisdictions, so make sure you don't have a choice.

Assuming you are looking at an Alexandria City house that is close to, but not on, the border, it is very difficult to send your kid to a Fairfax County school legally. There are significant restrictions on eligibility and you'd have to pay tuition:

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9MPJRS4C7486/$file/R2204.pdf

Obviously, the easier thing to do is to look in Fairfax County if you have a strong preference for FCPS over APS, rather than incur the hassle and additional expense of trying to send a kid to school outside his or her district. Others have direct experience with ACPS and may weigh in separately on whether there's that much difference between Alexandria and Fairfax schools.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by AdumaU

I am currently looking at buying a home that is zoned to Alexandria Public School. However, the home is right on the border with Fairfax county and a Fairfax middle school is much closer than the Alexandria middle school that the home is zoned to.

Is it possible to apply for a transfer or waiver to attend the Fairfax school?

It's possible, but not realistic. Non-resident students are strongly disfavored by the school board and you basically have almost no chance unless the school is severely undercapacity or if it is a significant hardship case (i.e. finishing out the 12th grade of a student that had been there for years; child of a teacher at that school, etc.). A principal that approves a non-resident student for the reasons you describe, is going to get a lot of flak from the school board, the PTA, and parents. But then you'd still have to pay tuition, you get no bus service, and you have to reapply every year. It is easier to buy a house a few blocks away or attend private school than deal with those headaches.