The Riverside Unified School District Board of Education on Oct. 16 approved a resolution certifying district-of-choice (DOC) spaces for the 2025–26 school year and established the district's application and lottery timelines. The board's action sets available slots at up to 300 spaces each for elementary, middle and high school levels and confirms the November–January application window.

The resolution directs the district to certify those spaces for the DOC application period that opens Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 9. District staff told trustees the request reflects current capacity planning and a multi-year view of transfers into Riverside Unified.

District staff framed the measure as a routine annual renewal required under state education code rules that govern DOC participation. Presenters reviewed recent DOC statistics: staff said 366 incoming DOC approvals this year were split roughly across levels (about 200 elementary, 41 middle and nearly 100 high-school transfers), and that most DOC applicants come from neighboring districts such as Alborn, Valverde and Moreno Valley. Staff noted that some specialty programs have internal waiting lists and that DOC placements are assigned to schools with available space, not always to the specific magnet or specialty campus requested.

Trustees asked how the district communicates available seats and about fairness when specialty programs with waiting lists accept out-of-district applicants. Staff said the district posts deadlines and openings on its website and manages specialty-program admittance by lottery when spaces exist; they said DOC applicants are placed in schools that have capacity and that some programs close earlier than others (staff cited example deadlines: King engineering closed Dec. 12; dual-language immersion closes Dec. 19). Staff also said the district notifies sending districts when it accepts students from outside Riverside.

A motion to approve the resolution was made and seconded by trustees; the transcript records the motion as approved unanimously. The board also received an informational breakdown of DOC trends over several years, including counts of approvals and denials and a demographic snapshot that showed DOC enrollees contained lower relative shares of English learners and students with disabilities than district averages.

Trustees and members of the public raised transparency questions about which schools accept DOC transfers and how waiting lists for specialty programs are managed; staff said they would post more detailed space-availability information online and work with enrollment services to clarify the lotteried-placement process.

The board's approval certifies the DOC capacity figures for the 2025–26 application period and clarifies the timeline for families who wish to apply for interdistrict transfer into Riverside Unified.