Loudoun County Changes School Transfer Policy For 2027

ASHBURN, VA – Loudoun County Public Schools will have a far more restrictive transfer policy after the school board decided during Tuesday night’s meeting to effectively scrap the district’s decades-old program, according to reports.

Loudoun Now reports that the district has been debating its policy for allowing students to enroll in schools out of their attendance zones for the past year. Some revisions to the extremely permissive policy were made in 2025 but didn’t have the impact LCPS had hoped for.

Ultimately, after much discussion and several amendments, the following guidelines were agreed upon. Now, only the following will be considered valid reasons for an out-of-zone transfer:

• Childcare. Parents who can’t find before or after school care in their attendance zone may apply for a transfer.
• Emotional or social adjustment. Students facing exceptional challenges with regard to such adjustments can seek a transfer.
• Employee perks. LCPS employees may seek out-of-zone transfers.
• Rising juniors or seniors. Families can request to have their children spend the last two years of high school in the school they started in.

• Moving. Families moving into or out of a zone can seek a transfer for their move.

Students already attending an out-of-zone school can continue attending that school until graduation but then must attend the school they’re zoned for. That is, students attending an elementary school out of their zone may finish their elementary school years there but must attend an in-zone middle school. Siblings of students attending an out-of-zone elementary school may also attend the out-of-zone school through the elementary grades.

Some parents attending the meeting opposed the changes and said the district hadn't given them enough notice of the potential policy update, the outlet reported.

See the staff policy proposal, without final amendments, here.

Read more from Loudoun Now here.