A Parent’s Guide to Education in Eugene

Eugene offers a huge number of choices when it comes to schooling. Opportunities range from various preschool programs to post-doctoral studies at the University of Oregon. It is possible to be born in Eugene and never stop going to school. There are so many options, it can be quite a challenge to navigate them.

The Good News

Eugene, Oregon is a town that values learning. It is also a town that values the individual. These two factors combined have helped establish a network of schools, both public and private, that serve the needs and tastes of a wide range of people.

The Bad News

If you are hoping for a simple “I live in this neighborhood then I go to this school” process, things can be more complicated than that. But, it does not have to be. It is actually up to you. You have choices. It is possible to enroll in your neighborhood school, it is also possible to enroll in any school in the 4J School District through the School Choice Lottery.

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Part One

Getting Started

If you have just moved to Eugene, and you have school-aged children, there are some important factors to consider. Enrollment can be very straight forward.
For basic enrollment instructions for the 4J School District (Eugene) Click below. For information on how to make enrollment more complicated, read on.

“Enrolling Your Child in a 4J School”
http://www.4j.lane.edu/enroll

Which School is My School? (Be sure to read Part Three; “The School Choice Lottery”)

In Eugene itself, students attend school based on their neighborhood. To determine which schools are connected with your neighborhood in Eugene, do the following:

Where will my student attend school?

Directions:
1. Click on the link below
http://v2.rlid.org/services/quick_look.cfm

2. Enter your address.
3. Select “Get my school information” from box #3.
4. Click “Get Results” (Upper right corner of that window)

If you would like a quick way to review the various school boundaries in Eugene, the 4J school district publishes a boundaries map.

School Attendance Areas Map*
Directions:
1. To download the map in PDF format, click
http://www.4j.lane.edu/communications/boundaries
2. Then, click “Fact Sheet and Map” at the bottom of the text.

SPECIAL NOTE:
This map details several proposed boundary changes within the 4J (Eugene) School District. Not all of these changes have been made. For more complete information on Boundary Changes with the 4J school district, click below.
http://www.4j.lane.edu/communications/boundaries/proposedchanges

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Part Two

The School Choice Lottery: Breaking the Boundaries!

If you live in Eugene and have students attending school with the 4J School District, it is possible to lottery into a school of your choice. You do not have to live in the boundary area of a school if you “lottery” into that school. Before trying to get into your school of choice, it is important to gather as much information about a particular school as possible. The district itself has a wealth of information on its website.** However, word of mouth is often an effective way of gauging the quality of a school. Neighbors, people at the grocery store, and many others will have valuable opinions about the various schools within Eugene.

For example, if you live in the boundary for Willagillespie Elementary but you work in downtown Eugene, you could lottery your child into Edison Elementary so they are closer to you during the work day.

For an explanation of this process, click below.

School Choice Lottery
http://www.4j.lane.edu/choice

To download a School Choice Request, click below.
http://www.4j.lane.edu/files/instruction/4J_SchoolChoiceRequest_2009.pdf

**To access State School Reports Cards for individual schools, click below.
http://www.4j.lane.edu/schools/statereportcards

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Part Three

Public School Districts

There are five public school districts within 10 miles of downtown Eugene. They serve student from kindergarten through 12th grade.

A map of the various school districts around Eugene can be found below.
Note: the population data is out of date.

Lane County School Districts Map
http://geography.uoregon.edu/infographics/lcweb/schoolindex.htm

For more information, click on the links below to visit Eugene area school district websites.

Eugene 4J School District K-12
http://www.4j.lane.edu/

Springfield School District K-12
http://www.sps.lane.edu/index.html

Bethel School District K-12
http://www.bethelschools.us/

Creswell School District K-12
http://www.creswell.k12.or.us/do/index.html

Pleasant Hill School District K-12
http://www.pleasanthill.k12.or.us/

Written by Peter Lauf for DiscoverEugene.com.