Enh...I don't think it's a red flag, really. I think schools are just bureaucratic and odd. I also think it's possible that it's something like what 22B proposed--they get a discount for X number of kids, etc. Maybe they received money from a donor to take X kids. There are odd things like that operating behind the scenes at schools. I tend to be the kind of parent that teachers disclose things to (or so it seems--not all teachers, btw) so I've had teachers tell me things of this sort. ("I'm supposed to make her do that phonics program every day because we're required to by XYZ mandate, but she doesn't need to, so I fill out the form and let her read." "We need to meet numbers for that, so I just say he's here even though he's across the hall getting enrichment." --These are not totally accurate examples, but this kind of thing.)