Houston ISD's school choice application has launched. Here's what you need to know.

Houston ISD opened its annual school choice application for the 2024-25 academic year late Thursday, allowing families to begin to apply for a variety of the district’s magnet schools and specialized programs.

Families can fill out the application on the HISD’s School Choice website with up to 10 different listed programs for their child, including magnet schools. Here’s what you need to know about this year’s school choice application process:

How does HISD’s school choice process work? What are the deadlines?

The process is split up into three parts — Phase I, II and III. Students and parents fill out applications for programs during Phase I, and the system conducts a lottery to see who is assigned to each program if there are more qualified applicants than space available. Students who do not receive a seat are waitlisted.

The Phase I application is due Feb. 23, and students and families will be notified about the lottery results on March 26. The deadline for students or families to accept their Phase I school match is April 9. 

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If applicants do not accept a position in the lottery during Phase I, they can add themselves to the waitlist for another school with space available during Phase II. Phase II of the application will open on March 26, but the district has not announced when Phase II of the application will close. 

In Phase III, students may still be offered spot a seat at a campus if space opens up, but the district will retire the waitlists at the end of this phase.

The district recommends that parents apply in Phase I and rank schools in order of preference. Students have the same chance to get into their first-choice school as their last choice school, and they will not increase their chances of getting into a particular school by applying to fewer schools, according to the district.

Where can I find more information about the school options?

HISD’s list of specialized programs and 2023-24 brochure outlines the different types of school choice programs in the district, such as Career and Technical Education, fine arts and STEM programs, and what schools they are located at.

Families can look up the locations of specific schools or their zoned school with HISD’s School Finder. They can also visit the district’s school choice website, call the Office of School Choice at (713) 556-6734 or email schoolchoice@houstonisd.org for general information.

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The district is planning to host two half-day sessions about the school choice application process on Jan. 27, Feb. 3, Feb. 10 and Feb. 17 at locations that will be announced at a later date, according to a media release. In addition, it is hosting its last School Choice Fair at Lamar High School on March 23 from 9 a.m. to noon.

The district has also said it is planning to provide a school choice parent handbook, informational videos and a a School Choice Customer Service hotline for families.

What is a Vanguard school, and how do I qualify for one?

HISD has Vanguard magnet schools solely for students designated as gifted and talented, where the curriculum emphasizes higher-level thinking, problem solving and creativity, according to the district’s website. Vanguard is synonymous with GT programs in the district.

The current list of Vanguard elementary schools is Askew, Carrillo, DeZavala, Herod, Oak Forest, River Oaks, Roosevelt, Travis and Windsor Village, while the Vanguard middle schools are Black, Burbank, Hamilton and Lanier. T.H. Rogers serves Vanguard students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Carnegie Vanguard High School is the only Vanguard high school in the district. 

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To qualify and apply for a Vanguard program, students must be designated as GT through testing and other matrix criteria. The deadline to request GT testing this year was Dec. 8, and HISD plans to provide all families with GT test results before the Phase I deadline on Feb. 23.

Families can apply for a Vanguard magnet school through the regular school choice application process. If a student qualifies but doesn't win a seat, they will receive some form of gifted-and-talented services at any HISD school they attend.

When will applications open for pre-K schools?

Starting for the upcoming school year, HISD will no longer be requiring parents to apply if they want to enroll their children in pre-K. The district will be providing zoning for pre-K classes, which means all eligible students will be assigned a pre-K class they can attend without an application,

Parents will still be able to apply if they want their child to attend a different campus, but the district has not begun to accept applications yet for pre-K campuses. According to the district, the window for pre-K applications is scheduled to open before the end of January.