HISD sets 2024-25 school choice timeline
Houston ISD has announced that it plans to open its school choice process application process for the 2024-25 academic year on Jan. 18 and provide results to families March 26.
Under the school choice application process, HISD families can apply for up to 10 different programs for their child, including magnet schools. The system conducts a lottery to see who is assigned to each program if there were more qualified applicants than space available. Nearly 56,000 students attend one of HISD’s magnet programs or other school choice options.
Last year, HISD opened the school choice application for Phase 1 Dec. 14, closed the process Feb. 2 and notified students of their acceptance by April 5. This year, the Phase 1 application will be due Feb. 23, and the deadline to accept a school match will be April 9.
Students who participate in the initial lottery but do not accept a position can apply to any available school as part of the Phase 2 process. Last year, Phase 2 opened April 5 and closed June 15. The Phase 2 application for the 2024-25 school year will open March 26, but the acceptance deadline has not been announced yet.
HISD will also announce the list of New Education System campuses for the upcoming school year in February before the Phase 1 application closes, according to a district media release.
HISD’s chief academic officer Kristen Hole said the district is able to compress the timeline this year because it tested students for gifted and talented placement earlier in the year, which means parents learn whether their child qualifies before they apply.
The deadline is today to request testing to see if students qualify as gifted and talented, which is required for students interested in attending Vanguard magnet programs. The district tests all second-graders.
Hole also said HISD will also no longer require parents to apply if they want to enroll their children in pre-K. The district will provide zoning for pre-K classes, which means all eligible students will be assigned a pre-K class they can attend without an application, although parents can still apply if they want their child to attend a different campus.
“This zoning really allows for that first step of that student entering the community with the same leaders of elementary schools, the same teachers in that area, and they can start off strong because that will be another really strong enhancement to support parents of students entering pre-K,” Hole said.
The release of the school zone timeline comes after state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles said in a message to families in October that the district was planning to seek feedback before making changes to its school choice process for the upcoming school year.
Miles said during the press conference that school choice is a popular and successful program, and the district would continue to have it for families in the future.
“We’re going to continue to have choice options for our parents well into the future, and if anything, we’ll try to make it more efficient,” Miles said. “We may try to expand it, but school choice is here at HISD. It’s been successful. We’re going to continue to try to grow that success.”
Hole said the district heard from more than 11,000 families in the past month through community events, surveys and focus groups, who said “loud and clear” that they wanted to keep the current choice options, magnet programs and lottery process.
Hole said the district will keep all current magnet programs, and it won’t change the lottery process, including the number of phases, how it is run or the number of choices parents have. Parents will also still have 14 days to decide on schools after they receive their options, as they have had in the past, Hole said.
Hole said parents also said that they wanted improved and increased communication and clarity about how the process works, including a way to get in touch with central office staff to ask questions.
She said the district planned to improve communication, including by investing in training for central office staff, principals and other campus staff.
The district will hold community events Dec. 19 and 20 to help families understand and navigate the updated school choice application. The first event will be in person, although the time and location have not been announced, and the second event will be online from 4 to 5 p.m. and 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.