Texas school deadlines, 2027–28

Gifted identification is required to apply to Vanguard magnet campuses, including Carnegie Vanguard, the highest-performing Houston ISD campus for Black students at 97.3%. The magnet application isn’t due until February — but without G/T, it never opens. PK4 families use ParentSquare; everyone else goes through the campus G/T coordinator.

Most Texas districts open G/T referral in late August and close in September or October. In most districts a parent can refer their own child, with no teacher nomination — ask your campus G/T coordinator whether yours does. Miss the window and the next one is a year away.

Nominated 1st through 5th graders test in October. Students reaching mastery level in reading, math, or English/Spanish are referred automatically; anyone else can be referred by a parent, teacher, peer, mentor, or the student themselves. Ask whether the NNAT3 will be administered — that score carries over to TAG magnet applications, and there is no retake.

Up to five schools per application, no more than two of them magnets. All applications inside the window are treated equally in the lottery, so there is no advantage to applying on day one — but nothing is processed after January 31, including for families who move to Dallas over the summer. Magnet applications need report card, test scores, and proof of address.

Open to all students inside and outside SAISD regardless of academic record or address, which is unusually open for Texas. Includes eight in-district International Baccalaureate charter schools, PreK through 12. Applications after the priority deadline go on a waitlist in submission order.

Rank up to ten programs. Every application inside the Phase 1 window gets equal treatment in the lottery. Non-HISD applicants must also submit supporting documents by the Phase 1 deadline. Campus tours run November through February. Pre-K choice is a separate process with separate dates.

Rank up to seven choices. Several programs accept students only in the priority round — Kealing middle school magnet, LASA, Ann Richards, and the McCallum and Lamar fine arts academies among them. Miss round one and those close for the year. Transfers to at-capacity campuses aren’t accepted; denials can be appealed.

Gold Seal schools and Programs of Choice run their own lottery application and do not accept general transfers — that application is the only way in. Everything else uses the K–12 Transfer Request. Families routinely confuse the two. Rank up to three schools on either. Parents are responsible for transportation on a general transfer.

The state education savings account program. Round one drew roughly 250,000 applicants for about 90,000 to 100,000 funded seats, so a large number of families were waitlisted and will apply again. Not first-come, first-served — priority goes to siblings of participants, then students with disabilities in lower-income households, then by household income band. No late applications. Confirm dates with the Comptroller’s office.