The Delaware School Choice Guide

The 60-second version

School choice is Delaware’s process for applying to attend a public school other than the one your address assigns you — a school in another district, a charter, a vo-tech, a magnet. One statewide application at SchoolChoiceDE.org, once a year.

The three dates that matter for the 2027–28 school year:

• Applications are expected to open Monday, November 2, 2026 and close Wednesday, January 13, 2027. That’s a projection from the formula in state law (first Monday in November to the second Wednesday in January) — we’ll swap in the official dates the moment the state posts them.
• You hear back in late February (last year, districts had until February 27).
• You accept or decline in March (last year’s deadline was March 20 for most districts). You can hold several invitations, but you can accept only one — and accepting it automatically declines the rest.

And the single most important sentence in this guide: you do not need a choice application for your own assigned school. Choice is only for going somewhere else. If you’re happy with your feeder school, register there and you’re done.

Everything below is the process in detail — what to do when, how districts and charters actually decide, and the traps that catch first-time families. We explain the process; we don’t rate or rank schools. That call is yours.

Which year is your year?

Choice works at any grade, but three moments carry special mechanics:

• Rising kindergartner (turning 5 by August 31, 2027): you have the most flexibility. Kindergarten choice runs on its own, later window and is never fully locked out — but the main window is still the one to aim for. Start at “Registration ≠ Choice” and “Kindergarten.”
• Rising 6th grader: Cab Calloway School of the Arts starts at 6th grade, and its arts assessment is a second step after the application. See “Magnets & vo-tech.”
• Rising 9th grader: this is the heavy year — Charter School of Wilmington (starts at 9th), the four NCC vo-tech high schools (9th-grade entry only), and Cab Calloway’s high school grades all take applications in the same window, several with tests, records reviews, or auditions layered on top. See the charter and magnet sections, and start earlier than you think.

Everyone else: the standard process below applies as-is.

Registration ≠ Choice ≠ Kindergarten sign-up

If you take one thing from this guide, take this: registering your child at a school and applying to choice into a school are two separate steps — and neither one is the kindergarten sign-up. Three different things, easy to mix up, and mixing them up is the single most common way families trip.

Here’s each one, plainly:

• Registration is enrolling your child in the public-school system — proving who they are and where you live. You do it through your home district (your “district of residence,” set by your address). Since 2023 it’s one uniform statewide process for every public school, districts and charters alike, and you can do it any time.
• School choice is asking to attend a school other than your assigned one — the November-to-January window, the ranked list, the lottery. By itself it does not enroll your child anywhere; it’s a request.
• Kindergarten sign-up is first-time registration for a child entering kindergarten (5 by August 31). It runs on the district’s schedule, separate from the choice calendar. More below.

The order matters, and it bites. Your child must be registered in your school of residence before a choice or charter application counts. Odyssey Charter spells out the consequence in its own lottery rules: an application without that registration is incomplete, and an incomplete application doesn’t go into the lottery at all. Families have lost a shot at a school they wanted by skipping the boring step.

So the sequence is: register first at your home-district school, then apply to choice on top of it. Registration is your floor — it guarantees your child a seat somewhere. Choice is the layer you add when you want somewhere else.

Have ready when you register: birth certificate, proof of residency, your photo ID, immunization records, a physical (within two years), TB screening, custody paperwork if it applies, and any prior school records.

Our take: do the registration the moment you can, even if you’re hoping for a charter or a different district. It costs you nothing, it guarantees a seat, and it’s the thing that makes every other application valid. Step zero, not an afterthought.

Do you even need to do this?

Maybe not. If your assigned school works for your family, register there — that’s the whole process. No application, no lottery, no waiting.

Choice is for when you want something your feeder school isn’t: a different district, a charter’s program, a language-immersion track, an arts magnet, a vo-tech path. It’s also how you stay at a school if you move out of its feeder pattern.

Our take: don’t apply defensively “just to have options” at schools you wouldn’t actually accept. Every invitation you hold and decline is a seat that spent weeks unavailable to a family that wanted it — and it buys you nothing, since accepting one offer cancels the rest anyway.

The timeline — the calendar to put on your fridge

Choice runs on the same statewide calendar every year, set by state law: applications open the first Monday in November and close the second Wednesday in January, for the following school year. For 2027–28 — the year you’d apply for this winter — that projects to:

When	What
~Mon Nov 2, 2026	Window opens. Apply at SchoolChoiceDE.org — up to 3 schools, ranked.
~Wed Jan 13, 2027	Window closes. The deadline that matters.
Late February 2027	Districts notify you. (Last year: by Feb 27; Odyssey emails results by the last Friday of February.)
~Third Friday of March 2027	Accept or decline. Accepting one invitation auto-declines the others. (Last year: Mar 20 — but Colonial used Mar 27. Check your own district’s row on SchoolChoiceDE.)

The November and January dates are our projection from the statutory formula — the state posts official dates in the fall, and we’ll update this page the day they do. The verified-on stamp at the bottom tells you how fresh this is.

Three ways the deadline bends (details in the gotchas):

• Kindergarten is never locked out — K applications are accepted right up to the first day of the school year, where seats remain.
• Charters, vo-tech, and magnets MAY take late applications to fill remaining seats. Discretionary, capacity-dependent, not a right — but worth a phone call.
• Good cause — a qualifying life change (a move, and several others) requires the school to consider your late application as if it were on time.

The month-by-month plan

What we’d actually be doing each month, September through decision day. (The private-school column matters even if you’re mostly public-minded — its clock runs earlier, and families comparing both lanes get burned by that.)

September. Decide which lanes you’re seriously considering: feeder, choice/charter, private, homeschool. Register your child in your home district if they aren’t already in the system. If private schools are in play: their admissions cycle is already moving — the Catholic high schools test in the fall (the diocesan HSPT is early-to-mid November, but Archmere runs its own exam in October), and diocesan financial-aid applications open in September. Start touring; open houses and info nights cluster in the fall.

October. The state posts official window dates around now — confirm them at SchoolChoiceDE.org. Build your shortlist (three ranked schools, remember). For every charter on it, pull that school’s own admissions rules — they genuinely differ. If CSW or Cab Calloway is on the list, find this cycle’s assessment or audition dates now and put them on the calendar. And if a Catholic high school is in your mix, some entrance exams are this month — Archmere’s is October 17–18, 2026 — a full two weeks before public choice even opens.

November. The window opens (~Nov 2). Apply. Early doesn’t improve your odds — admission isn’t first-come — but it takes the deadline off your holiday plate. Catholic high-school applicants: the HSPT lands early-to-mid month (Padua has posted November 7–8, 2026, with its own application due November 15).

December. Independent private schools’ application deadlines cluster from December into early January — and the financial-aid deadline is often a couple of weeks earlier than the application itself, so check both dates on each school’s page. If your choice application isn’t in yet, finish it before the holidays eat you.

January. The window closes (~Jan 13) — a hard wall for the standard process. Assessments and auditions (CSW, Cab Calloway) land in the weeks around and after the close; if you haven’t booked yours, this is your last chance.

February. Notifications arrive late in the month. If you’re waitlisted, note that the waitlist is ranked — district waitlists expire on the first day of school, and no waitlist anywhere carries to next year.

March. Decide by your district’s accept-by date (~third Friday; districts can deviate — Colonial did). You can hold multiple invitations while you decide, but accepting one automatically declines all the others, so accept only when you’re sure — and don’t let the deadline pass unanswered, because an ignored invitation is automatically rejected (Red Clay and MOT both say so in writing). Kindergarten families: K choice stays open later where seats remain, so a March “no” isn’t necessarily the end.

How the standard application works

One online application at SchoolChoiceDE.org, up to three schools, ranked in the order you want them. You can apply across any districts you like; there’s no fee. Each school or district considers your application under its own priority rules, and you can receive multiple invitations. You can accept exactly one — accepting it auto-declines the rest.

Does the ranking order matter? Honest answer: sometimes, and it depends on the district.

• State law lets districts optionally give preference to students who ranked them 1st/2nd/3rd — it is not universal.
• Brandywine is a confirmed yes: it sorts applications by your choice-rank before its priority tiers and lottery numbers. Ranking Brandywine first genuinely helps there.
• Red Clay is a structural yes: its published policy works your application in your ranked order and issues at most one Red Clay invitation — if your first choice comes through, your second and third are never acted on. Several of its priority tiers also require having ranked the school 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.
• Christina doesn’t publish its priority policy — call the district if the answer would change your ranking.

Our take: rank in the true order you want the schools. Gaming the order only makes sense with information most districts don’t publish, and in the districts where rank matters, honesty and strategy point the same way anyway — put your real first choice first.

District choice — how districts actually decide

For district schools, state law (14 Del. C. § 405(b)) sets a mandatory priority order. Districts must work down this list:

1. Returning students — already enrolled at the school under choice.
2. Families in the school’s feeder pattern — and this tier keys on where the parent lives, not where the child currently attends.
3. Siblings of currently enrolled students — with a split worth knowing: districts must give the priority to in-district siblings, and may extend it to out-of-district siblings.
4. Optional, district-by-district preferences: students who ranked the school 1st/2nd/3rd, within-district residents, military-connected dependents, children of school employees. Each district picks its own.
5. Everyone else goes to lottery, which also produces a ranked waiting list. The state can audit the lottery’s randomness.

Two more rules that surprise people:

• “Full” means 85%, not 100%. By law, a school lacks capacity for choice purposes when projected enrollment hits 85% of its capacity (capacity itself is defined by physical space, resources, program requirements, and class size). So a school can lawfully turn away choice applicants while it visibly has empty seats — that’s the statute working as written, not the district being difficult.
• Waitlists expire. The ranked waiting list lasts only until the first day of the school year you applied for. It does not carry over. If you’re still on it opening day, you reapply in the next window.

Acceptance can come with conditions. Some districts require good standing — academics, attendance, behavior — to take or keep a choice seat. Verified: Brandywine and Colonial both do. Choice is not automatically unconditional.

District by district (NCC)

What each district publishes about its own priorities, verified June–July 2026:

District	Priority order (after the statutory tiers)	Good-standing screen	Does ranking matter?
Brandywine	siblings → in-district K-8 whose childcare provider is in the feeder pattern → in-district students in BSD → in-district not in BSD → out-of-district	Yes — academics, attendance, behavior	Yes — sorted by your 1st/2nd/3rd rank before priority tiers
Colonial	returning (with academic/attendance/conduct requirements) → siblings → employee children → in-district → out-of-district; lottery within tier	Yes — and returning to a choice seat can be denied	Not stated
Appoquinimink	returning → siblings (in-district over out) → employee children → in-district → out-of-district; computer lottery within category	Not stated	Not stated. K choice open to the first day of school where seats remain
Red Clay	returning (in-district first) → feeder pattern (parent’s residence) → in-district siblings → in-district students who ranked the school 1st/2nd/3rd → out-of-district siblings → out-of-district; lottery number ranks within tier (Policy 8013)	Yes — the board may refuse applicants with suspensions or 15+ unexcused-absence days; a choice seat can be terminated for attendance, promotion failure, or repeated suspensions	Structurally yes — applications are worked in your ranked order and you get at most one Red Clay invitation
Christina	Not published — immersion/honors programs may require extra documentation	Not stated	Not stated

Brandywine’s childcare wrinkle is real and distinctive: an in-district K-8 family whose childcare provider sits in a school’s feeder pattern gets a priority tier there.

Two Red Clay rules worth writing down (they’re in its published policy): a choice seat runs by grade span — K-5, 6-8, 9-12 — and you must submit a new application to continue into the next span if you don’t live in that school’s attendance zone; and an invitation you don’t answer by the March deadline is automatically rejected, not held.

Charters — a different machine (and the cheat-sheet)

Charters run under different law (14 Del. C. § 506). The short version: a charter may restrict admission only by age/grade, by lottery when oversubscribed, and (for a same-gender school) by gender. Beyond that, everything is a preference, every preference is optional, and a preference only exists if it’s written into that school’s charter — so “what does this charter’s own document say?” is a real, per-school question. Common ones: siblings, children of employees, founders’ children (capped at 5% of enrollment), military-connected dependents, residents of the school’s home district, and — for a few schools — a geographic radius.

Same statewide application and calendar; different rules once your name is in. Here’s the NCC cheat-sheet.

Charter School of Wilmington — the one with a test (starts at 9th grade)

Most Delaware charters admit by lottery. CSW doesn’t — not really. It fills seats in preference order and uses a random lottery only to break ties. Its top preference — “specific interest in the school’s methods and focus” — is measured with a 383-point rubric, most of it academic:

• A placement test in math and reading (up to 198 points) — confirm current subjects and this cycle’s dates.
• 7th- and 8th-grade math and science report-card grades (up to 120 points)
• Teacher recommendations, honors math/science, math/science activities, and an essay (up to 65 points combined)

Score 325+ (85%) and you’ve met the bar for the top preference. Below that, you can request an interview, which the school’s president grants and decides. Behind the specific-interest tier: children of CSW employees, then siblings, then Red Clay residents.

You still apply through SchoolChoiceDE in the normal window — but the assessment is a separate step with its own date, easy to miss if you think submitting the application is the finish line.

Our take: if CSW is on your list, the application is the easy part. Find the test date the day you apply and put it on the calendar in ink. And know what you’re signing up for: the law calls it a “preference,” but functionally this is a selective, test-based admission, not a coin-flip.

The rest, quick version

Newark Charter — Lottery when oversubscribed, with preferences in this order (from its admissions policy): founders’ children (≤5% of seats) → children of employees → siblings of current students → siblings of children accepted in the same lottery → the well-known 5-mile-radius preference (the school posts the official map; it must be your child’s primary residence as of lottery day). No test. Three wrinkles worth knowing: siblings of current students still have to apply during the window — being a sibling doesn’t auto-enroll anyone; if your registration paperwork can’t be matched to your application, you have only 72 business hours after the window closes to fix it before the application is excluded from the lottery entirely; and like Odyssey, a seat won through sibling preference can be revoked if the enrolled sibling leaves the school. One more, for K families: a child may enter Newark Charter’s kindergarten lottery only once, ever.

Odyssey Charter — Weighted lottery, in order: founders’ children (≤5% of seats) → children of full-time staff → siblings of current students → siblings of children accepted in the same lottery. No radius, no test. Three things to know: it’s a Greek-language school (every student takes Greek; the immersion track above K/1 expects some Greek already); results go out by the last Friday of February; and its sibling preference can be revoked — see the gotchas. Late applications go to the end of the waitlist.

MOT Charter — Looks preference-free at first glance (its application page says every complete, on-time application enters the lottery “without regard to preference status”) — but that describes the draw, not the seats. Per its admissions policy, seats are then offered in preference order. For K–8: founders → employee children → siblings of K-8 students → siblings of high schoolers who came up through the K-8 Academy → residents of the Appoquinimink School District → siblings of high schoolers. For high school, add a specific-interest preference (up to 25% of the incoming class): a school committee reviews demonstrated arts or science/tech experience for its two academies before the lottery. No test. Two practical notes: an offer you don’t answer within the acceptance window counts as declined, and high schoolers pay a non-refundable $100 activity fee at registration.

EastSide Charter — Applies via SchoolChoiceDE, standard window. Lottery with preferences in order: siblings → children of 30+ hr/week staff → siblings of kids accepted in the same lottery → 5-mile radius (the second radius school besides Newark Charter). February lottery, no test; after the window, applications are first-come, first-served.

Kuumba Academy — K–8, applies through SchoolChoiceDE. It doesn’t publish lottery or preference details — that’s an absence, not a red flag; ask the school directly.

First State Montessori Academy — Standard window via SchoolChoiceDE, straight lottery when oversubscribed, sibling preference (and a humane twin rule: if one twin is drawn and space remains, the other is enrolled). No test.

Las Américas ASPIRA Academy — K–12 dual-language (Spanish). SchoolChoiceDE, standard window, electronic lottery with a sibling preference — but you must present the applicant’s birth certificate to verify it, or the application runs without the preference.

Freire Charter Wilmington — SchoolChoiceDE (or paper directly to the school), lottery with a sibling preference; where seats remain after the lottery, applications are taken first-come, first-served through September — one of the more forgiving late paths. It doesn’t publish a fuller preference order, so we won’t guess at one.

Magnets & vo-tech — extra steps, same window

Cab Calloway School of the Arts (Red Clay magnet, grades 6–12) — Apply through SchoolChoiceDE in the normal window, then complete the second step: a skills assessment in at least one of nine arts areas (dance, instrumental music, vocal, strings, piano, theatre, technical theatre, communication arts, visual arts). Assessments are held in the weeks around and after the January close — confirm this cycle’s dates — minimum passing score 60/100, decisions by the end of February. Current students with a B+ in their art major skip the assessment. If your child has an IEP or 504 plan, Cab Calloway publishes an accommodations pathway for the assessment — contact the Choice Office (302-552-3789) to have the documents considered.

NCC Vo-Tech (Delcastle, Hodgson, Howard, St. Georges — 9th-grade entry only) — Standard window via SchoolChoiceDE. These schools ask for 7th- and 8th-grade report cards, attendance, and discipline records, and they’re explicit that admission is not first-come, first-served — every on-time application gets equal consideration. They don’t publish how they select beyond that, so we won’t guess; ask the district what weighs most.

Conrad Schools of Science (Red Clay magnet, grades 6–12, life sciences) — Standard window via SchoolChoiceDE, then a screen: a 7-point rubric built from Math/Science grades (last year and the current marking period), attendance, and standardized-test proficiency. In-district applicants who score 7/7 go straight into the lottery — no further steps. Score lower and you’re scheduled for a Saturday assessment (a short interview plus a science writing response) and need 10 of 12 combined points to qualify. Out-of-district applicants are considered only after the qualified in-district pool is exhausted — Conrad is effectively a Red Clay-first school. And a trap for current families: Conrad 8th graders must submit a new choice application to stay for high school. Assessment Saturdays fall in December and January — confirm this cycle’s dates on the school’s FAQ.

Also: Colonial’s language-immersion programs require a choice application even from feeder families, and Christina’s immersion/honors programs may require additional documentation.

Kindergarten

• The cutoff: 5 years old by August 31 of the kindergarten year. (DOE’s own words. Odyssey and EastSide independently confirm the same date; Odyssey requires the birth certificate and doesn’t grant early acceptance.)
• Registration is online, through your home district, any time — DOE’s School Locator tells you your district, the district portal takes it from there. Documents: birth certificate, proof of residency, parent photo ID, immunizations, a physical within two years, TB screening, custody documents if applicable. DOE’s advice, which we’d echo: start preparing the winter before kindergarten begins.
• Kindergarten choice runs later than everything else. The statutory carve-out means K applications are accepted until the first day of the school year where seats remain — last cycle the state’s K window ran mid-January through September 1, with some schools rolling to the end of September. Appoquinimink and Colonial both keep K choice open to the first day of school if there’s capacity.

Our take: the later K window is a safety net, not a strategy. Seats at the schools people want go in the main window; apply in November–January like everyone else, and treat the extended window as the fallback it is.

Other lanes, other clocks

This guide covers public school choice. Two other lanes exist, and the full picture — including how to think about all four — lives on our Choosing a School in Delaware page. What belongs here is their calendars, because they don’t match the choice window:

• Private & parochial schools are not part of SchoolChoiceDE — you apply directly to each school, and the school decides. Their clock runs earlier — and it isn’t one clock. Most Catholic high schools use the diocesan HSPT entrance exam in early-to-mid November (for fall 2027 entry, Padua has posted November 7–8, 2026, with its application due November 15). But not all of them do: Archmere gives its own entrance and scholarship exam in October (October 17–18, 2026) — before the public choice window even opens. Independent schools’ application deadlines cluster from December into early January, lower-school deadlines often run a couple of weeks later than middle/upper, financial-aid deadlines can land before the application deadline, and many schools take rolling applications after that. Those are individual schools’ published dates, not a diocesan or statewide rule — confirm each school’s own admissions page, and note that most independents don’t post the coming year’s dates until the fall. Delaware has no voucher, ESA, or state tax-credit scholarship — but need-based aid is real and common; diocesan aid applications open each September. If you’re weighing public choice against private, run both processes in parallel from September — waiting for the choice window means missing the private one.
• Homeschooling is a defined legal lane (14 Del. C. § 2703A) with three statutory types and a fall enrollment report to DOE — a few forms, not a maze. Details and links on the /schools page.

If your child has an IEP or 504 plan

The rules here are federal and state law, and the safe summary is short:

• An IEP travels. A child who choices into another Delaware district or a charter must receive services comparable to the prior IEP until the new school adopts it or writes a new one. Charters are public schools under the law and can’t screen out or discriminate against applicants by disability — disability isn’t among the permitted lottery preferences or restrictions, in either direction.
• A 504 plan doesn’t carry the same automatic guarantee — the new school owes its own 504 process. Confirm directly with the receiving district how they handle an incoming plan.
• Entrance assessments: Cab Calloway publishes an accommodations pathway. CSW and the vo-tech schools don’t publish one — that’s an absence, not a refusal; ask the school before test day.

This is a legal area where the details matter and drift — for anything beyond the paragraph above, talk to your district’s special-education office and to the Parent Information Center of Delaware (picofdel.org), the state’s federally designated parent training and information center. This page is process orientation, not legal advice.

The honest gotchas — what trips families up

Registering at a school is not applying to it. Your child must be registered in your home district before any choice or charter application counts. Incomplete applications don’t go in the lottery. Register first, then choice.

You don’t need choice for your own feeder school. Choice is only for going somewhere else. Happy with your assigned school? Register; done.

Applying isn’t always the finish line. CSW has a test, Cab Calloway has an audition — and they land in the weeks around and after the January deadline. Ask every school on your list what else it needs, and when.

A sibling’s seat can pull your child’s down with it. At schools with sibling preference, a younger child admitted on that preference can lose the seat if the older sibling leaves — even after the school year starts. Odyssey, Newark Charter, and MOT all put this in writing (and at all three, step-siblings in different households don’t count as siblings). Not common; worth knowing if you’re counting on it.

You’re the bus. Choice families provide their own transportation, unreimbursed — the receiving district only has to pick up your child at a point on one of its existing bus routes, not your door. This applies even to a non-feeder school inside your own district. Grades 6–12 may be offered an annual bus pass, but that’s the district’s option, not your right.

“Accepted” can come with conditions. Brandywine and Colonial condition choice seats on good standing — academics, attendance, behavior. Choice isn’t automatically unconditional; read your district’s terms.

A school can be “full” at 85%. By statute, a school lacks choice capacity once projected enrollment hits 85% of capacity. Empty desks in the building don’t mean open choice seats.

Waitlists die with the school year — and never carry over. For district schools, the ranked waitlist expires on the first day of the school year by statute. Charters run their own clocks (MOT, for one, keeps its list until the last day of that school year), but no waitlist anywhere carries over to the next year. Still waiting? You reapply in the next window.

Silence counts as “no.” Red Clay’s policy automatically rejects an invitation you haven’t answered by the March deadline, and MOT deems an unanswered offer declined. Don’t sit on an invitation you want — accept it (or decline it) on purpose.

A choice seat isn’t forever. In Red Clay, choice enrollment runs by grade span — K-5, 6-8, 9-12 — and continuing into the next span takes a new application if you don’t live in that school’s zone. Cab Calloway, Conrad, and Dickinson students all must reapply (and re-qualify) for 9th grade. Ask any school what happens at its grade transitions before you count on staying.

Missed the deadline? You may still have a path. These count as good cause, and a school must consider your late application as if it were on time: a residence change within 60 days of a new lease or mortgage, a change in marital status, a guardianship or foster placement, an adoption, a substantiated instance of bullying, or participation in substance-abuse or mental-health treatment. (“Consider as if on time” — not guaranteed admission.) And kindergarten is never locked out — K applications run to the first day of school where seats remain.

Our take: the two that bite hardest are the first two — register before you choice, and at selective schools treat the application as the start of the process, not the end.

What we’d actually do

Our opinion, clearly labeled as such — the facts above stand on their own:

1. Register at your feeder school first, whatever else you’re planning. It’s the floor under everything.
2. Apply in the first two weeks of the window. It doesn’t improve your odds — admission isn’t first-come — but it removes a January deadline from your holidays, and it leaves time to book any second-step assessments.
3. Rank honestly. Your true first choice goes first. In the districts where rank matters (Brandywine, confirmed), honesty and strategy agree.
4. If CSW or Cab Calloway is on the list, book the assessment the day you apply. The application is the easy half.
5. Read each charter’s own admissions rules. They differ more than anyone expects — a radius here, a rubric there, a Greek-language expectation, a revocable sibling seat.
6. Write down the notification and accept-by dates when you apply — including your own district’s accept-by date, which can deviate from the standard one.
7. Weighing private too? Run both lanes from September. The private clock is earlier, and it doesn’t wait for the choice window.

Frequently asked questions

When does Delaware school choice open for the 2027–28 school year? It’s expected to open Monday, November 2, 2026 and close Wednesday, January 13, 2027, based on the formula in state law (first Monday of November to the second Wednesday of January). The official dates post at SchoolChoiceDE.org in the fall — confirm there before planning around them.

Do I need a choice application for my neighborhood school? No. Choice is only for attending a school other than your assigned one. If you want your feeder school, just register.

Can I apply to more than one school? Yes — one application, up to three schools, ranked, across any districts. You can receive multiple invitations but accept only one; accepting automatically declines the rest.

Does the order I rank schools matter? Sometimes. Brandywine sorts applications by your rank before its priority tiers. Red Clay works your list in your order and issues at most one invitation, so your true first choice matters there too. Christina doesn’t publish its policy. Rank in your honest order of preference.

What happens if I miss the January deadline? Kindergarten applications are accepted until the first day of school where seats remain. Charters, vo-tech, and magnet schools may accept late applications to fill seats. And qualifying life changes — a recent move, a change in guardianship, a substantiated bullying situation, and others — count as “good cause,” requiring your late application to be considered as if on time.

What’s the kindergarten age cutoff? Five years old by August 31 of the kindergarten year. Registration is online through your home district, any time.

Do charter schools have entrance tests? Most admit by lottery. Charter School of Wilmington is the exception — a rubric with a placement test governs its top admission preference. Two Red Clay magnets add screens too: Cab Calloway requires an arts assessment, and Conrad uses an academic rubric with a possible Saturday assessment. All of these happen after you apply, on their own dates.

Who provides transportation to a choice school? You do, unreimbursed. The receiving district only has to pick your child up at a stop on one of its existing bus routes. Middle and high schoolers may be offered a bus pass at the district’s discretion.

Official sources & choice offices

For anything date-sensitive, the source wins — check these before acting:

• SchoolChoiceDE.org — the application portal and each district’s dates
• Delaware DOE — School Choice
• The statute — 14 Del. C. chapters 4 (choice), 4A (registration), and 5 (charters), at delcode.delaware.gov
• District choice offices — Red Clay: 302-552-3789; your district’s choice page lists its own contact
• Parent Information Center of Delaware — for IEP/504 questions