There were 3 magnet schools that accepted 3-year old students, and 7 magnet schools that accepted 4-year old students. However, admission priority at pre-kindergarten is strongly for disadvantaged families, and for these students there is no tuition to attend.
(Image Caption – With 173 applications for 30 seats, Wilson Montessori is one of the most popular and difficult to get into magnet pre-kindergartens in HISD; photo via Smith&Co Architects).
In the event that all disadvantaged students have accepted admission by May 31, 2019, and space remains, students from non-disadvantaged families may enroll and pay tuition of $5089. Note however that preschools must retain 5% of the originally available spaces through August 26, 2019 (the first day of school), in the event that an eligible, disadvantaged student later decides to attend.
At age 3, interested, disadvantaged students were essentially guaranteed admission at Garden Oaks and Wilson Montessori. There is a small chance of admission for tuition-paying students at Wilson Montessori, Garden Oaks, and Blackshear.
At Garden Oaks Montessori, 35 qualified students applied for 27 seats, and 59% of offered students had agreed to enroll. Assuming that the yield rate remains unusually low at 59% for all 35 qualified applicants, and no other eligible students apply before school starts on August 26, 2019, that would mean that as many as 11 seats would be available for the estimated 127 tuition-paying students or a 7% chance of admission.
At Wilson Montessori, 25 qualified students applied for 30 seats, and 43% had accepted offers of admission. Therefore, there may be as many as 19 seats available for the 148 tuition-paying students or a 13% chance of admission.
At age 4, admission was nearly guaranteed for disadvantaged students at Wilson Montessori, Mandarin Immersion, Garden Oaks, and Arabic Immersion. For tuition-paying students, the chance of admission is best at Wharton, Helms, Arabic Immersion, and Blackshear; there is virtually no chance of admission at Wilson Montessori, Mandarin Immersion, and Garden Oaks.
- Theme indicates the type of magnet school; parents can learn more about the different themes at HISD’s website
- Apps refers to the number of applications received from out of zone (OOZ) students and excludes zoned neighborhood students
- Apps Q is the percentage of OOZ apps that are actually qualified to be considered for admission
- Seats is the number of spaces available to OOZ students and excludes availability for zoned students
- Accepted is the percent of qualified applicants offered admission on March 21, 2019
- Yield is the percent of applicants who had accepted their offer of admission by April 5, 2019
- Siblings is the percent of OOZ applicants from siblings of currently enrolled students
- Home Value is the average listing price of homes in the school’s neighborhood zone or immediate vicinity
- STAAR Math is the percent of all students at the school who earned the “Masters” designation on the STAAR math tests
- STAAR Reading is the percent of all students at the school who earned the “Masters” designation on STAAR reading tests
- Eligible is the number of applications from eligible, disadvantaged students who receive free tuition and priority
- Accepted (Free) is the percent of eligible students who were offered admission on March 21, 2019
- Remaining is the maximum number of seats that might be available to tuition-paying students
- Max Accepted (Tuition) is the best-case scenario chance of admission for a tuition-paying student
HISD presented this data as accurate on April 5, 2019, but the numbers will change continuously until school starts on August 26, 2019, as students finalize their enrollment plans
