(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) are reminding families with children entering Pre-K3 through Grade 8 to apply to the My School DC Lottery ahead of the deadline at 11:59 pm on Friday, March 1. A My School DC lottery application is required for the 2024-25 School Year if your child will be a new student in Pre-K or if you are applying to enter your child into a dual-language strand, a selective or citywide DC Public School, an out-of-boundary DC Public School, or a DC public charter school.
“The lottery is one way that families can take advantage of the fantastic public schools we have in neighborhoods across all eight wards,” said Mayor Bowser. “We are proud of the enrollment growth we’ve seen in our public schools over the past few years, and that process of enrolling often begins with submitting your lottery application.”
The My School DC common application and public school lottery is a single, random lottery that determines placement for new students at all participating schools. Student-school matches are based on the number of available seats at each grade/school, lottery preferences, and each student’s random lottery number.
“Our annual lottery process gives every student an opportunity to attend their preferred school,” said State Superintendent Dr. Christina Grant. “DC families can find a wealth of information on our schools at MySchoolDC.org, and can complete their applications knowing that all of DC’s schools have something wonderful to offer.”
To apply, families should log on to MySchoolDC.org, select their school choices – as many as 12 – and rank their schools in order of preference before March 1.
Lottery results for Pre-K3–Grade 12 will be available on March 29. Families will receive their results by email and can log in to their My School DC accounts to check results and current waitlist positions. Students and families applying to grades 9-12 who missed the February 1 deadline can submit a post-lottery application today. Lottery applicants can also adjust the ranking of the schools on their application until March 15.
The My School DC field team will be available for in-person application support this week at the Anacostia Service Center on February 27 from 1 pm -3 pm, and Bald Eagle Rec Center on February 28 from 4 pm - 6 pm. The My School DC hotline is also available Monday through Friday from 8 am - 5 pm, to support families as they navigate the lottery process. The hotline can be reached at (202) 888-6336 or by emailing info.[email protected]. The team is equipped with bilingual staff and has access to interpreters through a telephonic interpretation service to support non-English speakers.
To learn more about the My School DC lottery and to apply for the 2024-25 school year, visit myschooldc.org.
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