• SLPS Magnet School applications for the 2026-2027 school year will be available beginning 8:00 am Wednesday, October 1, 2025.

    The deadline to submit a Placement Request for your child to be considered for placement in the 2026-2027 SLPS Magnet Schools Lottery is 11:59 pm on Friday, November 7, 2025.

    Placement Requests submitted after the 2026-2027 Lottery Deadline of Friday, November 7, 2025 will be considered for placement on a first come-first served basis through Friday, September 4, 2026. 

    After Friday, September 4, 2026 enrollment to all SLPS schools including Magnet Schools will take place directly at the school and only to Magnet Schools where a student is eligible and open seats remain.

    QUESTIONS? Need to Contact Us?

    Please email to SLPSMAGNETSCHOOLS@SLPS.ORG

    SLPS Student Recruitment Office 314-633-5200   

    DEADLINES AND DATES

    All Placement Requests submitted after 8:00 am Wednesday, October 1, 2025 and before 11:59:59 pm Friday, November 7, 2025 will be considered for potential placement in the SLPS 2026-2027 School Year Magnet Schools Placement Lottery. 

    SLPS Magnet Schools placement will use only one lottery for 2026-2027 placement.

    Applications submitted after the 2026-2027 Lottery Deadline of Friday, November 7, 2025 will be considered for placement on a first come-first served basis through Friday, September 4, 2026.

    After Friday, September 4, 2026 enrollment to all SLPS schools including Magnet Schools will take place directly at the school and only into Magnet Schools for eligible students where open seats remain.

    WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

    Only resident students of the City of St. Louis are eligible to apply and be considered for potential placement to St. Louis Magnet Schools.

    If your child currently or previously attended a St. Louis Magnet School and you have moved out of the City of St. Louis, your child will not be permitted to enroll or remain enrolled in the SLPS Magnet School they previously attended or currently attend.

    Applicants to SLPS PK3 grade level must be 3 years of age on or before July 31, 2026 to be eligible to attend. 

    Applicants to SLPS PK4 grade level must be 4 years of age on or before July 31, 2026 to be eligible to attend. 

    Applicants to SLPS KG grade level must be 5 years of age on or before July 31, 2026 to be eligible to attend.

    Applicants to SLPS 1st grade level must be 6 years of age on or before July 31, 2026 to be eligible to attend, or must have successfully graduated from Kindergarten and provide the original graduation certificate issued by the school where the child graduated Kindergarten.

    SLPS Magnet High Schools are solely responsible for the establishment and implementation of Eligibility Criteria for the individual school. 

    HOW TO APPLY

    2026-2027 School Year Magnet Schools Placement Requests can be submitted HERE after 8:00 am Wednesday, October 1, 2025.

    The SLPS is using the Focus School Choice System to process applicants for SLPS Magnet Schools in the 2026-2027 school year and beyond.

    1. If your child is currently enrolled into an SLPS school you should have a Focus parent account and a student file, meaning the child is currently in Focus for the current 2025-2026 School Year. You should login and add 2026-2027 Magnet Schools Placement Request Choices for your currently enrolled child.
    2. If your child does not currently attend an SLPS school but did prior to the current 2025-2026 school year, you will need to set up your (new) Focus parent account, then add your child to your account from within the system. You will need your child's SLPS Student ID# to do this. Email Register@slps.org to learn your child's ID#. Please be sure to include the child's full name when enrolled in the SLPS, and the child's birthdate in the email.
    3. If you have one child currently attending the SLPS and wish to apply for another who is not currently enrolled and never has been enrolled, you may create the child in your Focus account, and then add 2026-2027 Magnet Schools Placement Request Choices for your child.
    4. If your child never attended an SLPS school, you will need to establish a parent account and create a file for your child to submit 2026-2027 school year SLPS Magnet Schools Placement Requests.

    STUDENT RECORDS INCLUDING:

    • ACCEPTABLE VERIFICATION OF ST. LOUIS CITY RESIDENCY IN THE PARENT NAME
    • PARENT IDENTIFICATION
    • CHILD'S ORIGINAL BIRTH RECORD/CERTIFICATE
    • CHILD'S UP TO DATE IMMUNIZATION RECORDS

    MUST BE UPLOADED TO THE FOCUS SYSTEM PRIOR TO ANY PLACEMENT REQUEST TO BE CONSIDERED FOR POTENTIAL PLACEMENT FOR ALL APPLICANTS.

    If you have questions email SLPSMAGNETSCHOOLS@SLPS.ORG. Please include

    • Parent name and email and /or phone # believed to be used on account
    • Child's full name and birth date on file

    Please do not submit a request for your child to be placed at a school you are unwilling to have your child attend. You are not required to list more than one choice, and a maximum of two choices is permitted. If your child is offered placement to any choice requested, they will no longer be considered for placement to any other choice requested, even if the choice offered is not the first choice. In addition, your child will not remain on the wait list for other choices requested, if offered placement to any choice requested.

    Applicants to SLPS Gifted Elementary Programs may submit up to four Gifted Programs choices depending on the child's grade level. You may also submit "dual" requests for both Gifted Programs (Columbia Gifted, Gifted Classroom at Stix KG-2nd, Mallinckrodt AGI, Wheeler CJA, and McKinley Middle CJA) and General Education Programs while awaiting evaluation of your child for Gifted Eligibility through the SLPS Gifted Offices. Click HERE to access the SLPS Gifted Offices webpage.

    Applications submitted in prior years for non-offered students must be resubmitted each year. Applications do not carry over from one year to the next.

    If a school and/or grade level is not available as a choice to request, this is due to the school and/or grade not being an available grade to request (i.e. Metro A&C, McKinley CLA High, Central VPA and Clyde C. Miller  11th and 12th grades), or the school and/or grade level is projected as full with a lengthy wait list, and additional placement requests are not being processed.

    Any duplicate accounts created and multiple applications submitted will be merged with the initial account created, #1 and #2 choices (if 2 are requested), and demographic data submitted being the default. Any additional accounts will be deleted and choices withdrawn. Please do not request placement into schools you are not willing to send your child to attend.     

    THE LOTTERY

    Because the number of applications for some grades and schools often exceeds the number of available spaces, all applications are entered into a lottery to place students. The lottery is used to assure an equal chance for all students initially applying to magnet schools, within the priority categories. When you enter your application using the online application system (or paper submission), the request will be assigned to its appropriate priority category. The program used randomly selects an applicant and attempts to place the student in the choice(s) selected, beginning with the first choice school. If this choice is not open, the applicant’s second choice is considered, presuming an additional choice is listed. If an applicant is accepted into a second choice requested, or additional choice for gifted elementary programs, the applicant will no longer be considered for placement into the first choice or any other choice requested. Please do not request placement into schools you are not willing to send your child to attend.

    The 2026-2027 SLPS Magnet Schools Lottery will be held by the end of the day on Friday, November 21, 2025. All applications submitted after November 7, 2025 will be processed on a first come-first served basis. Placement offers will be emailed or posted on the parent dashboard by end of the day on Wednesday, November 26, 2025.

    The default policy of the District is if an applicant is offered placement to any SLPS Magnet School requested via lottery or first come-first served processes, the offered Magnet School is considered as claimed and your child will be assigned to the offered Magnet School requested for the 2026-2027 school year, unless the offered Magnet School is declined on the application system parent dashboard, or in writing or email submitted from the parent email account to SLPSMAGNETSCHOOLS@SLPS.ORG.

    Any and all other choices requested will not be considered for potential placement once a requested seat is offered via lottery or first come-first served processes, nor re-considered for potential placement upon declining an offered seat. Please do not request placement into schools you are not willing to send your child to attend.

    FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS