Skip To Main Content

Heights HS Lottery FAQ

Heights HS Lottery FAQ
Heights HS Lottery FAQ

HEIGHTS HIGH SCHOOL LOTTERY FAQ 

 

The HISD Office of School Choice processes all applications for all HISD schools.  Their website offers a comprehensive Q&A for information regarding siblings, lottery priority, next steps if you did not get your school choice, and more: www.houstonisd.org/schoolchoice  

If you do not find answers to your questions on our Q&A page, reach out to our Magnet Coordinator, Israel Corona: icorona@houstonisd.org 

 

HISD will send out lottery notifications on April 8th, 2026, informing parents if their students were offered a seat or placed on a waitlist.  Parents can also view the status of the application by logging into their application account & clicking “take action/next steps.” Continue until you see the schools you selected. It is important to note, Heights HS does not have access to your login information.  If you need help logging into your application, contact: schoolchoice@houstonisd.org or call 713-556-6000. 

 

Congratulations!!!  If your child is offered a seat on April 8th, 2026, you will have until APRIL 21st, 2026 to accept the seat. It is recommended that you accept your seat through the school choice system as soon as possible. Once a seat expires, it cannot be reinstated.   

 

If you were offered a seat, please follow ALL steps below in the school choice platform by logging into your application:  

 

  1. Accept or decline your seat.  Once you decline a seat, the decision cannot be undone.  For this reason, the system asks you to accept or decline twice. 

  1. Electronically, sign the entrance agreement online. 

  1. Upload proof of residency: must be a mortgage statement or light/water/gas bill in parent’s name & must show service address.  Cell/internet statements are not acceptable proofs of residency. 

  1. Email icorona@houstonisd.org with a copy of the parent’s ID that matches the name on the proof of address uploaded to your application upon accepting. 

 

If your child is on the wait list, and you have been offered a seat from the wait list, you only have 5 calendar days (including holidays) to accept the seat.  You will follow the same steps (above) to accept your seat.  Seats not accepted & confirmed within 5 days will expire and will not be reinstated by HISD.  

 

To qualify for our programs, you must meet the minimum matrix score for that particular program.  Our programs require a minimum matrix score of 80.  Also, if you were not enrolled in an HISD school for 7th & 8th grade, you were required to submit the FINAL 7th grade report card for us to create a matrix score for your student.  If this was not completed prior to the deadline for phase 1, you were set to ineligible, and you can no longer apply for that same program during phase 2.  In some cases, you may have the opportunity to apply for one of our other programs if your matrix score qualifies you. 

 

Wait listed seats are processed in the order that they are listed in the lottery as space becomes available.  This is an automated system.   Seats are offered as soon as a space becomes available.  It is important to note that accepting a seat at a lower ranked school will not affect a student’s standing on the wait list of the higher ranked school.  Please know that we cannot predict how fast or slow these waitlists will move.  Calling to inquire about movement will only slow down the process, as we are currently working on confirming seats.   

 

Bus services are available for students accepted into Heights HS via the magnet, IB, and CTE programs.  Bus requests for the 2025-2026 school year will not be processed or available until late July or early August.  If you did not indicate the need for transportation on your original school choice application, you will have an opportunity to request bus services upon registration. Routes will be assigned by HISD transportation and information will be communicated to parents from the transportation department.  If you have transportation questions, please reach out to: HISD Customer Care 713-556-9400.   

 

Tours were available throughout the application period for phase 1.  Since we are now confirming seats for students offered, we can no longer accommodate tours.  However, if you were offered a seat, you will have an opportunity to visit the campus during the course selection night AND the summer pup camp for new students. 

 

  • PHASE 2 Applications: 

Though you can apply during phase 2, we always want to be completely transparent with our families.  Heights HS tends to fill our available seats with phase 1 applicants.  The way the lottery works, phase 1 students that are not offered a seat in one of our programs are placed on a waiting list for that program.  Some waitlists have 100+ students on them.  QUALIFIED applicants that submit their application during phase 2 are then placed on the waitlist BEHIND phase 1 waitlisted candidates.   

 

  • Specialized Transfers (formerly known as Hardships): 

The Office of School Choice has set specific guidelines for specialized transfers. These transfers are not considered nor processed until the summer, once we know our enrollment numbers.  We want to be completely transparent with families when it comes the hardship application process: 

  1. Specialized Transfers are offered at the campus’ discretion. 

  1. Due to large enrollment numbers on our campus, we receive hundreds of specialized transfer applications, and we are only able to process them if they are warranted and our school has capacity to offer a seat.  

  1. Specialized Transfers are not a back up option for forgetting to submit a phase 1 application.  If you did not apply for our school during phase 1, we will not be able to offer you a specialized transfer. 

  1. If you have questions, please contact Mr. Corona: icorona@houstonisd.org