Four doors into a school

Door one · most kids use this one

The neighborhood school

Your address assigns you a school, and that school must take your child. No application, no deadline, no odds. If you do nothing else, this is where your child goes, which makes it your guaranteed floor while you explore everything else.

1. Look up your assigned school by address on your district's boundary map (we link it on every neighborhood school's page).
2. Register anytime; spring is ideal, but late registration is always accepted.
3. Bring proof of address, birth date, and immunization records. That's the whole list.

The catch: "guaranteed seat" doesn't mean guaranteed classroom size or program. Visit it like you'd visit any school; it has to earn the shortlist too.

See them: filter for Neighborhood on the search page.

Door two · the one with dates that matter

The lottery: focus options & transfers

District schools with a special focus (arts, language immersion, project-based) take students by lottery instead of address. One form, submitted in a fixed window, lets you rank several choices at once. Miss the window and you wait a year, so this is the door the calendar exists for.

1. The window opens in late winter (PPS: mid-February to mid-March, dates vary by year and district).
2. Rank your choices in your true order; the lottery is designed so ranking a long-shot first never hurts your chances at your second choice.
3. Siblings of current students usually get priority; some schools weight for neighborhood or income.
4. Results arrive in spring. A "no" means a waitlist spot, and waitlists genuinely move through summer.

The catch: odds vary wildly. Some schools admit nearly everyone, others under 20%. We publish the real historical numbers, school by school, in our lottery collection, school by school.

See them: the lottery collection.

Door three · public, free, separate line

Charter schools

Charters are tuition-free public schools that run independently of the district, so they run their own lotteries, on their own timelines, with their own forms. Applying to a charter never affects your neighborhood seat or your district lottery choices; it's a separate ticket entirely.

1. Apply directly to each charter, on its own website, by its own deadline (most fall between January and March).
2. Each school runs its own lottery: applying to three charters means three separate forms and three separate drawings.
3. Virtual charters work the same way but often enroll statewide and year-round.

The catch: because every charter keeps its own calendar, this is the easiest door to miss a date on. Save the school and its dates land in your notebook.

See them: filter for Charter on the search page, or browse online & virtual programs.

Door four · applications, interviews, and aid

Private admissions

Private schools admit by application: forms, a visit or interview, sometimes teacher recommendations, occasionally testing. Deadlines cluster in mid-January for fall enrollment, with decisions in early spring. Financial aid is real and widely used (at many schools a quarter or more of families receive it), but the aid application travels with the admission application, on the same clock.

1. Tour in the fall; most schools expect it, and some require it before you apply.
2. Applications are typically due mid-January; aid applications at the same time or earlier.
3. Decisions and aid offers arrive together in early spring, with a reply deadline a few weeks later.
4. Missed the cycle? Many schools quietly take rolling applications for open seats, always worth a call.

The catch: sticker price is not the price. Ask every school what families like yours actually pay; we list published tuition and aid rates on each school's page.

See them: filter for Private on the search page.

Using more than one door

Most families do

The doors don't compete. A typical Portland search runs a neighborhood fallback, one or two lottery choices, and maybe a charter or private application, all at once. That's exactly what your Primerly notebook is built to keep straight: each school carries its own door, dates, and to-dos, and nothing collides.