TK Lottery

The Transitional Kindergarten Lottery is an opportunity for students who turn four years old by September 1, 2026 and resides permanently within the boundaries of Sacramento City Unified School District to apply for enrollment at a school with a Transitional Kindergarten class. 

Students residing within the Sacramento City Unified School District boundaries who are qualified to enter Transitional Kindergarten are eligible to apply.

Visit SCUSD’s School Finder, to find your family's neighborhood school.

Students may apply to up to two schools. 

• A.M. Winn Public Waldorf TK-8
• Alice Birney Public Waldorf TK-8
• Bowling Green Chacon
• Bowling Green Charter McCoy Academy
• Leonardo da Vinci TK-8 
• New Joseph Bonnheim Community Charter School

Once an application is successfully submitted, you will see a confirmation screen and receive a message in your SchoolMint Message Center confirming the submission. Parents/guardians will also receive a confirmation via email or text message, depending on their selected SchoolMint preferences.

Families can log into their SchoolMint account at any time to check the status of their application(s) or view messages in the Message Center.

No, transportation is not provided for students accepted into  a Transitional Kindergarten Lottery school. Parents are responsible for transporting their students.

If you need to make a change to a submitted application, you will need to log into SchoolMint, withdraw the original application, and then submit a new one. Changes can only be made while the application window is open. After the deadline has passed, no updates can be made.

All applications must be submitted by 5:00pm on Friday, February 27, 2026. No late applications will be accepted.

Students will be automatically enrolled in kindergarten for the 2027-2028 School Year at their neighborhood school. 

Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is only available at 49 of Sacramento City Unified School District schools, so all TK students* living within district boundaries are transitioned back to their neighborhood school for traditional kindergarten enrollment. Each neighborhood school has a defined geographic boundary and is intended to serve the students who live within that geographic boundary. 

Students that apply for enrollment at the school they attended for transitional kindergarten will be given priority in the Open Enrollment lottery for kindergarten. 

Notifications will be sent to families through SchoolMint on March 16, 2026, based on their selected preferences (email, text message, or both) during registration.

If accepted into a TK Lottery school, all students must complete the required two steps to secure their placement:

1. Accept offer placement in SchoolMint.
2. Complete a full registration form.

A link to the registration form will be included in the notifications sent to families. They will also need to provide photo identification, address verification, proof of birth documentation, and immunization records. Applicants who do not accept their offer in SchoolMint and complete registration by the deadline will be automatically removed from the TK Lottery acceptance list.

Log onto your SchoolMint Parent/Guardian account and click the Messages button in the top green navigation bar. The Message Center has all messages sent to you from the platform organized by date.

On a mobile device, the Message Center is a gray text bubble at the top of the screen. If you only receive text message notifications, you can log into SchoolMint and read full messages in the Message Center.

The application uses Google Translate and can be translated into more than 100 languages.

The district’s Matriculation & Orientation Center (MOC) also provides in-person application support for families in the following languages:

• Spanish
• Hmong
• Cantonese
• Mandarin
• Vietnamese
• Russian
• Pashto
• Dari/Farsi

If you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Enrollment Center for more information on language support services.

If you move outside of the SCUSD boundary, it voids all Transitional Kindergarten Lottery enrollment and you must register your student with the new school district.

No, students who live outside the district boundaries are not eligible. 

No.

The Transitional Kindergarten Lottery is not a first-come, first-serve basis. You may apply anytime during the application window to be considered.

SCUSD uses a computerized, third-party lottery system to place students at their specialty program of choice. A lottery must be implemented if applications exceed the grade capacity at the requested program.

One of the following lottery scenarios will occur:

• Your student is selected for their first choice and receives a notification of a placement offer.
• If your student applied to only one school and was not selected, they will be placed on a waiting list.
• If your student applied for two schools and was not selected for their first choice, the computer will look for their second choice. Note: Second choice selections are placed behind all first choice selections.
  • Your student is selected for their second specialty program choice and receives a notification of a placement offer.
  • Your student is not selected for their first or second specialty program choice. They will be placed on a waiting list for their first choice only.

Your student will only be placed on the waiting list for their first choice. A notification from SchoolMint will be sent on March 16, 2026 notifying parent/guardians regarding placement on the waiting list. 

When space becomes available, a notification will be sent through SchoolMint notifying the parent/guardian of the offer. Families can withdraw their application from a waiting list at any time through SchoolMint. All TK Lottery waitlists will close on July 31, 2026 at 5:00pm. After this date, any remaining waitlist positions will no longer be valid.

Families will receive the notification based on what preferences (email, text message or both) were selected when registering.

No.

Lottery Selection Priorities

First priority

• Students who live within the geographical boundary of the selected school.

Second priority

• Siblings of students already in attendance at the selected school and will continue to be enrolled in the upcoming school year.

Third priority

• Students whose parent/guardian’s primary place of employment is the selected school.

Fourth priority (administrative priority)

• When unique circumstances occur at a school, such as a school closure, program changes, and/or over-crowding occurs; district administrators may institute a specific priority to meet staffing and housing needs.

Fifth priority

• Applicants that are a multiple will be given priority to keep siblings together.

Schools without Attendance Boundaries

First priority

• Siblings of students already in attendance at the selected school and will continue to be enrolled in the upcoming school year.

Second priority

• Students whose parent/guardian’s primary place of employment is the selected school.

Third priority (administrative priority)

• When unique circumstances occur at a school, such as a school closure, program changes, and/or over-crowding occurs; district administrators may institute a specific priority to meet staffing and housing needs.

Fourth priority

• Applicants that are a multiple will be given priority to keep siblings together.