Find a School That’s Right for You

Richmond Public Schools encourages students to attend their neighborhood zoned school. But if you’re looking for a different RPS school with available space, Open Enrollment gives Richmond families another option.

Who Can Apply?

Students who reside in Richmond may apply for Open Enrollment.

Students of RPS employees who reside outside of the city may also apply and will only receive an offer once all resident students are accounted for at the school and grade level selected on their application.

Students may apply to up to three Open Enrollment schools. Patrick Henry School of Science & Arts (PHSSA) is a fourth-choice exception for applicants to elementary schools.

Schools & Programs Available Through Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment options include:

• RPS elementary schools, including Patrick Henry School of Science & Arts (PHSSA)
• RPS middle schools, except for Franklin Military Academy, which requires a Selective Admission Schools application for rising 6th graders only
• RPS high schools, except Selective Admission Schools
• Richmond Career Education and Employment Academy (RCEEA), a public charter school for students ages 14 to 22 with disabilities
• Other eligible programs designated for that year’s Open Enrollment process, including the Governor’s STEM Academy at the Richmond Technical Center, Thomas Jefferson High School International Baccalaureate Programme, and the NEW! Passion4Learning – CREATE at Richmond High School for the Arts

How Are Students Selected?

Every applicant deserves an equal chance to receive a seat. Open Enrollment uses a randomized lottery to select students.

Each school’s lottery is conducted independently. The results of one school lottery do not impact or influence the results of another school lottery.

The number of available seats may vary from year to year based on enrollment projections.

Transportation

Transportation is not provided for students attending a school in a different zone through Open Enrollment. Parents/guardians are required to provide daily transportation and sign an attendance contract.

Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts is not a zone school and does provide transportation to students who accept a seat through Open Enrollment.

Attendance & Behavior

Students attending a school through Open Enrollment are expected to maintain good behavior and regular attendance.

If concerns arise, the school will work with the student and family on an improvement plan. If attendance and/or behavioral issues continue, the school may opt to return the student to their zone school.

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Ready to Find Your Fit?

Selective Admission Schools are RPS secondary schools that require an application process for admission.

For the 2027-28 school year application cycle, these schools include:

• Franklin Military Academy — rising 6th and 9th grade students may apply
  Please note: Current Franklin Military Academy 8th graders who wish to continue at FMA for 9th grade must apply. Students do not automatically move from 8th to 9th grade at Franklin Military Academy.
• Open High School — rising 9th and 10th grade students may apply
• Richmond Community High School — rising 9th- and 10th-grade students may apply
• Governor’s STEM Academy at the Richmond Technical Center — rising 9th-grade students may apply
• Thomas Jefferson High School International Baccalaureate Diploma Program — rising 11th-grade students may apply
• Passion4Learning – CREATE at Richmond High School for the Arts — rising 9th-grade students may apply

Eligibility and application requirements vary by school and program.

Who Can Apply?

Students who reside in Richmond may apply for a Selective Admission School.

Unlike Open Enrollment, students of RPS employees who do not reside in Richmond are ineligible to apply to these schools.

Selective Admission Application Requirements

All students applying to a Selective Admission School or Regional Governor’s School must submit their School Application by December 1 to be considered for admission.

Depending on the school or program, the application and selection process may include:

• GPA/Academic Record — Grades from the previous school year and the first semester of the current school year are considered.
• Recommendations
• In-person interview
• Writing sample
• Additional school-specific requirements, including testing, auditions, portfolio reviews, specific coursework, or other components outlined below

School & Program-Specific Requirements

How Selective Admission Schools Seat Students

Each school evaluates applicants independently. The results from one school are not shared with or used to impact the results from another school.

Applicants are reviewed and scored using each school’s admissions rubric. Scores are used to rank students for admission, and seats are offered to the top-scoring students.

Completing all admissions criteria is recommended to ensure the best chance for admission to these schools.

Special Cases

Appomattox Regional Governor’s School (ARGS)

Students are ranked based on their selected focus area, and seats will be offered based on student ranking and seat availability for each focus area.

Movement in one focus area does not necessarily represent the same type of activity in another focus area.

Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, Open High School & Richmond Community High School

RPS is committed to ensuring its Selective Admission Schools better represent all middle schools and better reflect the percentage of students in RPS who are categorized as economically disadvantaged, roughly 70%.

The Richmond School Board enacted a process aimed at achieving both a 50% ED percentage and broad representation from all RPS middle schools for Maggie Walker, Open High School, and Richmond Community High School.

Applicants are selected in phases:

1. The top-scoring applicants from each RPS middle school are offered a seat.
2. Applicants from non-RPS schools are entered into a pool of their own, and the top-scoring applicants from this pool receive offers.
3. Seat offers then go to the next highest-scoring applicants who are economically disadvantaged, regardless of school, until the seats offered to these students equal 50% of the seats to fill at the school.
4. Finally, any remaining open seats go to the next highest-scoring applicants.

A cap of 8 seats for non-RPS students per school is in place for this selection process.

Passion4Learning: CREATE at Richmond High School for the Arts

Students apply to one of five arts fields:

• Dance
• Theatre
• Visual Art
• Music Instrumental/Music Vocal
• Multi-Media Arts

Admission is based on an audition in the selected field and a structured interview.

The audition asks for a performance, portfolio, or work sample specific to that field. Every applicant completes the same six-question interview, and trained adjudicators score both against a common rubric on a 1 to 4 scale.

In Dance, Theatre, Visual Art, and Music, applicants are accepted in order of their combined score within the field they selected, based on the seats available in that field.

Multi-Media Arts requires no prepared work, though applicants are encouraged to share a portfolio or reel of anything they have made.

For the 2027 cohort, the Multi-Media interview and a short response to a media clip serve as a readiness check, and applicants who meet that standard are accepted by lottery if applications exceed available seats.

Students are not expected to arrive as experts. The audition and rubric are built to recognize readiness and commitment, not prior training.

CodeRVA Regional High School

CodeRVA Regional High School is a school option for RPS applicants. Its application process is managed separately from the RPS School Application, and CodeRVA maintains its own application timeline and requirements.

Its application typically opens in early January and is available for approx 6 weeks.

For more information, visit the school website at coderva.org.

Results, Offers & Waitlists

Your Next Step Starts Here

School Application results will be posted on Enroll RPS on the first Friday of March in the late afternoon.

Families can log in to their SchoolMint parent portal to find the results of these initial offers.

Families receiving an initial offer will have two weeks to accept or decline.

If a family has not accepted a seat by the deadline, the offer will be auto-declined and the seat will go to the next student on the waitlist for that school and grade level until seats are filled.

After the initial offer, any students moving off a waitlist will have one week to accept or decline a seat offer.

Families may accept an offer and remain on a waitlist at another school. They may not have two active accepted offers.

If an offer is accepted, any previously accepted offers will be declined.

Most schools will share their waitlist number with families. However, due to the unique nature of the selection process for Maggie Walker, Open HS, and Community HS, waitlist numbers will not be available on the Enroll RPS parent portal.

Find What’s Right for You

Explore your options. Discover your fit. Find the RPS school that’s right for you.