Columbus City Schools Calendar 2026-2027

Columbus City Schools is Ohio’s largest school district, serving roughly 45,000 students in about 110 schools. Its stable foundation is a citywide network of neighborhood elementary, middle, and high schools, supplemented by K–8, PreK–12, and other grade configurations. Most students have an address-based assignment and feeder pattern even when their family is also considering a specialized option.

Over that neighborhood network sits the School Choice Lottery, which receives nearly 20,000 applications in a typical year for language immersion, arts, STEM, gifted, single-gender, and other programs. A lottery placement may change a child’s school and peer group without guaranteeing a continuous route to graduation: at the terminal grade of a choice building, the next assignment usually returns to the home feeder unless the family applies again. Transportation eligibility can narrow the practical choices, particularly under the 2026–27 K–8 busing rules.

Columbus is also realigning schools toward regional learning communities centered on high schools and career academies. That work is time-sensitive, but it does not replace the district’s basic operating logic: neighborhood assignment remains the default, while choice, transportation, and changing grade configurations determine how far a family can depart from it.