Kindergarten Registration 2027-28: NYC Opens Dec. 9, Age Cutoffs and Dates by District

New York City’s kindergarten application for the 2027-28 school year opens Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026 and closes Friday, Jan. 22, 2027, according to NYC Public Schools, and children born in 2022 are the ones who enter. Other large districts use a birthday cutoff between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30, and several have not posted 2027-28 registration dates yet.

NYC kindergarten application dates for 2027-28

The city lists three dates for families applying during the 2026-27 school year for admission in 2027-28:

Step	Date
Kindergarten application opens	Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026
Application closes	Friday, Jan. 22, 2027
Offers released	Tuesday, Mar. 30, 2027

Families can apply online through MySchools, by phone at 718-935-2009 or in person, according to NYC Public Schools. For the rest of the school year, including recesses, see our NYC Public Schools calendar for 2026-27.

Kindergarten age cutoffs and registration dates by district

The age rule decides which birth year starts in fall 2027. The table converts each district’s rule into a birthdate for 2027-28. The conversion is ours; the rules and dates come from the district and state pages listed in the last column.

District	Age rule	Born on or before, for fall 2027	2027-28 registration	Source
NYC Public Schools	Children enter in September of the calendar year they turn five	Born in 2022	Application Dec. 9, 2026 to Jan. 22, 2027	NYC Public Schools
School District of Philadelphia	Age 5 on or before Sept. 1	Sept. 1, 2022	Begins Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2027	Philadelphia
Wake County Public School System (WCPSS)	Age 5 on or before Aug. 31	Aug. 31, 2022	Opened Oct. 15, 2026	WCPSS
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)	Turns five on or before Sept. 30	Sept. 30, 2022	Not yet announced	FCPS
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), Md.	Age 5 by Sept. 1 on the first day of school	Sept. 1, 2022	Not yet announced	MCPS
Gwinnett County Public Schools, Ga.	District’s 2026-27 page: five on or before Sept. 1, 2026	Not yet stated for 2027-28	Not yet announced	Gwinnett
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS)	Age 5 on or before Aug. 31	Aug. 31, 2022	Not yet announced	CMS

MCPS enrolled in person starting Mar. 16, 2026 last year. It has not said whether 2027-28 follows the same pattern, so treat that date as last year’s.

What do state laws say about the kindergarten cutoff?

Some districts follow a state rule. We read the statutes for four states; the district dates are separate.

State	Rule in the statute	Born on or before, for fall 2027	Districts it covers here
Florida (s. 1003.21)	Attained age 5 on or before Sept. 1 of the school year	Sept. 1, 2022	Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Orange; 2027-28 dates not yet announced
Virginia (22.1-254)	Fifth birthday on or before Sept. 30	Sept. 30, 2022	Fairfax County
Nevada (Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 392.040)	5 years of age on or before Aug. 1 of the school year	Aug. 1, 2022	Clark County; dates not yet announced
North Carolina (G.S. 115C-364)	Reaches or reached age 5 on or before Aug. 31 of that school year	Aug. 31, 2022	Wake County, CMS

New York works differently from the table above. Education Law 3202 says a board need not admit a child who becomes five after the school year has started unless the birthday is on or before Dec. 1. That is the state’s language; NYC’s calendar-year rule is the city’s own policy.

Who has already opened registration, and who has not?

Wake County opened first: its enroll page says kindergarten and pre-registration for 2027-28 opened Oct. 15, 2026. Philadelphia follows on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2027, according to the district. Our Philadelphia school calendar has its closures. Wake County families can see the school year in our Wake County calendar.

Fairfax, Montgomery, Gwinnett and Charlotte-Mecklenburg had no 2027-28 window on the pages we read on Nov. 3, 2026. Check the district page before you plan.

What should you have ready?

The district pages we read do not give one shared list of documents, so check your own district’s documents list before you register. If you apply in NYC, the application is online, by phone or in person, and closes Jan. 22, 2027.

Mark the dates on the December 2026 and January 2027 calendars, or print the one-page sheet below. The printable school-year calendar covers the rest of 2026-27.