- January 7, 2026
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Within the School District of Manatee County, rezoning is the hot topic.
However, according to Associate Superintendent Kevin Chapman, for the first time in recent memory, many East County schools that have been closed to school choice due to capacity now have a strong possibility of being open.
What is school choice?
School choice gives students and families the opportunity to apply for and attend a school outside of their zone. A variety of different reasons could push a family to attend a different school — specialized programs, size of the school and more.
The window to apply is Jan. 5-31. The applications are put into a lottery system and it is not a first-come, first-served process.
“Families need to understand it's not a race to a finish line,” Chapman said. “They need to take their time to take in the information. Go to the open houses and visit schools and make the decision that's best for their family. I don't want them to feel rushed.”
After the lottery is complete, the remaining students will be put on a waitlist and moved into their school of choice at a later time if another seat opens up.
Jamara Clark, the director of student enrollment at the School District of Manatee County, said the student enrollment team works hard to ensure families are informed about all of their options.
“It's contingent on availability at that school,” Clark said. “If there are available seats, we want to fill those seats.”
The Bradenton Convention Center will host a STEM and School Choice Showcase Jan. 24 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“We want them to go to the STEM showcase and see all the great programs and career pathways that are there,” Clark said. “Then they can head over to the school choice kiosk to talk to the principal and to sign up for the school. We just bought some iPads so we can have them out so people can sign up immediately. We want to make it as smooth as possible.”
Families that would like to send their children to a school outside their zone can fill out a Controlled Open Enrollment Request.
On top of COE Requests, there is also the option for families to fill out Out of Zone Requests. These are designed for families who might be experiencing a major life event which includes the following: being impacted by rezoning, a change in military orders or custody, going to a school where a sibling currently is enrolled, a change of address, being a school employee and more.
With the current rezoning process, a current student's zone might change and in order to keep as many families happy as possible, the district has two provisions in place. The Legacy Provision allows students to stay at their current school until the highest grade and the Founders Provision gives rising freshmen the opportunity to attend their newly zoned school for the 2027-2028 school year early.
Students who attend a school outside their zone are not provided school bus transportation.
“I think this rezoning process has gone very smoothly,” School Board Chair Cindry Spray said. “We're going to have a little hiccup here and there. With anything of this magnitude, you're going to have issues. This team and this board, respectfully, have done a great job through the challenges that we've had this year.”
According to Clark, in the 2024-25 school year there were 1,081 controlled open enrollment students (a public school student who uses a state-mandated program to attend a school outside their assigned zone) and 239 International Baccalaureate or Advanced International Certificate of Education students.
For the 2025-26 current school year, there are 1,365 controlled open enrollment students.
“I just want to make sure we highlight again that if your student is already attending a school through school choice, you don't have to apply again,” said School Board Member Heather Felton. “I've gotten this question many times. If you've already choiced there and you've already been told, ‘Yes, you can go there.’ You don't have to apply again.”
The district opened an office in Lakewood Ranch, located at 4215 Concept Circle, in October 2024 to cater to more families’ needs in terms of student enrollment and the school choice process. In July, the district had 100 visitors at that office, and in August, the visitations skyrocketed to 254 visitors. The district hopes more families will utilize the resources and space provided.
Clark said the district wants to provide clear and consistent information and a listening ear. He also emphasized that all of the staff at the Lakewood Ranch office is bilingual so there is less room for mistakes in terms of that being a barrier.
“We know some families like to do enrollment online, but there are a number of families that need that one-on-one connection,” Clark said. “We're grateful that we were allowed to open that new office to be able to better serve our families through customer service excellence.”
