Moving to Texas With Kids: School Enrollment, Transfers, and Calendar Traps

The timing risk is not a single statewide enrollment deadline. It is the combination of different district calendars, the date a family can document residence, and separate deadlines for transfers or optional programs. Resident enrollment in the district where an eligible child lives remains available during the school year. Requests for a different campus, another district, or a specialty program may have earlier application windows. Families should identify the exact process they need before treating any published date as a deadline.

Texas school calendars are locally adopted within state-law requirements and exceptions. Under the current framework, many districts generally may not begin instruction before the fourth Monday in August, but statutory exceptions and District of Innovation plans can affect the date. Never infer a district's first day from a statewide summary; verify the board-adopted calendar on the district's current website.

For a deeper framework on how to evaluate Texas school districts from California, including how STAAR ratings compare to CAASPP and how Texas school funding works, see the guide on evaluating Texas school districts from California.

Texas Education Code §25.001 establishes public-school admission rules, including the general right of an eligible child to a free public education in the district where the child resides. A district may require evidence showing that the child is eligible to attend and resides in the district or qualifies under another statutory basis for admission.

A signed lease, deed, purchase contract, or closing document may be part of a district's residence review, but possessing a document for a future or unoccupied address does not by itself establish that the child currently resides there. Each district publishes its own acceptable documents and date requirements. Confirm directly with the district when it will consider residence established and when the student may begin attending.

Resident enrollment, campus assignment, and transfer approval remain separate. An eligible resident child may enroll during the school year, but the district determines the assigned campus under its attendance boundaries and local policies. A preferred-campus or interdistrict request can be subject to a separate application period, capacity review, transportation rule, and approval process.

For a broader overview of how Texas education compares to California, including funding models and accountability systems, visit the education overview page.

Boerne ISD opened online enrollment for new 2026–27 students on February 12, 2026. The district's enrollment page requires the student to reside within district boundaries and does not describe that February opening as a closing deadline for ordinary resident enrollment. Homeowners are directed to provide a recent water, gas, or electric bill; renters generally provide a current signed lease. The district also lists options for unique living arrangements, along with parent identification, immunization or exemption records, and age/identity documentation.

Transfers are different. For 2026–27, Boerne ISD listed January 26–February 20 for renewal transfers and March 17–April 30 for new transfer applications. The district also identified Fabra Elementary, Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary, Van Raub Elementary, and Boerne Middle School North as closed to new transfer applications. Families seeking ordinary enrollment at their resident district should not confuse these transfer windows with resident enrollment. Full transfer details are available on the district's student transfers page.

Boerne ISD states that new-to-district high-school students may indicate a high-school choice during initial enrollment, subject to district rules. Its Pre-K page says qualifying four-year-olds are guaranteed a place, with eligibility verification beginning in April. The district's back-to-school page provides current-year dates and forms. Verify the current district page before relying on any date or campus option.

Boerne ISD received an A with an overall score of 92 in the Texas Education Agency's 2025 accountability ratings, the most recent final ratings available as of July 31, 2026. Accountability ratings are snapshots of a particular reporting cycle; families should review both district-level and individual-campus data.

Comfort ISD serves Comfort and surrounding portions of the area northwest of Boerne. Actual drive time depends on the starting address and traffic.

Comfort ISD's current website says registration for 2026–27 is open. Its new-student materials direct families to separate procedures for Pre-K, kindergarten, and grades 1–12. Those pages list proof of residence, such as a gas or electric bill or lease agreement, along with the student's birth certificate or equivalent, immunization record, and parent or guardian photo identification. A separate district homepage notice labeled for returning-student registration says proof of residence must be dated within 45 days and identifies trash, septic, or electric bills and leases as acceptable while rejecting driver's licenses, insurance bills, credit-card or bank statements, mortgage statements, and cell-phone bills. Because that 45-day notice is expressly labeled for returning students, a new family should confirm directly with Comfort ISD whether the same timing and document exclusions apply to its registration. Details are available on the district's enrollment information page.

For a broader comparison of school districts in the Hill Country, including enrollment data and accountability ratings, see the school districts hub.

Comal ISD spans approximately 589 square miles across portions of five counties. The district reported more than 30,300 students at 36 campuses for the 2025–26 school year. Because enrollment and campus counts change as the district opens schools, verify the current figures on the district website.

Comal ISD's new-student registration is handled through Skyward. The district requires one proof-of-residency document, which may be a mortgage or lease agreement or a recent utility bill from an electric, gas, water, or cable provider. The document must be current and dated within 30 days of registration. The district also lists immunization records, an unofficial transcript or report card, the child's birth certificate, parent identification, and custody documents when applicable.

Comal ISD's general 2026–27 new-student transfer window ran from February 12 through March 1. The district's procedures cover both in-district transfers for resident K–12 students seeking a campus outside their attendance boundary and out-of-district transfers for nonresident K–12 students. A separate employee-child transfer window began February 2. The procedures also list building or buying a residence within Comal ISD as a circumstance that may be considered after the ordinary application period when the family provides a signed, executed contract or a builder letter showing an anticipated closing or move-in date during the 2026–27 school year. This remains a transfer request, not ordinary resident enrollment, and approval is not automatic. Comal ISD's Pre-K FAQ says the district does not accept out-of-district transfers for Pre-K and that Pre-K registration continues through the end of the school year and during new-student registration in August.

Comal ISD's current programs page lists Advanced Placement, Career and Technical Education, college/career/military readiness, fine arts, gifted and talented services, JROTC, multilingual programs, special education, and other offerings. Availability and admission requirements can vary by grade and campus. Families seeking a particular program should verify the serving campus, eligibility criteria, referral or application period, and transportation before choosing a property.

Free, state-supported Texas public Pre-K is eligibility-based, although a district may also offer tuition-supported or locally funded options. For the free program, a child generally must be three or four years old on September 1 and satisfy at least one statutory category. Current categories include inability to speak and comprehend English, educational disadvantage, homelessness, qualifying military-family status, current or former foster-care status, the Star of Texas Award category, and being the child of a qualifying classroom teacher employed by the district offering the class. The classroom-teacher category took effect beginning with the 2025–26 school year. Eligibility must be documented; simply speaking another language at home does not by itself establish eligibility.

District obligations differ by age and local enrollment. A district that is required to offer Pre-K to eligible four-year-olds may not use a lottery or waitlist to avoid serving them. A district may have different rules for an optional program for eligible three-year-olds. Boerne says qualifying four-year-olds are guaranteed a place; Comal says registration continues through the end of the school year and into August.

A child who is five years old on September 1 is generally eligible for kindergarten. Texas compulsory-attendance rules generally begin at age six. However, once a younger child is voluntarily enrolled in public school, attendance requirements generally apply. Early kindergarten admission is limited by state law and local policy; families should ask the district rather than assume a child may enter early. TEA guidance also explains that a child younger than six may be withdrawn after voluntary enrollment without violating compulsory-attendance rules.

Texas Education Code §25.036 allows a student to transfer annually from their district of residence to another Texas public school district if both the receiving district and the parent or guardian agree in writing. Each district sets its own transfer policy, capacity limits, and deadlines.

The receiving district's current policy controls application dates, capacity considerations, approval, transportation, tuition if lawfully charged, and renewal or revocation conditions. Do not assume that every district uses the same standards.

For a family still living in California, district policy determines whether an advance request connected to a pending move will be considered. Do not assume that submitting or receiving approval for a transfer establishes resident-enrollment rights or guarantees a particular campus as the child's resident assignment. Some districts have specific procedures for pending moves; Comal ISD's 2026–27 procedures, for example, recognize a building or buying request supported by a signed, executed contract or a builder letter showing an anticipated closing or move-in during the school year. Once the child actually resides within the district and otherwise qualifies for admission, resident enrollment applies, while campus assignment remains governed by district attendance boundaries and policies.

For families who are still in the evaluation phase and want to understand how different Texas districts compare before choosing a neighborhood, the Start Here page for families and schools provides a practical framework for the decision-making process.

The Texas Education Freedom Account program is administered by the Texas Comptroller, not the Texas Education Agency. For 2026–27, the official program site lists three principal funding categories: $10,474 for an awarded child attending a participating private school or participating Pre-K or kindergarten program; up to $30,000 for an awarded child with a disability in one of those participating settings whose IEP was on file with the Texas Education Agency by the end of the application period, with the amount based on the funding the child's local school district would receive for services under the IEP; and $2,000 for an awarded child in the program's homeschool/other category. Account funds may be used only for approved education-related expenses. Eligibility, application, selection, and permitted-use rules apply.

The 2026–27 application period ran from February 4 through March 31, 2026. Because the application window had closed by this article's July 31 publication date, the program should not be presented as an on-demand backup. As of July 31, 2026, the official site reported more than 274,000 applications and more than 100,000 awards; it also reported that additional awards were being issued to students initially placed on the waitlist. A parent must be a Texas resident, and the child must meet citizenship or lawful-presence and Texas school-eligibility requirements. An account award is separate from admission to a private school, is not guaranteed, and may not cover the school's full tuition and fees.

educationfreedom.texas.gov

A school-age child who becomes eligible to attend the resident Texas district may enroll during the school year; the family does not ordinarily need to wait for January or the following fall. Contact the district before closing to confirm acceptable proof of residence, the assigned campus, the registration process, and the first day the child may attend.

Bring the most recent report card or unofficial transcript, current class schedule, course descriptions when placement or credit could be unclear, immunization or exemption records, proof of age and identity, and any custody documents. Also bring the complete individualized education program, evaluation, Section 504 plan, English-learner records, gifted-program records, behavior or health plans, and assistive-technology information that applies. The receiving district will request official records, but parent-supplied copies can reduce placement delays.

When a student with an IEP transfers from another state during the same school year, the receiving Texas district must, in consultation with the parents, provide services comparable to those in the previous IEP until it conducts any necessary evaluation and develops, adopts, and implements a new IEP. Families moving between school years should still send complete records early and ask the receiving district's special-education office to explain its review and service-start process.

Enrollment admits the student to the district; it does not by itself settle grade placement, course credit, graduation planning, special-education services, extracurricular eligibility, or transportation. Elementary and middle-school families should ask how the district handles grade placement, advanced coursework, gifted services, intervention records, and language services. High-school families should request a written transcript review and graduation plan. California A–G course labels do not automatically map one-for-one to Texas's Foundation High School Program, endorsements, state assessment rules, or local course sequences.

Students with an IEP or Section 504 plan should send complete records to the appropriate district office before arrival and ask who will coordinate services. Student-athletes should ask the district's athletic office about current University Interscholastic League eligibility and transfer rules; do not rely on a general enrollment representative for a sport-specific ruling.

Before selecting a property

• Verify the exact district and campus boundary with the district.
• Compare the board-adopted calendars for every child's grade.
• Ask about rezoning, capacity rules, transportation, special programs, and services important to the child.

Before signing or closing

• Confirm which residence documents the district will accept and when they must be dated.
• Distinguish resident enrollment from intradistrict, interdistrict, and optional-program applications.
• Calendar only the deadlines that apply to the family's actual request.

As soon as the move is definite

• Download current school, health, special-education, Section 504, language, gifted, and custody records.
• Ask the receiving district to review high-school credits, special-services records, or unusual placement questions early.
• Confirm the child's first possible attendance date and transportation arrangements.

After establishing residence

• Complete the district's registration process with acceptable current documents.
• Verify the assigned campus in writing.
• Follow up on records, course placement, services, meals, transportation, devices, and first-day instructions.