Magnet and Fundamental Programs in St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg families apply for 2027-2028 magnet and fundamental seats during the initial application period of January 5 to 15, 2027, then accept offers from February 10 to 19, 2027.

The district lists the South County Fair for October 28, 2026 from 6pm to 7:30pm at Gibbs HS (Pinellas County Schools Discovery Nights), and Gibbs High gives its own address as 850 34th St. S, St. Petersburg, (727) 893-5452 (Gibbs High School). The same page lists the North County and All County fairs, and the district's main program page repeats the January, February and March dates (Pinellas County Schools).

The Pinellas County Schools program page posts no separate lottery date for 2027-2028. The step it names after the January window is the February acceptance period, so a St. Petersburg family that wants a seat watches for an offer during the acceptance period, February 10 to 19, 2027 (Magnet and Fundamental Programs page).

A St. Petersburg parent applies online through a Focus Parent Portal account at focus.pcsb.org, which the district requires before the application opens at 12:01 AM on January 5, 2027.

Pinellas County Schools says parents must first create a Focus Parent Portal Account, that an email address is needed to set it up, and that only one User ID and password is needed per family (How to Apply for 2027-2028). The district posts separate step by step guides for a current Pinellas student, a child new to the district, and a child who is not enrolled but already has a PCS student ID.

A St. Petersburg student who is already in a program and plans to stay in that same program at the same school does not submit a new application (Pinellas County Schools).

For a St. Petersburg family's questions about the application process, the district names the Student Assignment Office, [email protected] or 727.588.6210; for technical problems, User Support at 727.588.6060; and for questions about a specific program, DAP personnel at [email protected] or 727.588.6000 x1875 or x1871 (How to Apply page). The district office address posted on that page is 301 4th St. SW, Largo FL 33770.

The St. Petersburg campuses in this guide appear on the Pinellas County Schools South County application area lists, which the district builds from five middle school zones for elementary and middle programs and from five high school zones for high school programs.

At the high school level, the South County (S) Application Area serves students zoned for Boca Ciega, Gibbs, Lakewood, Northeast and St. Petersburg high schools (Pinellas County Schools Application Areas). For elementary programs, the district uses middle school zones: families zoned for Azalea, Bay Point, John Hopkins, Meadowlawn or Tyrone Middle School may apply to the South County elementary list, and the same five zones form the South County middle school area.

Two sub area lists add schools. Students who live south of Ulmerton Boulevard may apply to all South County programs plus Jamerson Elementary, Melrose Elementary and the James B. Sanderlin K-8 IB program, and a South of Gulf-to-Bay Blvd list names Gulf Beaches Elementary and Perkins Elementary (Application Areas). The district's elementary page places Sanderlin under South of Gulf to Bay instead, so the two district pages disagree on that school's area; the School Zone Locator result for a St. Petersburg address settles it (Elementary programs page). The same two pages also differ on Midtown Academy's Center for Literacy Innovation: the application area page lists it under South County, while the elementary page labels it South of Ulmerton.

Fundamental programs work differently: Pinellas County Schools says they are open countywide, so a St. Petersburg family can apply to any fundamental school regardless of where it lives, including Osceola Fundamental High (Pinellas County Schools). To see the list for a specific St. Petersburg address, the district says to enter it in the School Zone Locator, which shows the zoned school and the magnet and fundamental programs available in that application area.

Pinellas County Schools lists eight elementary magnet campuses with St. Petersburg addresses, from Midtown Academy's gifted and cultural arts centers to Jamerson's mathematics and engineering center, plus three fundamental elementary schools.

Every address and phone in the table comes from the district's elementary program list (Pinellas County Schools elementary programs). Lakewood Elementary's program names community partnerships with St. Petersburg Ballet Conservatory and Morean Arts Center, and Midtown Academy hosts both a full time Center for Gifted Studies for grades 1 to 5 and a Center for Literacy Innovation, a program the district says is designed especially for students with dyslexia and other reading challenges.

The three St. Petersburg fundamental schools, Bay Vista, Lakeview and Pasadena, follow the district's fundamental model, whose requirements include daily homework, dress code and monthly parent meetings (Pinellas County Schools). The only Montessori program on the district's elementary list is at Gulfport Elementary, 2014 52nd St. S, Gulfport, (727) 893-2643, in the Elementary South Application Area.

St. Petersburg hosts the South County IB Diploma Programme at St. Petersburg High, the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High, the Center for Advanced Technologies at Lakewood High, and Thurgood Marshall Fundamental Middle.

At the middle school level, the district lists Thurgood Marshall Fundamental Middle at 3901 22nd Avenue South, (727) 552-1737; John Hopkins Middle at 701 16th Street South, (727) 893-2400, with a Center for Gifted Studies and a Center for the Arts; and the Academy of Engineering at Azalea Middle, 7855 22nd Avenue North, (727) 893-2606 (Pinellas County Schools middle programs). The South County middle list also names Mangrove Bay Middle's Health and Wellness Leadership Academy, Azalea Middle's Civil Air Patrol program and a Center for Gifted Studies at Thurgood Marshall Middle; the South of Gulf-to-Bay Blvd list names Tyrone Middle's Center for Innovation and Digital Learning, and the South of Ulmerton list names Bay Point Middle's science and technology center and the Sanderlin K-8 IB Middle Years Programme (Application Areas).

At the high school level, the district lists St. Petersburg High, 2501 Fifth Ave. N, (727) 893-1842, as the IB Diploma Programme site for the South County application and transportation area, and also places its Center for Construction Technologies there (Pinellas County Schools high school programs). The district's arts and business lists place PCCA and the Business, Entrepreneurial, and Technology Academy (BETA) at Gibbs High. Lakewood High hosts the Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT) and the Center for Journalism and Multimedia. Northeast High hosts the Academy of Finance, the Academy of Information Technology and the Academy of Culinary Arts, the last listed for the South County Application Area.

Two more campuses appear on the district's South County lists. Boca Ciega High, 924 58th St. S in Gulfport, runs a countywide fundamental program and the Center for Wellness and Medical Professions; Dixie Hollins High, 4940 62nd St. N, St. Petersburg, is listed for the South County Cambridge AICE application area (Pinellas County Schools).

St. Petersburg High School's IB program admits students only for 9th or 10th grade and sets grade, Algebra 1 and FAST score minimums, while Gibbs PCCA and Lakewood CAT describe their own majors and pathways.

The St. Petersburg High IB page lists these admission criteria: successful completion of Algebra 1 Honors (or Algebra 1 credit through the Credit Acceleration Program) with a proficient score on the Algebra 1 EOC or an equivalent test; a final grade of A or B in each academic subject in 6th and 7th grade and in semester 1 of 8th grade; and Level 4 or 5 on Grade 6 or Grade 7 FAST math and reading (St. Petersburg High School). After applying online, families send the 6th and 7th grade reading and math scores and the 6th, 7th and 8th grade report cards to the IB office at St. Petersburg High School. The page says applicants must live in the south application area, made up of the Lakewood, Boca Ciega, Gibbs, St. Petersburg and Northeast high school zones, and that 10th grade applicants need AP World History, Algebra 2 Honors or Geometry Honors, Biology Honors, English 2 Honors, and Spanish Honors or French Honors.

That St. Petersburg High page still tells families to complete the magnet application at reservation.pcsb.org, while the district's 2027-2028 page directs every application through the Focus Parent Portal (Pinellas County Schools). The two official pages conflict; the district page carries the current 2027-2028 dates.

Gibbs High says its PCCA program has been recognized for more than 40 years and that the PCCA Class of 2025 earned $7.2 million in scholarships; it lists departments in dance, music, theatre, design technology, visual art and an integrated arts program added in 2025 (Gibbs High School PCCA). Lakewood High says CAT students choose among robotics, artificial intelligence and content creation pathways in a four year course progression and may earn the CAT Seal and the AP Capstone Diploma; the school is at 1400 54th Ave. S, (727) 893-2916 (Lakewood High School CAT).

Pinellas County Schools runs arterial school bus service for magnet and career academy students who live more than two miles from their St. Petersburg program, but most fundamental programs get no bus.

The district says arterial routing keeps buses on main roads with a limited number of stops, that an arterial stop may be farther than one and one-half miles from a student's home, and that a student may have to cross a road of three or more lanes (Pinellas County Schools Transportation). For programs with application areas, transportation is only provided to eligible students within the application area, and the Transportation Call Center is 727-587-2020.

Fundamental schools are the main exception. The district says transportation is not provided to fundamental programs except at Boca Ciega High, Dunedin High and Thurgood Marshall, and it labels Boca Ciega and Thurgood Marshall as south county (Pinellas County Schools Application Areas). The transportation page adds that parents must provide transportation to the 100% fundamental schools, including the six countywide fundamental elementaries, so a family choosing Bay Vista, Lakeview or Pasadena Fundamental plans its own drop off and pickup (Transportation for Application Programs). Last verified: October 18, 2026, by re-reading the Pinellas County Schools magnet, transportation and application area pages and the St. Petersburg High, Gibbs High and Lakewood High program pages.