School districts in the Madison area

Start with the address, not the city

District boundaries in Wisconsin are drawn separately from municipal ones. The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) describes itself as serving "all or part" of the cities of Madison and Fitchburg, and the Verona and DeForest districts each say they serve parts of Madison too. Fitchburg is split among at least three districts. So the first step is always to check the specific address.

Ways to do that:

• District lookup tools. MMSD has a "Find Your Attendance Area" link on its enrollment page. Verona offers an interactive boundary map and says you can also search an address on Access Dane. Sun Prairie has a boundary and busing map. Middleton-Cross Plains has a Boundaries & Maps page.
• Access Dane, Dane County's parcel search, lets you look up a property by address. The Verona district says its results show the district for the property.
• The state School Directory. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) School Directory Public Portal has quick search by street address and interactive maps of nearby schools and districts.
• Call the district. The State Cartographer's Office notes that most districts don't publish detailed digital boundary maps, and suggests contacting the district directly.

Districts caution that their maps aren't guaranteed error-free. Confirm with the district before you buy or sign a lease.

The districts and the communities they serve

This list follows what each district or the local government says on its own website. For anything near a boundary, use the lookup tools above.

• Madison Metropolitan School District covers about 74 square miles: all or part of Madison and Fitchburg, the villages of Maple Bluff and Shorewood Hills, and the towns of Blooming Grove, Burke and Madison.
• Verona Area School District serves the cities of Verona, Fitchburg and Madison and the towns of Middleton, Montrose, Springdale and Verona. Its three charter schools are public and free to attend.
• Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District is based in Middleton and borders Madison. It has 11 K-12 schools: seven elementary, two middle and two high schools, plus a community-based 4K program.
• Sun Prairie Area School District is headquartered in Sun Prairie and runs elementary, middle and high schools.
• Monona Grove School District runs schools in Monona and Cottage Grove.
• McFarland School District runs its schools in the village of McFarland.
• Waunakee Community School District runs six schools plus a 4K program, all in Waunakee.
• DeForest Area School District serves DeForest and Windsor, plus parts of Hampden, Leeds, Bristol, Burke, Vienna, Madison and Sun Prairie.
• Oregon School District has schools in Oregon, Brooklyn and Fitchburg.
• Stoughton Area School District serves the city of Stoughton and parts of the towns of Albion, Christiana, Cottage Grove, Deerfield, Dunkirk, Dunn, Pleasant Springs and Rutland in Dane County, and Porter and Union in Rock County.
• Mount Horeb Area School District serves the villages of Mount Horeb and Blue Mounds and all or part of the towns of Blue Mounds, Cross Plains, Perry, Primrose, Springdale, Vermont and Moscow.

Two examples show why addresses matter. The Town of Dunn is served by three districts: McFarland, Oregon and Stoughton. Cottage Grove has Monona Grove schools, and the Town of Cottage Grove is also partly in Stoughton's district. Browse nearby schools in our schools directory.

Enrolling your child

Each district runs its own registration, usually online. MMSD, for example, says families complete enrollment fully online and must enroll each child every year; online enrollment for 2026-27 opened August 5, and some families are asked to verify information in a virtual or in-person appointment. Expect to show proof of residency. Check your district's checklist for exactly which documents it accepts.

If you're new to the area, ask the district's registration office about timing, since policies on mid-year enrollment and school assignment vary by district.

4K and early learning

A child must be 4 on or before September 1 of the school year to attend 4-year-old kindergarten (4K) in Wisconsin. Districts choose whether to offer 4K, and a district that offers it must make it available to every eligible 4-year-old who lives there. Some districts run 4K at partner child care sites. DPI calls this the 4K Community Approach. The Sun Prairie and Middleton-Cross Plains districts both describe community-based 4K programs. Our child care guide covers MMSD's 4K and how to find licensed care for younger children.

Open enrollment

Wisconsin's public school open enrollment program lets families apply to attend a district other than the one they live in. McFarland's page notes there is no tuition, though students may be charged the same fees as resident students.

For the 2026-27 school year, the regular application period ran from February 2 to 4 p.m. on April 30, 2026, and DPI says the best way to apply is online. As of this writing in November 2026, DPI's page lists only the 2026-27 dates, so check the DPI Open Enrollment page for the 2027-28 dates. DPI also describes an alternative procedure that lets students apply at any time during the year if certain criteria are met. Districts publish which grades have space; McFarland, for example, posts open seats by grade.

Private and charter options

Beyond neighborhood schools, families may find public charter schools, which Verona lists as free to attend, and private schools. Wisconsin's statewide Wisconsin Parental Choice Program lets eligible students attend a participating private school; parents complete an online application each year, and eligibility rules apply, including income limits for new students. DPI's School Directory lists both public and private schools. Each private school has its own admissions process, so ask them directly.

School report cards

DPI publishes a report card for each public school and district to meet state law. You can find them through DPI's Report Card Portal by choosing a school year, district and school; DPI also posts downloadable data files. The portal's most recent data files listed are for 2024-25. Report cards are one source of information. Visiting a school and talking with its staff will tell you things a report can't. Libraries are another resource for families, so see our libraries directory, and for after-school support, browse tutors.