February 2, 2024: Deadline for accepting applications from families
February 12-16, 2024: Charter lottery window
February 28, 2024: Schools notify families of lottery results
April 8, 2024: Deadline for families to confirm or decline acceptance

All charter and contract schools must broadly publicize the location and timing of their lotteries, and all schools share the same deadline. Lotteries must be held in public and the results must be shared publicly. All applications submitted by the February 2, 2024 deadline become part of the publicly drawn lottery, after accounting for preferences, in random order until capacity is reached, and the remainder of the applications are placed on the wait list.

All charter schools grant preferences for siblings, children of original founders, and children of staff members that are City residents. There are some schools who have Board-approved enrollment preferences for other categories such as geographic preferences, or for students who are in certain categories, including students:

with limited English proficiency,
eligible for free or reduced-price meals;
with disabilities;
classified as Homeless, as defined under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act; or
residing in a geographic attendance area with a median income that is equal to or less than the median income of the county for the public charter school.

No later than February 28, 2024, family notification letters are sent to any family that applied to the school(s), and families have until April 8, 2024 to accept or decline a seat offer. Any applications received post-enrollment period are added to the wait list in the order they are received. As spaces become available at the school, they are offered to the waitlisted applicants according to their order of placement on the wait list.

Non-city residents may apply to charter and contract schools; however, these students may be enrolled only after all city residents have been offered a seat. If accepted, these families will be charged tuition by the Office of Enrollment, Choice, and Transfers.