General Enrollment Overview

Enrollment of a student is different from admission of a student. When a school admits a student, it offers the student a seat at the school; the student can decide to accept the seat and attend the school or not. When a school enrolls a student, the student is indicating his or her intention to attend the school and be included in the school’s student count. Although a public charter school may offer admission to students simply upon submission of an application, before a student may be enrolled in and attend school, schools must obtain certain documentation from each student’s parent or guardian.

Great Hearts Academies, as a public charter in Arizona, are subject to open enrollment laws. In the fall, any current and eligible waitlisted student has the opportunity to rollover in advance of newly submitted open enrollment applications to the following school year and waitlist. In addition, Great Hearts Academies offers an Open Enrollment period that allows new applications for the next year to be submitted during a limited time. Typically, academies receive more applications for enrollment than seats available for each grade. If this is the case for any grade level at an academy, a lottery will be held for the open enrollment applications. Any students who submit their applications after the completion of the Open Enrollment period will be ordered on a first-come first-served prioritized basis and be considered Post Open Enrollment. Students who do not receive an offer after Rollover, Open Enrollment and the lottery will be placed on a waitlist and may be offered enrollment during the year if a seat becomes available.

Rollover

Previous year’s waitlisted applications electing to remain on the waitlist for the upcoming school year (not all applications are eligible).

Open Enrollment

Applications submitted in open enrollment period that are eligible for the lottery.

The Open Enrollment window for the 2022-2023 school year is November 8th, 2021 to December 10th, 2021. Apply for open enrollment here.

Post Open Enrollment

Applications submitted after open enrollment period, not eligible for lottery and processed on first-come, first-served prioritized basis.

Re-enrollment

Current students who plan to return the following academic school year for the next grade level at the same academy (does not apply to students in exit grades).

Arizona State Law

ARS 15-184. Charter schools; admissions requirements

A. A charter school shall enroll all eligible pupils who submit a timely application, unless the number of applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level or building.

B. A charter school shall give enrollment preference to pupils returning to the charter school in the second or any subsequent year of its operation and to siblings of pupils already enrolled in the charter school.

C. A charter school may give enrollment preference to children who are in foster care or meet the definition of unaccompanied youth prescribed in the McKinney-Vento homeless assistance act (42 United States Code section 11434a).

D. A charter school may give enrollment preference to and reserve capacity for pupils who either:

1. Are children, grandchildren or legal wards of any of the following:

(a) Employees of the school.

(b) Employees of the charter holder.

(d) Directors, officers, partners or board members of the charter holder.

2. Attended another charter school or are the siblings of that pupil if the charter school previously attended by the pupil has the identical charter holder, board and governing board membership as the enrolling charter school or is managed by the same educational management organization, charter management organization or educational service provider as determined by the charter authorizer.

E. If remaining capacity is insufficient to enroll all pupils who submit a timely application, the charter school shall select pupils through an equitable selection process such as a lottery except that preference shall be given to siblings of a pupil selected through an equitable selection process such as a lottery.

F. Except as provided in subsections A through D of this section, a charter school shall not limit admission based on ethnicity, national origin, gender, income level, disabling condition, proficiency in the English language or athletic ability.

G. A charter school may limit admission to pupils within a given age group or grade level.

H. A charter school may provide instruction to pupils of a single gender with the approval of the sponsor of the charter school. An existing charter school may amend its charter to provide instruction to pupils of a single gender, and if approved by the sponsor of the charter school, may provide instruction to pupils of a single gender at the beginning of the next school year.

I. A charter school may refuse to admit any pupil who has been expelled from another educational institution or who is in the process of being expelled from another educational institution.