Admissions Procedure

Moscow Charter School has a policy of open enrollment of new applicants through a lottery process of random selection in compliance with Idaho Code 33-5206. The lottery will be conducted by an independent third party and will take place on the last school day in March, each year.

The procedure for the lottery is as follows:

Parents may begin submitting Lottery Applications for the upcoming school year beginning September 15th.  The deadline to submit your application will be the day prior to the Lottery.

Students wishing to enroll in the school year that is currently in session may apply at any time during the school year, students will be admitted pending space availability or be placed on a waiting list.

Every school year, at the beginning of February, an email will be sent out to all parents of currently enrolled children requesting they notify us of their child's intent to return.

This Intent to Return form will be accessible via our website until 1 week prior to the lottery as this will be the deadline for response. The following information will be requested:

• Whether the student currently enrolled at MCS intends to enroll for the next school year.
• Whether the currently enrolled student has any siblings who are not currently enrolled who intend to apply for enrollment for the next year. (The names of those students will be included in the lottery, a separate lottery application will not be required)

The names of all lottery applicants and siblings identified on the Intent to Return form will be placed in the lottery. Separate drawings will be held for each grade. Lottery Applicants for each grade will be assigned a number based on the order in which they are drawn in the lottery and then divided and numerically ordered in to the following groups:

• Returning Students
• Children of the founding members of the school (limited to not more than 10%);
• Children of Full-time employees of the Moscow Charter School;
• Siblings of currently enrolled students;
• Students seeking to transfer from another Idaho public charter school in which they have been enrolled for at least (1) year;
• Children who reside within the Moscow School District 
• Children who reside in the State of Idaho but outside the Moscow School District 
• Children who reside outside the State of Idaho.  (Note: Out of State Tuition fees will be required, contact the Business Manager for more information)

If there are openings in a class, those openings will be assigned to the students in the lottery drawing from the aforementioned categories, in order, based on the lottery ranking. All students from the first category will be exhausted before students from the next category will be selected. Once the spot limit has been reached, the remaining students will be placed on the waiting list.

If there are no openings in the class, all students will be placed on the waiting list based on the lottery drawing from the aforementioned categories, in order, based on the lottery ranking.

Once all spots are assigned, MCS will send a written notice to the Parent/Guardian inviting the new student to enroll in the school. Notice will be sent by the first day of school in April; written response via our Intent to Enroll form or email from the Parent/Guardian accepting the invitation must be received by the deadline specified in the notice.  Follow-up will be made during this time to ensure invitation has been received if we do not hear back from Parent/Guardian.

In the event that an open spot is not accepted or becomes available as a result of a failure to respond to the invitation by said date, the next student on the list will be sent an invitation with a deadline to respond. This process will continue until the spot is accepted by a student or the list is exhausted.

All students who are placed on the wait list will be notified of their status and current ranking on the list. At this time, we will ask the student if they would like to remain on the list in the event there is a future opening, or if they want to be taken off the list. 

The list generated through the lottery process will be utilized throughout the school year to fill openings. If an opening arises throughout the school year, MCS will consult the waiting list and the Parent/Guardian of the next student on the list will be notified of the opening and offered the spot. They will be given a deadline at this time to respond.

Students who are placed on the waiting list who do not gain admission must reapply and participate in a new lottery in March, each year.

To be included in the lottery, please submit the lottery application found on the top of this page. If you have any questions, please contact us!