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Lottery and Enrollment

2024-2025 Lottery Applications Open January 9-March 5, 2024.

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2024-2025 School Year Age Eligibility

Minimum Age Eligibility for Transitional Kindergarten: Child Must Turn 5 BETWEEN: September 2, 2024 - June 2, 2025

Minimum Age Eligibility for Kindergarten: Child Must Turn 5 BY: September 1, 2024

Minimum Age Eligibility for 1st Grade: Child Must Turn 6 BY: September 1, 2024

2024-2025 Lottery & Enrollment Timeline

  • January 8, 2024: Campus tours begin (see Tours page for details)
  • January 9, 2024: Applications Open (a link will go live on this page)- 10am
  • March 5, 2024: Applications Close - 5pm

  • March 19, 2024: TK/ K Lottery (Virtual Live Lottery*)

  • April 2, 2024: 1st-8th Lottery (Virtual Live Lottery*)

  • April 3, 2024: Applications Re-open on SchoolMint  for the Waitlist- 10am

*If you have applied on SchoolMint, you will receive a Virtual Live Lottery Webinar email invitation the week before the Lottery.

Enrollment Process

California Montessori Project (CMP) admits new students through a public, random lottery draw. For more information, please see our Admissions Policy.

Lottery Application Process/Application Window:

  • Applications for the lottery are made available and submitted through SchoolMint.
  • During the open application period, January through March, families will be asked to create a SchoolMint account. Set your SchoolMint communication preferences to receive both email and text notifications. Please also check your spam folder.
  • After an account is created, families will need to create an application for each child they wish to be part of the lottery and/or put on the waitlist.  All areas of the application must be completed or the application is not valid and will not be accepted by SchoolMint.
  • Preferences available and submitted within the application will be validated by Student Services and the Campus Administrator.  Requested uploads are mandatory for eligible preferences. See our Admissions Policy for more details.
  • The application will be automatically placed into the lottery pool via SchoolMint and shuffled based on the Enrollment Preferences listed in our CMP charter documents. 
  • The lottery application will reopen after the lotteries have concluded. The application window will be opened at all of our CMP campuses, for all grade levels.  As new students apply, new applicants will be moved to their priority waitlist (siblings, Montessori experience, in-district, etc.) in the order applications are received.

CMP’s Lottery: Two Lotteries held in the spring:

  • Following the posted application due date, CMP will hold an annual public lottery draw for TK and Kindergarten, and a separate 1st through 8th Grade Lottery approximately two weeks later.
  • To be included in the lottery, applications must be submitted no later than Application submission due date (see dates above).
  • The public random lottery draw shall adhere to all California State regulations regarding Charter law as well as the Enrollment Preferences listed in our CMP charter documents.
  • The public random lottery draw is performed by a member of CMP’s Central Administration Team live and through the use of the SchoolMint platform. 

Lottery Process following the Lottery Draw:

  • Following the Lottery Draw, Student Services verifies the results.
  • If your child is selected in the lottery draw, you will receive an email offer communication. 
  • You will have exactly three days to accept or decline the seat. If you do not respond within the three day period, your child’s offer will be automatically rescinded.
  • Please make sure you have your SchoolMint communication account preferences set up to receive both email and text notifications. Please also check your spam folder.
  • If you are applying to multiple campuses and offered an open seat at more than one campus, you will be asked to choose one campus within three days.
  • Campuses you applied to, that were ranked above the campus you accepted the seat to, but not pulled for an open seat will remain waitlisted up until school starts. Once school begins and a student has accepted a seat, registered and is attending a CMP campus, other outstanding campus applications in waitlist standing will be rescinded. (Unless you are not new to CMP, have attended a CMP school campus for a year, and are requesting a transfer through the lottery draw) 
  • Students are required to stay at the selected campus for one school year prior to requesting a transfer to another campus. Transfer requests must go through the lottery, are not guaranteed, and are eligible to receive the “inter-district preference” offered in our Admission Policy.

Registration: Begins after Lottery for those offered a seat:

  • Once you accept an open seat offer, a SchoolMint registration communication will immediately follow. 
  • If the registration information is not completed by the due date, your child’s spot will be rescinded. All requested forms must be completed and verified by staff to be registered.
  • Birth certificates, immunizations, and health reports are required for Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten students (and students who are entering the public-school system for the first time). Students may not begin school until these items are completed. Students entering 7th grade  must have proof of updated immunizations.
  • Following registration, the communication platform used by CMP is ParentSquare. ParentSquare information will not be provided to new families until August or shortly following registration if the school year is already in session.  Families will be provided beginning of the year information and additional forms via ParentSquare the first week of school.
  • Beginning of the year forms contain important CMP policies and procedures.  It is very important for families to read and acknowledge these policies and procedures. Families are to refer to the CMP calendar and schedule vacations during school breaks, as attendance is mandatory when school is in session.

Waitlist:

  • During the lottery, each campus may pull for open seats and also a waitlist. Waitlists are maintained through the Enrollment Preferences listed in our CMP charter documents.
  • As openings occur at a campus and grade level, CMP staff will continue to contact applicants in the order produced in the SchoolMint lottery waitlist.  
  • Openings can occur prior to the start of school, during the school year, and up until the next lottery.  In no circumstance will a waitlist carry over to the following school year.

If you feel that you have been discriminated against in any way during the lottery or enrollment process, encouraged not to enroll or persuaded to disenroll or transfer your CMP student, click here to view information on the enrollment complaint notice. 

 

Resources

Registration Resources

Preschool Partnerships

For more information, please contact the campus Lottery Administrator:

  • American River: (916) 864-0081
  • Capitol: (916) 325-0910  
  • Carmichael: (916) 971-2430
  • Elk Grove: Bradshaw Rd: (916) 714-9699
  • Elk Grove: Elk Grove Blvd: (916) 714-9702  
  • Orangevale: (916) 673-9389
  • Shingle Springs: (530) 672-3095

Student Services
5330 A Gibbons Drive, Ste 700
Carmichael, CA 95608
(916) 971-2432
studentservices@cacmp.org