Enrollment Policy

Grade Level New Enrollment Cap as used in this policy is defined as enrollment caps set by Board policy.

Grade Level Total Enrollment Cap as used in this policy is defined as enrollment caps set by Board policy.

Returning Students

 Students that attended GCA in the prior year must re-register by the second semester deadline in May of the prior school year. This deadline will be set each year by GCA leadership and will be communicated to all GCA students and families via email and the GCA website. In order to re-register, students’ legal guardians must complete the re-registration online application  accessible through the campus parent portal.

Students are permitted to re-register with Georgia Cyber Academy if and when prior year student enrollment record requirements are satisfied, including: health forms (3231, 3300, and 4400 where applicable), proof of age (commonly submitted as the birth record but not always), social-security card (copy), or the social security waiver.

A non-compliant student record status must be rectified in order to complete re-registration.

Active student members without an approved re-registration status by the above-referenced deadline shall relinquish a secured seat. After the deadline, the legal guardian has the option to register student(s) in the Georgia Cyber Academy lottery along with prospective new students for the upcoming school year.

New Students

New students may be accepted and enrolled up through and including 45 calendar days from the first day of school, provided that the grade level new enrollment percentage and/or total enrollment caps have not been reached prior to the enrollment deadline.

Pursuant to the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act, homeless students may be newly enrolled in any grade K through 12 throughout the school year, regardless of whether the grade level new enrollment caps have been reached.

A mid-year enrollment period may be offered in any school year where GCA determines that there is available capacity. If offered, the midyear enrollment period window will be set each year by GCA leadership and will be communicated to the public via the GCA website.

In pandemic situations, natural disasters, and state of emergencies, to serve community demand for a safe school option, the school administration may enroll over the enrollment caps for any grade level up to its available capacity per its charter, its student to teacher ratio, and its available computer inventory.

GCA shall determine its capacity at each grade level in accordance with its charter, operational factors and the considerations below:

Kindergarten - no new student enrollment cap; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

1^st grade - no new student enrollment cap; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

2^nd grade - no new student enrollment cap; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

3^rd grade - no more than 40% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

4^th grade - no more than 30% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

5^th grade - no more than 30% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

6^th grade - no more than 40% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

7^th grade - no more than 30% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

8^th grade - no more than 30% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

9^th grade - no more than 40% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

10^th grade - no more than 20% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

11^th grade - no more than 10% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

12^th grade - no more than 5% of total student enrollment may be newly enrolled students; the total number of students may not exceed 2000 or per charter contract.

The determined number of seats available for the next school year will be based off January 31^st enrollment numbers. The determined number of seats available may be initially increased by 10% to account for normal attrition throughout the school year and beginning of the year enrollment no shows. Seat confirmation in any grade level may be suspended if overall school enrollment capacity per charter contract is reached, student to teacher ratio capacity is reached, or available computer inventory has been exhausted.

For Grades 3 through 8, the new student enrollment grade level caps will remain in place until a given grade level’s overall performance meets or exceeds the state’s average academic performance on the Milestone EOGs across all subjects tested in that grade or CCRPI Single Score for a given grade band exceeds the state average. Once a grade level is meeting or exceeding state averages in all subjects tested or the grade levels within a given grade band exceed the state single score CCRPI average, the new enrollment percentage cap may be adjusted to a higher percentage or  removed, however the overall total grade level enrollment cap will stand. The SCSC weighted CCRPI comparison score      taking into account where GCA actually draws its student population from (school or district) may be used in place of the GaDOE single score CCRPI calculation for the purpose of determining if grade level enrollment caps should be revised or removed.

For Grades 9 through 12, the new student enrollment grade level caps will remain in place until the High School, as a whole, meets or exceeds the state’s average CCRPI HS single score or GCA’s Milestone EOCs scores meet or exceed the state’s average academic performance for all courses tested. Once the High School, as a whole, is meeting or exceeding state averages in one of the two criteria areas previously listed, the 9^th through 12^th grades new enrollment percentage caps may be adjusted to a higher percentage or removed, however the overall total grade level enrollment cap will stand. The SCSC weighted CCRPI comparison score taking into account where GCA actually draws its student population from (school or district) may be used in place of the GaDOE single score CCRPI calculation for the purpose of determining if grade level enrollment caps should be revised or removed.