The HCA Lottery for the 2024-2025 School Year was held on February 15th, however, you can still apply! While many grades are waitlist only, it is free to apply and only takes a minute. We utilize our waitlist all year long, and it moves A LOT! Use the links below to apply via Lotterease today!
Important Links:
Use the links below (or they hyperlink above) to directly access and learn more about Lotterease.
- Registration for Lotterease Account- https://app.lotterease.com/cgi-bin/sl_V2_1.pl?session_id=&user_id=&account_id=&nav=Parents_Registration
- Lotterease Parent Manual- https://www.hcacs.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Lotterease-Parent-Manual.pdf
Lottery Process
In accordance with Section 59-40-50 of the South Carolina Charter Schools Act (1996), HCA’s admission policy will be to admit all children eligible to attend public school in South Carolina, subject to space limitations (in which a lottery will be used). As a public charter school sponsored by the Limestone Charter Association, HCA may accept students that live out of district; however, all students must reside in South Carolina. State residency will be confirmed upon enrollment.
HCA will recruit, register and admit students without regard to race, religion, gender, natural origin, disability, need for special education services, immigrant status, or English speaking status.
For the 2023-24 school year, HCA will serve students in grades 4k-12th grade. At this time, HCA is a public charter school for students in grades 5K – 12th grade. We do have a private-for-pay 4K program. For 4k, students must be 4 on or by September 1st, 2024. For 5k, students must by 5 on or by September 1st, 2024. All new students must apply during the Open Enrollment period each year to attend. Applications and Waiting Lists are only valid for one school year at a time and do not roll over from year to year. Applicants for whom no space is available must reapply each year.
Enrollment is not guaranteed due to space limitations. When there are more applicants in a grade than spots available, a lottery for that grade will take place. In accordance with Section 59-40-50 of the South Carolina Charter Schools Act (1996), there is no appeal process when an applicant is denied admission because of lottery results and acceptance to the school. Lottery admission may not be deferred to another school year.
Continuing Enrollment
Continuing Enrollment will take place each year in December; the specific dates will be advertised yearly. This enrollment period is for CURRENT HCA students. Through this process, these students re-enroll and confirm their spot at HCA for the next grade level for the following school year. Continuing Enrollment is only for students who already attend HCA. To complete the Continuing Enrollment Process, students must complete the online Continuing Enrollment form available on our website (and sent out through social media and robocalls/emails) and pay a $50 processing fee per child. The processing fee is payable online via our school store, but HCA also accepts cash or checks at the main office. A current Medicaid card may be submitted to the main office to waive the $50 processing fee. Students who do not complete the Continuing Enrollment process (in its entirety by the deadline) lose their spot for the following school year. To re-enroll at HCA after a spot is forfeited, families would have to apply during Open Enrollment and go through the Lottery; HCA cannot guarantee that they will have a spot.
HCA’s Continuing Enrollment process also includes students enrolled in our 4K program. South Carolina charter schools may charge tuition for pre-k and subsequently give a 5K admissions preference for those enrolled in the pre-k program, as long as the charter school waives/reduces tuition for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch. HCA utilizes this process by offering a scaled tuition rate for 4K families based on Free/Reduced Lunch status. For 4K tuition information, please email Paula Scott-Murray at pmurray@hcacs.net.
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment will take place each year in January and into the first week of February; specific start and end dates will always be advertised. This enrollment period is for NEW students who wish to join the HCA Village for the following school year. Families who wish to apply to HCA for the following year must fill out the online Enrollment Application by the deadline to be considered a part of Open Enrollment. Applying during Open Enrollment does not guarantee a spot at HCA, but does guarantee that your child will go into a Lottery drawing to be accepted into HCA. If a particular grade has fewer applicants than spots available, a Lottery is not needed and all applicants are accepted automatically. Grades with more applicants than spots available will have a Lottery drawing to determine which students are accepted and which students are placed on the waitlist.
Late Enrollment
Late enrollment occurs anytime after Open Enrollment has ended in February (each year the specific end date will be advertised). Students who apply during late enrollment do not have a chance to go into the Lottery drawing and, as such, are placed at the bottom of their respective grade’s waitlist. The only time a student who applies during late enrollment will be accepted is if there are still open spots in a particular grade after the Lottery has taken place.
The HCA Lottery
The Lottery applies to all grade levels in which the number of applications submitted exceeds space availability for that grade level. The lottery is an annual event that takes place in mid-February. Students must have applied during Open Enrollment in order to be placed in the HCA Lottery. HCA uses Lotterease to conduct a fair and transparent Lottery. The Lotterease system is fully randomized and creates an auditable lottery. Applicants are ensured to be fairly placed by using a random algorithm taking into account preferred status as permitted by the school system (such as priority status which is outlined in the next section). The lottery will be run digitally through Lotterease. Families are also immediately contacted via the Lotterease software as to if their child was chosen in the Lottery or if they were placed on the Wait List. HCA will post a follow-up video on the lottery on their FB page explaining how the process works and how many spots were available in each grade.
The Waitlist
The Wait List is randomly and fairly generated from the results of the HCA Lottery. A child’s waitlist position may be checked online at any time through the Lotterease portal that is available on the HCA waitlist. You may check your child’s position by knowing their grade, first initial, last initial, and the last four digits of your phone number. The Wait List arranges itself in real-time and all changes are logged and auditable. The Lotterease system will automatically notify you if your child moves up the wait list by 10 or more spots, when your child is in the top 5, and each time your child moves up above the number 5 spot.
Priority Status
Some new student applicants may receive a preference known as Priority Status. This status allows these students to be pulled first in their respective lottery grades. In the event that there are more priority students than spots available in a particular grade, it is not guaranteed that all priority students will get in. If this happens, priority students are automatically placed higher on the waitlist than general applicants. Per Section 59-40-50(8) of the SCCSA (1996), the following preferences for enrollment are allowed to give a student Priority Status as permitted by law:
- siblings of a student already enrolled at HCA;
- children of a HCA employee
Acceptance
Students who are selected via the HCA Lottery will be automatically emailed and contacted via text by the Lotterease system from the following email: Horse_Creek_Academy@lotterease. com. Please be sure to add Horse_Creek_Academy@lotterease. com as an email contact to ensure important emails do not go to spam. Horse Creek Academy is not responsible for emails or deadlines that are missed. Within the acceptance email, it will be made clear that families only have a predetermined about of time, typically 7 calendar days, to accept their spot at HCA. Families who do not follow the steps to accept their spot within that time period will lose their spot at HCA and be placed at the end of the waitlist.
Disclaimer for Parents
Please be advised that if you falsify any information during registration or enrollment, your child’s application will be null and void, and admittance will be revoked. Any applications found to be falsified will be placed at the bottom of the waitlist.
Please note: REGISTRATION FEES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE ONCE PAID, EVEN IF YOU LATER CHOOSE TO GIVE UP YOUR CHILD’S SPOT.
Other Lottery Information:
HCA Enrollment Coordinator: Sarah Morris, smorris@hcacs.net
Lotterease Parent Manual: Available above
Student Withdrawals
If you are withdrawing your child from Horse Creek Academy for any reason, please contact the Front Office or email Shari Barton (sbarton@hcacs.net) for a withdrawal form so your child’s records may be sent to the receiving school in a timely manner.
The withdrawal form provides us with the name and address of the new school your child will be attending. Student records will be forwarded upon receipt of the request from the new school. All fines must be cleared and all school property must be returned before the withdrawal.
If a student is absent for ten (10) consecutive days without the school being notified, the student will be withdrawn, and his or her spot will be filled. Additionally, withdrawal can be triggered by a parent’s/student’s failure to adhere to school discipline policies and procedures as stipulated in the discipline section.
