Enrollment FAQs

2024-2025 Enrollment Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible to attend Legacy Prep Charter School?

Legacy Prep Charter School is a tuition-free, non-selective public charter school serving children in grades K-7. All Alabama students in the applicable grades are eligible to attend Legacy Prep Charter School.

How do you determine which applicants are offered a seat at Legacy Prep Charter School?

If there are more applicants than seats available, applicants are placed in a lottery and selected in the order of Legacy Prep Charter School’s enrollment priorities. Those applicants not selected for a seat will be placed on a waitlist and will be contacted if a seat becomes available.

Who participates in the lottery?

All prospective students who submitted qualifying applications through the online lottery application through PowerSchool by 11:59 PM Central Standard Time on March 22, 2024, will be included in the lottery and will either be offered a seat or placed on a waitlist when the lottery is run on April 2, 2024. A qualifying application is a completed application that is submitted for an entering kindergarten through 7th-grade student. Kindergarten students must be age 5 before September 1st, 2024.

What is the priority structure for admission for the 2024-2025 school year?

Admissions and enrollment priorities for the 2024-2025 school year are as follows:

Sibling/Household Policy - It is the intent of Legacy Prep to support whole families and create a cohesive and inclusive school community. Siblings of enrolled students will receive priority for admission if their applications are received by the designated deadline. Siblings include children whose primary guardians are also the primary guardians of other children already enrolled in the school (in the case of joint custody, primary guardians must have custody at least 50% of the time). This could include:½ siblings, step-siblings, adopted siblings, cousins, nieces or nephews being cared for by grandparents, etc. If a child is drawn during the enrollment lottery for an enrollment spot at Legacy Prep and they have eligible siblings, those siblings will be automatically granted enrollment if there is space at their grade level. Siblings of students already in attendance at Legacy Prep will be exempt from the lottery process and automatically granted a space if there is one available at their grade level
School Employee Policy - Children of school employees will be exempted from the lottery and given priority admission provided that the parent who is employed at Legacy Prep has 2018 full or joint custody of the child and the application was received by the designated deadline. This includes Teachers, Administrators, Custodial Staff, Office Staff, and Classroom Assistants. Employees include anyone who works at least half-time for Legacy Prep and who started work on or before the first day of school of the year in which they are submitting their application. The total number of children enrolled under the Founder/Board/Staff policies will not exceed 20% of the school's population. In the case that more than 20% of the enrollment is founding/employee children, preference will be given to the number of years of service to the school. If there are fewer spots than the number of priority applicants, then a separate lottery is held for these applicants with priority status. Founding/employee children not given priority enrollment will be included in the general enrollment lottery.
Founder/Board Policy - Those children whose parents, guardians, or family members were active in the planning process by serving as Founding Board, Design Team, Advisory Committee members, Founding Teachers, or Founding School Leaders will not participate in the lottery. These are board members and design team members who are listed on the current contract with the Alabama Public Charter School Commission or who provided a minimum of 40 hours of service prior to the opening of the school. Founding teachers are teachers who were the founding teacher in their respective classroom and who taught at Legacy Prep for at least three consecutive years. Founding School Leaders include all members of the administrative team in the 2019-2020 school years who work for the school for at least two years (which may include the 2016-2019 planning years). Founding families may also be exempt from the lottery if they meet the requirements to qualify as a founding family by volunteering for 40 hours between January 2018 and August 2019. A complete list of eligible families (deemed as Legacy's "Founding Families") was to be approved at Legacy Prep's Board meeting in January 2019 and kept on record at the school.
Neighborhood student - Legacy will prioritize students who live within the Birmingham City Schools' boundaries during both the annual lottery and the ongoing enrollment process.

Do children who attend Legacy Prep Charter School go through the lottery process each year?

Children in grades K-6 in the 2023-2024 school year will remain at Legacy Prep Charter School for the upcoming school year as long as they re-register with qualifying documentation within the current scholar registration period (February 1 - March 1, 2024)

How many spots will be available in each grade?

The number of available spots varies per grade. Legacy Prep Charter School reserves the right to manage the number of offers made from the waitlist in each grade level in order to balance class size and follow best practices.

When will the lottery take place?

The lottery will occur on April 2, 2024.

How does the lottery work?

Applications will be organized by grade according to the school’s charter admission priorities. Each student who submits a qualifying application will be assigned a unique lottery identification number. Students will be identified only by their unique lottery identification number, not by name.
The lottery will be conducted using the PowerSchool platform, a well-known provider of online registration management tools for charter schools. Drawings will begin with kindergarten and will continue, by grade, through the highest grade level.

What if I moved after I submitted my initial application?

Please contact our registration team at 205-573-0777 or (registrar@legacyprepal.org) as soon as possible in order to update your address.

How will I know if my child has been accepted?

Lottery results will be posted immediately following the lottery on the school’s website on April 3, 2024. An acceptance letter will be emailed to the email address on file. Please make sure the school has your current email address. You must accept or decline the offer within five (5) business days of the offer date. Offers to attend Legacy Prep Charter School that are neither accepted nor declined within five (5) business days will be considered expired and that seat will be offered to the next applicant on the waitlist. Parents can accept or decline the offer through PowerSchool or contact the school at 205-573-0777.

How is a student’s address determined and verified?

A student’s address will be determined based on the bona fide primary residence of the custodial parent/legal guardian. The address of residence is subject to verification according to the enrollment checklist during the enrollment process.

What happens when my child’s name is put on the waitlist?

Your child will remain on the waitlist throughout the 2024-2025 school year until a spot opens in the applicable grade. Please ensure the school has your updated contact information (address, email address, and phone numbers) so we can contact you if a spot becomes available.

What happens when my child is on the waitlist and his/her name is next in line for an offer of admission?

When your student is next in line on the waitlist and a spot becomes available, you will receive an email and/or phone call from Legacy Prep Charter School extending a verbal offer of admission. and you will have five (5) business days from the date of the email to accept or decline the offer. You will need to complete the enrollment process (including current proof of residency). If you do not respond to the offer by 5 PM on the fifth business day after the date of the offer, the offer will expire and the space may be offered to the next child on the waitlist.

How long will my child remain on the waiting list?

Your student will remain on the waitlist until s/he is offered admission to Legacy Prep Charter School during the 2024- 2025 school year or until you elect to remove him/her from the waitlist. The waitlist for the 2024-2025 school year will be vacated on the last day of school in May 2024 and will not carry over to the 2025-2026 school year. Parents/guardians may resubmit an application online for the 2025-2026 school year during the open application period.

If I missed the application deadline, will the application still be available?

Yes. Applications submitted after the deadline will be added to the end of the waitlist in the order received and not be included in the lottery process.

What if I made an error on my application and entered the wrong grade information for my child?

Please contact our registration team at 205-573-0777 as soon as possible to have your child’s grade corrected. After the lottery occurs, if the wrong grade information was entered, the child will be placed at the bottom of the waitlist for the correct grade for his/her respective enrollment priority.

If my child receives a seat in the lottery and an acceptance letter to attend Legacy Prep Charter School, what documents are required to enroll?

If you receive an acceptance letter for your child to enroll at Legacy Prep Charter School, you will need to provide all documentation to the school by May 31, 2024, digitally by 11:59 PM CT.

Photo Identification of custodial parent/legal guardian
Birth Certificate (or alternative documentation showing the child’s age)
Proof of Residence (annual tax notice/mortgage statement, copy of lease/rental agreement, or current HUD certificate)
Custody papers (if applicable) - must be a certified court order showing physical custody
Immunization Form
Most recent report card
Withdrawal paperwork
Individualized Education Plan (IEP) - if applicable
504 Plan - if applicable

What if I need assistance with my application or with the PowerSchool platform?

You can direct questions about application, enrollment, and admissions to our registration team (registrar@legacyprepal.org) or call our office phone 205-573-0777.