Admissions Policy

Clover Garden School is a tuition-free public school. Any child who is qualified under the laws of North Carolina for admission to a public school is qualified for admission to a charter school. To qualify to attend an NC public school, a student must be a resident of North Carolina. County boundaries or school attendance areas do not affect charter school enrollment. Clover Garden School does not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability, race, creed, gender, national origin, religion, or ancestry. The school may give enrollment priority to siblings of currently enrolled students who were admitted to the school in a previous year. Refer to G.S. 115C-218.45

Non-discrimination in Charter Schools

“A charter school shall not discriminate against any student on the basis of ethnicity, nation origin, gender, or disability.” NC G.S. 115C-218.55.

During each period of enrollment, CGS will accept applications for new students. Once enrolled, students are not required to enroll in subsequent enrollment periods. In order to properly plan, the school will routinely inquire with parents/guardians in early spring through letters of intent to ascertain if students will return to CGS the following year.

Applications for new students are available through the online program Lotterease. This link to Lotterease can be found on the school’s website. All applications must be submitted through Lotterase. Paper applications will not be accepted. If you need additional help submitting an application, please call the school.

The enrollment period will begin January 7th and end on March 7th of 2025. During the enrollment period, the school shall enroll an eligible student who submits a fully completed application within this period, unless the number of applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building. If the number of applications exceeds the number of available spaces, a lottery will be held to fill vacant seats for the next school year. After seats are filled, the drawing through the Lotterease program will continue to determine the order of a waiting list. Current year waiting lists dissolve when the next enrollment period begins. Vacant spaces will be filled using the current waitlist prior to the beginning of second semester.

Lottery procedures will comply with the NC Open Meetings Law provided in G.S. 143-318.10(a) by publicizing the date and location of the meeting as well as allowing anyone to attend.

Application Process for Enrollment for 2025-2026 School Year

  • A child must be five years old on or before August 31, 2025 to enroll as a Kindergarten student.
  • Application forms may be completed online via Lotterease. The link to Lotterease is located on our school’s website.
  • If you are currently on the 2024-2025 waitlist for Clover Garden School, you will need to submit an application for the 2025-2026 school year as the waitlist does not carry over.
  • All Applications received between January 7th, 2025 and March 7th, 2025 will be eligible for the public lottery to be held March 10th, 2025 at 2 P.M. To follow along with the lottery process by Lotterease, please refer to the Clover Garden School website.
  • Available student slots will be determined by the number of current students planning to return for the 2025-2026 school year.
  • Applications received after March 7th, 2025 will be placed at the end of the waiting list after the lottery and will not be part of the lottery process.
  • Siblings of students currently attending Clover Garden School for an entire year are given priority sibling placement for the following year as space becomes available, but must complete an online application in Lotterease.
  • If multiple birth siblings apply for admission to a charter school and a lottery is needed under G.S. 115C-218.45(g)(2), the charter school shall enter one surname into the lottery to represent all of the multiple birth siblings. If that surname of the multiple birth siblings is selected, then all of the multiple birth siblings shall be admitted.