Chattanooga, Tenn. (Oct. 31, 2022) -- Hamilton County Schools (HCS) is increasing the number of school choice options for the 2023-'24 school year!
For the ‘23-‘24 school year, HCS is offering choice seats at 80+ school options to students in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade across Hamilton County. Choices include Early College/Career Programs, Future Ready Institutes, Magnet Schools, Charter Schools, and Open Enrollment Schools. Continuing again for the second year, every school with open seats will be an Open Enrollment Choice School for the 2023-2024 school year! Increasing the number of choice schools and programs provides students with a diverse range of options outside of their neighborhood zoned school. Please click
here to review 2023-'24 school choice options and see available seats at each school and grade level.
Every student has different interests, hopes, and dreams and deserves access to opportunities that open doors to exciting pathways for their future. Hamilton County Schools is excited to provide educational opportunities in local communities and beyond neighborhood zoned schools to ignite the passion for learning in each child.
Choose Hamilton: Choice Lottery applications will be open from November 14, 2022 - January 31, 2023. The application and admissions timeline is uniform for all choice options to make the process easy for families. Schools with more applicants than space available will participate in a lottery to select students for available seats.
Families are asked to complete a single application for all choice options, which is available in both English and Spanish. Applicants may apply to up to five schools or programs in the application and are not required to apply for more than one choice option. If you are already in a Choice School, you do not need to apply again unless you are making the jump from an elementary to a middle school or a middle school to a high school (K-12 & 6-12 buildings excluded).
Applications to Battle Academy (Kindergarten), CSAS (Kindergarten), CSLA (Kindergarten), Normal Park (Kindergarten and 6th grade), and STEM School (9th grade) will use a balanced lottery model based on the applicant's school board district. These schools will fill available seats based on the projected student percentage per school board district in Hamilton County. For these schools, your lottery results will reflect a seated or waitlist number for your school board list; you will be seated in the first available seat for your school board district.
Over the next few months, Hamilton County Schools will provide several opportunities for families to learn more about school options. HCS will hold a Choose Hamilton: School Choice Fair at the Convention Center on January 10, 2023, to provide families with the chance to interact with and ask questions of representatives from every HCS school.