Frequently Asked Questions

Each school-aged child in Charleston County is assigned to a neighborhood school based on grade level and home address. In addition, CCSD offers specialized programs, magnets, and charter schools to which students can choose to apply and attend. 

Visit our Choice Schools page for a list of CCSD’s choice schools.

It is important to explore the options offered by your neighborhood schools as a first step, before submitting an application to one or more choice schools. Likewise, it is critical to understand the focus or theme of the choice school and how that focus is implemented. Consider the limitations of transportation provided and grade levels served for each choice school.

No; once approved, a student does not need to re-apply each year for that school and program. The student may remain enrolled until completing the grades offered at that school. Please Note: If a Constituent District rezoning causes a student to be assigned to another “home school”, they must then apply to remain at the constituent magnet school they had been attending.

Yes, many schools offer tours and open house opportunities. Please visit the websites of the schools that interest you to access information, dates and times, and to learn how to schedule tours.

A virtual Choice Fair will be held on January 27, 2024 pm via Zoom. All choice schools will be sharing information about their schools and providing parents an opportunity to virtually meet the principal and ask questions. School sessions will be at 10:00 and 11:00 am, and the School Choice Office will host a general information session at 12:00 pm. Assistance with translation and application completion can be provided or scheduled for a future date through this session. Registration links will be posted on the School Choice events page.

All school-aged children residing in Charleston County are eligible to apply. Out-of-county residents can apply, but if accepted, pursuant to CCSD Board Policy JFAB, must meet property ownership requirements in Charleston County and pay tuition if not relocated to the county. Residency verification is due by June 30, 2024. It is required that property within Charleston County is owned in the student’s name with a tax assessed value of $300.00 or more. Tuition is charged and must be paid each year the student attends the school. Families not currently living in Charleston County but with intent to move to Charleston County may apply during the application window. If accepting a seat, students must provide proof of Charleston County residency by June 30, 2024.

Yes, you can apply to CCSD choice schools if you’re residing outside of the United States and plan to move to Charleston County in the summer of 2024 but don’t yet have a U.S. address. Please use this address on your application as a placeholder: 75 Calhoun Street Charleston, SC 29401. You have until March 25, 2024 to update your residency address in the application. You must also prove residency by meeting the residency requirements in CCSD Board Policy JFAAA.

The School Choice application will collect information regarding siblings of currently attending students at choice schools. This information will be verified by the school and when applicable, be prioritized within the lottery process. Countywide admissions criteria magnets do not have sibling priorities. (However, Buist Academy does maintain a sibling waiting list that does not roll over from year to year and is capped at 150 students, like other magnet schools.) All other Choice schools give priority to siblings as space is available. Families must submit applications for all siblings wishing to attend the Choice school.

Active military members may apply during the designated application window. If you arrive in Charleston and/or receive orders for Charleston after the application window closes you may still apply by using the Military Family application posted on the CCSD website. After the application window has closed, your application will be subject to choice school seat availability and admissions criteria. (Admissions criteria are applicable for Academic Magnet HS, Burke AP Academy, Buist Academy, Memminger AAC, and Charleston County School of the Arts.)

Admissions criteria are applicable for Academic Magnet HS, Burke AP Academy, Buist Academy, Charleston County School of the Arts, and Memminger AAC. To see the criteria information, view the Overview one-pager and admissions criteria document for each school you’re interested in, posted on the School Choice website: https://www.ccsdschools.com/schoolchoice

Charleston County School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or any other applicable status protected by federal or state law, so a child's IEP status does not impact the application for a choice school. CCSD provides reasonable accommodations for all students to access instruction and the educational environment and has a continuum of special education instructional programs, which include highly specialized programs for students with significant needs in strategic locations throughout the district. If your child has been identified as a student who has an IEP, the IEP Team will meet prior to enrollment to consider the educational needs of the student and determine if the choice school placement is able to meet the requirements of the IEP within the existing continuum of special education instructional programs at the choice school (see 34 CFR 300.116 and 34 CRF 300.114 through 300.120 of the IDEA Regulations).

In addition to the report card, home-schooled students will need to provide current proof of membership in a Home School Association. This will need to be combined in the same document with the report card that is uploaded to the application.

The online application is easy to complete and can be accessed from the CCSD website. For assistance, call the CCSD School Choice Office (843) 937-6582 or the school to which you are applying, or attend an Application Assistance session. All applicants will receive an immediate email confirmation after an online application is submitted

Charleston Development Academy, Pattison’s Academy, and Charleston Charter for Math & Science. Please visit their websites to learn more about their application processes. Note that the application timeline for these schools may not be the same as the CCSD application timeline.

Interested students and parents/guardians should consider attending a Parent Assistance Night, or the virtual Choice Fair for the school(s) of interest, or the general School Choice virtual session. See the School Choice website for information on the virtual fair or Parent Assistance nights. You can call the CCSD School Choice Office at (843) 937-6582, or contact your current school counselor for additional assistance. Incomplete applications cannot be processed until all information is received before the application window closes.

If you have a student already attending a CCSD school, you can access your student's ID number by signing in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal. This also provides access to your student's grades, attendance, and discipline. For current or former students: You can also find the Student ID on a current or old report card. You will be asked for the student ID number at the beginning of the application process. If you don’t have a Parent Portal account, you will need to reach out to your student's school to get your login credentials.

The order in which you select your preferred five choices does not have any bearing on the application or potential lottery.

Online applications are not completed, submitted, and eligible for acceptance until all the required fields (marked with a red * in your online application) have been completed and you click on the “Submit My Application” button on the final step of the application. You will receive an email confirming that your application was submitted as well as a message on the screen. Receipt of this confirmation email is the final step in the CCSD School Choice application process.

You may request one from the School Choice office at (843) 937-6582 and it will be mailed to the parent/guardian.

All applications submitted during the designated application window will receive equal consideration regardless of the date they are submitted or the method of application.  All paper applicants will receive a confirmation email (up to a 7-Day delay) after the paper application is submitted. These additional days are needed for the applicant’s information to be manually transferred into the online system by a trained CCSD employee. Entering all applications in the same system will ensure students have an equitable opportunity for consideration in the general lottery process. Once the application is entered, applicants should receive an automatic email. Paper applications must be turned in by the deadline of 5pm, February 23, 2024 at the CCSD District School Choice Office - 75 Calhoun Street Charleston, SC 29401

Applications completed and submitted are first reviewed by school administrators and determined if eligible for lottery. The lottery category depends on the choice school and may include any of these two formats:

• Used for placement based on audition or rubric results

• Fully randomized based on admission priorities

The results of a lottery run is an Offered List and a Waiting List per grade for each choice school and is based on the number of seats available per grade. All lotteries are run at the district office level using the application platform and results are disbursed to parents by way of email and the parent dashboard.

If your student was NOT offered a seat but received a number in the lottery that is 150 or less, and is on a waiting list at a school, your student will remain on the waiting list unless they accept a seat at another CCSD choice school. The online application system’s dashboard allows families to see their placement on waiting lists. Waiting lists for all magnet schools will be capped at 150 students each. All waiting lists will remain in effect for the 2024-25 school year (with the exception of Academic Magnet High School where the waiting list will be considered only until 15 days after the school year starts) They do not roll over from year to year; a new application must be submitted each year.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent to the email address used when submitting the application. Applicants are only able to accept one (1) seat offer. Students cannot accept seat offers from multiple schools. In accepting a seat, applicants are confirming their decision regarding school choice for the 2024-25 school year and relinquishing all other seat offers from magnet schools included in their application. Your position on the waiting list of any other schools that you applied for will be released upon accepting a seat.

You have until May 3, 2024, to accept a seat offer, or it will be auto-declined. If you are on a waitlist and are offered a seat after May 3, you will have 5 days to accept the seat, or it will be auto-declined. 

When there are fewer than 5 days before the auto-decline date, a family will only be offered a seat if they can be directly contacted to accept or decline the seat. 

If you accept a seat at a choice school and then change residency, you may have to forfeit the seat at that school for the particular application year. Forfeiture would depend on the application priority under which the seat was offered and if there are other waiting list applicants in that same priority category.