Hamilton County Schools is increasing the number of school choice options for the 2024-25 school year.
For the upcoming school year, HCS is offering choice seats at 70+ school options to students in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade across Hamilton County. Choices include Workforce Development and College Schools, Future Ready Institutes, Magnet Schools, Charter Schools, and Open Enrollment Schools.
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 2024-'25 school choice options and see available seats at each school and grade level.
Every student in Hamilton County is given the opportunity by design in alignment with our commitment that every student belongs. Choose Hamilton: School Choice helps Hamilton County Students navigate and expand their options, ensuring students have the opportunity to attend a school that aligns with their unique interests and skill sets.
Choose Hamilton: Choice Lottery applications will be open from November 13, 2023 January 31, 2024. 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. This year the choices will be ranked by preference 1-5, with 1 being their top choice and 5 being their last. 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 East Brainerd Annex (7555 Goodwin Rd. Chattanooga, TN 37421) from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on January 11, 2023, to provide families with the chance to interact with and ask questions of representatives from every HCS school.
For more information about Choose Hamilton: School Choice, watch our informational video here.