The Butler Academy application deadline for 2024-25 enrollment for scholars in kindergarten through 8th grade is Friday, March 1. A drawing for admissions will be held virtually on Saturday, March 2. Families will be notified of the results immediately afterward.
For the 2023-2024 academic year, Butler Academy’s enrollment included 351 students from eight counties and 13 area communities in kindergarten through 7th grade. The school will add one grade yearly until it serves Kindergarten through 12th grade in 2028.
“It’s been exciting to see interest in Butler Academy and other public charter schools climb since we opened in 2020,” said Butler Academy Co-Founder and Vice President of Operations Venesa Reyes. “Over the past four years, the number of school-aged children in South Carolina ticked up by less than 2%, but enrollment in our state’s public charter schools has jumped by more than 25%!
“One reason for the surge comes down to the value that free public charter schools bring to taxpayers and students,” Reyes said.
A new report by University of Arkansas researchers who studied schools in nine American cities found that charter school students can expect to gain 58% more in lifetime earnings per public dollar spent than traditional public school students.
According to a recent study by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, parents choose to send their children to public charter schools for higher-quality instruction (54%), smaller school and class sizes (47%), and better safety (47%).
Butler Academy is a free public charter school in Hartsville with a mission to create an enthusiastic culture of learning in which every student is expected and positioned to succeed academically. It does not discriminate based on ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability, intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, race, creed, religion or ancestry, or any grounds that would be unlawful if done by a school. Students must be South Carolina residents, but they need not live in Hartsville. Enrollment is limited by the number of seats available in each classroom.
In addition to a commitment to small class sizes, other distinctions of the school include its year-round academic calendar, its emphasis on social and emotional development, its growth-focused learning community, and its strong culture of CAN: I Can. You Can. WE CAN.
Since last year, Butler Academy has completed a renovation that added a full-service kitchen and nearly doubled its square footage. In addition, Butler Academy has been recognized as one of “America’s Healthiest Schools” and named the Best Charter School by the Post and Courier Pee Dee Readers Choice Awards.
To ensure enrollment fairness, applicants are selected through a public random drawing facilitated by the Lotterease electronic lottery system. All applications drawn after the school reaches capacity in any grade level will be placed on a waitlist for each respective grade level, in the order in which they are drawn. Butler Academy’s waitlist does not carry over from year to year. To ensure an equal enrollment opportunity for all prospective scholars from one year to the next, families who remain on the waitlist must reapply if they would like to be included in the drawing for a subsequent school year.
While currently enrolled scholars do not need to re-apply, siblings of enrolled students must apply and will receive Preference Group status during the lottery process.
Additional information about enrollment at Butler Academy is available at https://www.butleracademy.us/apply/.
