FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Applying to a school can be overwhelming. We've done our best to answer the most commonly asked questions. Click on a category below to learn more.
INDIANAPOLIS SCHOOLS BASICS
It can be confusing to understand the educational landscape when moving to a new city. Enroll Indy manages the enrollment process for Indianapolis Public Schools, as well as most charter schools in the city. Private schools and township or other districts outside of Center Township are not managed by Enroll Indy and are not included in the Enroll Indy School Finder. Our enrollment specialists are happy to help families find their official district.
How to get started:
- Explore your school options. You can use our Enroll Indy school finder to see schools near you and learn more about the programs they offer.
- Make an Enroll Indy account. You can enter all of your demographic information here and you will use this account to apply for schools. Click here to get started.
- Enroll! You can use your new Enroll Indy account to enroll in most schools and grade levels. If you need any help, give us a call at 317-426-3234.
Indianapolis consists of schools offering curriculum focused on STEM, performing arts, classical studies, dual-language, high ability, etc. Additionally, schools offer a wide variety of models such as Montessori, International Baccalaureate, Reggio, and more. For more information check out the Enroll Indy School Finder.
Charter schools are tuition-free public schools open to any state resident. Charter schools are freed from many of the regulations governing traditional public schools. They control their own curriculum, staffing, organization, and budget. In exchange for this freedom, they are held to rigorous accountability standards for academics, finances, and more by their authorizers. Learn more here.
Enroll Indy’s OneMatch is the K-12 lottery system that allows families to apply to up to ten schools with one application and one timeline, and to receive one school match for their child. When there are more applications than there are available seats in a program, a lottery determines which students receive seats. The lottery runs from November - May every year and matches students with schools for the upcoming school year. For this years lottery dates click here. There are three variables that are a part of matching students to seats:
1. The student’s rank of preferred programs.
2. The student’s priority in a school’s enrollment policy.
3. The student’s random lottery number.
APPLICATION AND ONE MATCH BASICS
Lottery dates 2024-2025
- Round 1 opens: November 1, 2024
- Round 1 closes: January 24, 2025
- Round 1 results: February 13, 2025
- Round 2 opens: January 25, 2025
- Round 2 closes: April 18, 2025
- Round 2 results: May 15, 2025
Enroll Indy manages the enrollment process for Indianapolis Public Schools, as well as most charter schools in the city. Private schools and township or other districts outside of Center Township are not managed by Enroll Indy and are not included in the Enroll Indy School Finder. Our enrollment specialists are happy to help families find their official district.
● All students new to school in Indianapolis, including incoming pre-K students and Kindergarteners who wish to attend an Enroll Indy participating school.
● All students in terminating grades (the last grade level the student's current school offers) that are not a part of a Feeder Program.
● All students who wish to attend a different participating school in the upcoming school year then they are attending for the current school year.
● Current students who wish to remain at their current school (including PreK to Kindergarten).
● Students who wish to attend a non-IPS district school, private schools, or any other nonparticipating school.
● Students in terminating grades that want to continue to the next grade in their feeder program.
All applications must be submitted online. There are no paper applications. You can use your computer, a smart phone, or call the Enroll Indy enrollment specialists at 317-426-3234 for assistance filling out an application.
You do not need to provide proof of address when you apply, but proof of address will be requested during the registration process which is done at each school level.
Yes. Anyone who wants to attend an Enroll Indy school should apply through OneMatch, although some schools have enrollment specifications. See our School Finder for specific information.
No, you should only list the schools on the application that you are willing to attend.
No, schools do not know how you rank them. Schools may request a list of students who have applied to their schools and will only receive your student’s information if you click the button to share with the school. The school will not know, however, what number you ranked them.
It is vital that you double check that you are applying for the correct grade level. Once the lottery is run and a parent notifies the school or Enroll Indy that they mistakenly put the incorrect grade level on the application, there is no guarantee that there will be a seat available for your student in the correct grade at that school.
Yes. You must complete an application for any child that needs a school. You will add all children for whom you would like to apply to your family profile and then complete an application for each child.
For the best chance of getting your top choice school, you should apply during the first round of the lottery.
If you apply to another school at any time and you receive a seat at another school, yes, you are giving up your seat at your current school (or the school you matched to during earlier rounds).
You have until the close of each round to re-order your rankings, or add or delete a school on your list.
You can apply for the second round or check the portal during late enrollment to see where there are open seats.
If a family is applying for more than one student, they can opt-in to Family Match. The purpose of Family Match is to try to keep families together in one school. Below is a list of rules applicable to Family Match:
- If a user chooses to turn on Family Match, they are telling Enroll Indy that keeping their students together is more important than getting their top school choice.
- This means that if one of the students gets his/her top choice, but the other student is unable to get a seat at the same school, the OneMatch lottery will skip the top choice and try to get both students into the second choice to try to keep siblings at the same school.
- Families seeking Family Match must rank the same schools in the same order for all students they wish to keep together, or Family Match will not be recognized.
- If a user turns Family Match off, that user is indicating that their students can attend different schools and each application should be considered separately.
- Families with twins/multiples who want them to remain together, should use Family Match.
Dual Language Eligibility
Families wishing to enroll at Theodore Potter in grades K-2 are able to enroll in the lottery without testing. Families wishing to enroll in grades 3-5 at Theodore Potter or grades 6-8 at Harshman Middle School Dual Language must demonstrate Spanish proficiency with a qualifying assessment*
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For testing at Theodore Potter, please call the office at 317-226-4274 or email Principal Haskett at hasketth@myips.org.
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For testing at Harshman Dual Language, please call 317-226-4101 or email Dual Language Programs at duallanguageprograms@myips.org *Theodore Potter is a direct feeder to the Harshman Dual Language program and current Theodore Potter students do not need to test into Harshman Dual Language
High Ability Eligibility
Families wishing to enroll at Merle Sidener or grades 6-8 at Harshman Middle School High Ability must qualify*
- For Sidener or Harshman High Ability testing, please reach out to giftedandtalented@myips.org
*Sidener is a direct feeder into the Harshman High Ability program and current Sidener students do not need to test info Harshman High Ability
LOTTERY RESULTS AND NEXT STEPS
Follow the next steps you receive from your Match email sent on results day. Keep in mind that schools are required to give families 30 days to complete their registration. After 30 days, schools may release your student from their roster for incomplete registration.
Enrollment is the process a family goes through with Enroll Indy to apply and receive a seat at a particular school. Registration is the process a family completes at the school level that often includes the submission of records such as the birth certificate, possibly the proof of address, and the completion of forms such as medical forms, emergency contact information and demographics.
No, but if you apply to the incorrect grade Enroll Indy has the right to revoke the student's seat. It is important that all families double-check the grade level to which they are applying to be sure the student gets a seat in the proper grade. Additionally, the Enroll Indy system may reject an application where a child does not meet an age cut-off such as pre-k or Kindergarten.
ENROLLMENT PRIORITIES
Enrollment priorities increase your chance of receiving a seat at the school of your choice, but do not guarantee it. Examples include: geographic priority, sibling priority, and priority for children of school employees.
IPS gives priority to all students that live within the district. IPS is moving to four enrollment zones in the 2024-25 school year. An interactive zone map can be referenced here. Students who apply to a school within their enrollment zone will receive priority to this school. Some schools have multiple geographic priorities, while others have none. The priorities of each school are listed in Appendix I of the Parent Policy Manual.
Schools can choose to prioritize siblings of current students. Siblings are defined as students residing in the same household and/or students sharing the same parent/guardian. Sibling priority can be applied to any sibling of a current student provided that the current student presently attends the school and will attend the school in the future.
TRANSFERS AND LATE ENROLLMENT
There are no restrictions on transferring for PreK students. If the school has an open seat, you may transfer at any time. IPS PreK does not offer bus transportation.
For grades K - 8, if the school that you wish to transfer to has an open seat, you may transfer your student during late enrollment. You can do this by using the late enrollment portal, or by calling Enroll Indy. If the school has special eligibility requirements you will have to call Enroll Indy to request a transfer. Once school has started you will not be able to transfer from one IPS school to another, except in exceptional circumstances, but you can transfer to a charter school.
Indianapolis Public Schools has 4 all-choice high schools, meaning any student within IPS can choose to attend any of these schools: Arsenal Technical High School, Crispus Attucks High School, George Washington High School, and Shortridge High School. All students attending one of the listed IPS schools may change schools a maximum of one (1) time during their academic career. Any student entering his/her senior year of high school OR current seniors are not allowed to transfer to another IPS high school.
These transfer rules do not apply to charter schools. There are no limits on transfers between charter schools.
Enroll Indy uses an online portal on our website which reflects the number of seats available at each school. The Late Enrollment Portal opens in early June every year and is open 24 hours a day. It updates in real time and these seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Students interested in attending a school with available seats can claim a seat directly via the portal or call Enroll Indy to be enrolled.
You can claim a seat through the late enrollment portal by logging into your OneMatch account. If you need assistance, or wish to claim a seat that is excluded from the late enrollment portal, please call us.
The following IPS pre-K programs, K-8 schools with special eligibility requirements, and some high school grades do not offer online enrollment through the late enrollment Portal, as Enroll Indy must verify that a student has qualified to attend or is permitted to transfer:
● All IPS Pre-K Programs
● Hope Academy
● Sidener and Harshman high-ability schools
● Theodore Potter and Harshman Dual Language schools: Grades 3-8
● All High Schools: Grade 12
● IPS High Schools: Grades 10, 11, 12
PRE-K AND KINDERGARTEN
Students must turn 4 years old on or before August 1 to be eligible to attend an IPS Pre-K program.
● All families who wish to attend an IPS Pre-K program are strongly encouraged to apply for an On My Way Pre-K voucher.
● Families wishing to attend an IPS Pre-K program must live within IPS district boundaries.
● Please note that IPS Pre-K programs do not provide transportation.
● Families may only attend IPS pre-K once.
All students who turn 5 years old on or before August 1 are eligible to attend
Kindergarten. However, schools are allowed to grant waivers to students who turn 5 after
August 1, and to set their own policies related to waivers. Enroll Indy’s School Finder has the
kindergarten cut-off dates for charter schools. See below for IPS policies:
● IPS grants an automatic waiver to all students who turn 5 on or before September 1.
● Any families with students who turn 5 after September 1 need to apply for a waiver and go through an assessment process by contacting giftedandtalented@myips.org.
● Families with students who turn 5 after October 1 will not be able to submit a
Kindergarten OneMatch application without first receiving a waiver from a charter or district and then contacting Enroll Indy for assistance completing the application.
If you need to claim a seat for the current school year applications are open now. You can claim a seat by calling Enroll Indy.
If you need to submit an application for the upcoming school year applications will open November 1st.
Have more questions?
Our Enrollment Specialists are here to answer your questions and help you apply. We are available by phone Monday through Friday, 8am-4:45pm. Se habla español.
Need assistance in another language? Fill out the form and let us know your language needs and we will call you with an interpreter.
317-426-3234
info@enrollindy.org
317-426-3234
info@enrollindy.org
801 Shelby Street, Suite 209
Indianapolis, IN 46203
Mailing address only - No on site services