An independent guide to charter schools in Los Angeles
Barackobamacharter.org explains, in plain language, how tuition-free public charter schools work in Los Angeles County: how enrollment periods run, what happens at a public random drawing, what rights students and families have under California law, and which documents every school has to publish.
Important notice
This website is an information resource only. It is not a school, it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or operated by any school, charter management organization or school district, and it has no role in admissions. It does not accept applications, does not run a waiting list and does not collect enrollment information. Families who want to apply to a particular school should contact that school directly or use the enrollment portal published on the school’s own website.
What you will find here
Guides to the enrollment calendar, the lottery and waiting-list rules, student and family rights, the reports California schools must publish, and a blog with practical articles for parents.
Where the facts come from
General information follows California Education Code and guidance published by the California Department of Education and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Where rules change from year to year, the site points to the official page rather than repeating a number that will go stale.
What you will not find here
Applications, interest forms, tuition quotes, staff directories or contact details for individual schools. Anything specific to one campus — dates, addresses, staff, capacity — belongs on that school’s own site.
Corrections
If something on the site is out of date or wrong, use the contact page. Corrections are welcome and are the fastest way to keep the guides useful.
Why charter enrollment confuses families
A charter school is a public school: it charges no tuition, it may not test children for admission and it is open to any student in the state. What makes it different is the application. A neighbourhood district school takes every child in its attendance area, while a charter school takes applications during an open period and, if more children apply than there are seats, fills those seats by a public random drawing.
That single difference produces most of the questions parents ask: when the application window opens, whether a sibling has priority, what a waiting-list number really means, and what happens if an offer arrives after the school year has started. The guides on this site walk through each step in the order a family meets it.
The site is written for parents and carers rather than for administrators, so the language is kept simple and every rule is described in terms of what a family actually has to do.