Enrollment & School Tours
Now Accepting Applications for the 2024-25 school year!
RSMS is accepting applications for grades TK-8. For the 2024/25 school year, TK (transitional kindergarten) students must turn 5 by June 2, 2025; kindergarten students turn 5 by Sept. 1, 2024. RSMS does not have a pre-school program.
2025/26 applications will be available January 6th. TK students must turn 4 by September 1st 2025, to be eligible for enrollment that school year.
Verification of Montessori Experience Form
Inquiries may be directed to Jenn at [email protected] or by calling (916) 936-2333 ext 113
Proof of Montessori experience or residency may be dropped off in the front office or scanned and emailed to the above email address. These must be received by the end of February for priority in the lottery. This does not apply to applications received March 1 or later, as those students will be added to the waitlist or offered enrollment (if space is available in that grade) in the order they are received.
School Tours
RSMS offers tours on Wednesday mornings, by appointment only. Please email [email protected] to schedule a tour.
If Rising Sun receives more new student applications in the first enrollment period (January through the end of February) than available space, parents will be notified via email and a lottery will take place, in March, on our campus at 4940 Robert J Mathews Parkway in El Dorado Hills. Parents/Guardians need not be present to have their student considered in the lottery drawing. After the lottery drawing is completed, parents/guardians will be notified via email of either their admission to Rising Sun, or their placement on a waiting list, as well as their wait list number. Parents/Guardians will then have five business days to reply with their acceptance of the offer to enroll or placement on the waiting list at Rising Sun for the upcoming school year. Parents/Guardians who do not respond with acceptance of either admission or placement on the wait list within five business days will be removed from the current enrollment pool and will have to re-apply during our second enrollment cycle, which will begin in March.
Lottery Process
Admission Policies and Procedures
“Admission policies and procedures, consistent with [Education Code Section 47605] subdivision (e).” Education Code Section 47605(c)(5)(H)
Assurances
As a non-sectarian, tuition-free public school, Rising Sun Montessori School will admit all grade-level eligible pupils who wish to attend, up to the Charter School’s capacity, in accordance with Education Code Section 47605(e)(2)(A). Rising Sun Montessori will be a school of choice and in compliance with Education Code Section 47605(g), no student will be required to attend Rising Sun. Admission shall not be determined based on the place of residence of the pupil or of his/her parent or guardian. However, in the event of a public random drawing, admissions preference shall be granted to residents of the Buckeye Union School District. In accordance with Education Code Sections 49011 and 47605(e)(2)(B)(iv), admission preferences shall not require mandatory parental volunteer hours as a criterion for admission or continued enrollment.
Rising Sun Montessori School shall abide by Education Code Section 47605(e)(1) and shall not charge tuition, nor discriminate against any pupil on the basis of the characteristics listed in Education Code Section 220 (actual or perceived disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that is contained in the definition of hate crimes set forth in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code, including immigration status, or association with an individual who has any of the aforementioned characteristics). In accordance with Education Code Section 48000 (a)-(c), children must meet minimum age requirements for enrollment. Rising Sun will abide by any future amendments to the Education Code regarding minimum and maximum age for public schools. Proof of the child’s age must be presented at the time of enrollment as described in Education Code Section 48002.
In accordance with Education Code Section 47605(e)(4)(A), the Charter School shall not discourage a pupil from enrolling or seeking to enroll in the charter school for any reason, including, but not limited to, academic performance of the pupil or because the pupil exhibits any of the characteristics described in Education Code Section 47605(e)(2)(B)(iii), including pupils with disabilities, academically low-achieving pupils, English learners, neglected or delinquent pupils, homeless pupils, or pupils who are economically disadvantaged, as determined by eligibility for any free or reduced-price meal program, foster youth, or pupils based on nationality, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Similarly, in accordance with Section 47605(e)(4)(C), the Charter School shall not encourage a pupil currently attending the Charter School to disenroll from the Charter School or transfer to another school for any reason, including, but not limited to the academic performance of the pupil or because the pupil exhibits any of the characteristics described in Education Code Section 47605(e)(2)(B)(iii), as listed above.
Pursuant to Education Code Section 47605(e)(4)(D), the Charter School shall post a notice developed by the CDE on the Charter School website, outlining the requirements of Section 47605(e)(4), and make this notice available to parents.
Admission and Enrollment Process
Rising Sun Montessori School shall admit all students who wish to attend the Charter School. The Charter School shall require students who wish to attend the Charter School to complete an application form. After admission, students shall be required to submit an enrollment packet, which includes the following:
1. Student enrollment form
2. Proof of Immunization
3. Home Language Survey
4. Completion of Emergency Medical Information Form
5. Proof of minimum age requirements
6. Release of records
Rising Sun Montessori School shall make application and enrollment forms available in English and Spanish. Open enrollment shall begin on the first business day in January and extend through the end of February. Forms shall be available at the school site and through participation in any Parent Information Meeting that may be held throughout the open enrollment period. Submitted application forms shall be date and time stamped and student names added to an application roster to track receipt. If, by the close of open enrollment, the number of forms received is less than the number of spaces available, all applicants shall be accepted and enrolled in the Charter School upon submission of an enrollment packet. Subsequent application forms shall be accepted until our capacity is reached.
Public Random Drawing
Following the open enrollment period each year, applications shall be counted to determine whether any grade level has received more applications than availability. In the event that this happens, the Charter School shall hold a public random drawing (or “lottery”) for the impacted grade level(s), with the exception of students currently enrolled in the Charter School, who are guaranteed admission in the following school year.
Admissions preference in the case of a lottery will be given in the following sequence of priority:
1. Siblings of students admitted to or attending Rising Sun
2. Children of Rising Sun employees
3. Children of the Rising Sun founding team
4. Children with one year prior Montessori experience
5. Children who reside within the boundaries of Buckeye Union School District
6. All other applicants
The Charter School and the District agree to adhere to the requirements related to admission preferences as set forth in Education Code Section 47605(e)(2)(B)(i)-(iv).
Families who submit completed application forms prior to the February deadline shall be notified in writing regarding the date, time, and location of the public lottery, and rules for the lottery process. The lottery drawing shall be held on the school grounds in March. Results shall be published in English and Spanish, and shall be posted online and in hard copy in previously determined locations. Results shall also be e-mailed to all applicants and follow-up phone calls shall be made.
The Board of Directors will take all necessary efforts to ensure lottery procedures are fairly executed. Lottery spaces are pulled in order of grade level by the designated lottery official (appointed by the Head of School). Separate lotteries shall be conducted for each grade in which there are fewer vacancies than pupils interested in attending. All lotteries shall take place on the same day in a single location. Lotteries will be conducted in ascending order beginning with the lowest applicable grade level. There is no weighted priority assigned to the preference categories; rather, within each grade level, students will be drawn from pools beginning with all applicants who qualify for the first preference category, and shall continue with that preference category until all vacancies within that grade level have been filled. If there are more students in a preference category than there are spaces available, a random drawing will be held from within that preference category until all available spaces are filled. If all students from the preference category have been selected and there are remaining spaces available in that grade level, students from the second preference category will be drawn in the lottery, and the drawing shall continue until all spaces are filled and preference categories are exhausted in the order provided above.
Families of students who are offered admission shall have 5 business days to confirm in writing their intent to enroll and submit an enrollment packet including proof of age, proof of address, and immunization records. Any families who decline admission or who fail to confirm shall lose their position to the next name on the waiting list. The waiting list shall be kept on file at the Charter School and be valid for the duration of the school year for which it was formed. If a student leaves the Charter School, that space will be offered to the next person on the waiting list. In no circumstance will a waiting list carry over to the following school year.