School Enrollment Guide for Public Schools

Resource Type: Fact Sheets
Focus Area: Ensuring Equal Access

Every child of school age who is a resident of Pennsylvania has a right to public education. Making sure that your child enrolls and attends school is important for your child’s education and future. Moving through these four steps will help you enroll your child in a public school (including a charter school and cyber charter school) as soon as possible. Click here to learn how.

If a child is living with someone other than their parent, please see our school enrollment guide for a child living with someone other than their parents.

Please note – this document is available in Spanish.

Special note: During the pandemic, nearly all districts began offering “online enrollment” and some districts will continue to use this option during this school year. Several districts may also continue to offer virtual learning for students, particularly students with disabilities for the 2021-2022 school year. Under a newly enacted law, Act 66, some students may be repeating a grade this school year. While the timeline for selecting this option has passed, some local educational agencies are extending the deadline for selecting to repeat a year or permitting students with disabilities who aged out at 21 to remain in school during the 2021-2022 school year.

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