Admissions

Plato Academy Enrollment for 2025-2026 School Year

We are pleased to announce the waitlist and invitation process for the upcoming 2025-2026 academic year. Effective Wednesday, March 12th, parents and guardians can access detailed enrollment information.

Accessing Waitlist Information

Parents can log into the Avela application at https://apply.avela.org/PlatoAcademy to track their child’s waitlist status. The current waitlist position will be prominently displayed on the Home page for easy reference.

Invitation Notification Process

If your child receives an invitation, you will be contacted through multiple channels:

Email Notification
Text Message

We sincerely appreciate your interest in Plato Academy and look forward to potentially welcoming your child to our educational community.

How To Apply

Plato Academy Schools are tuition-free public K-8 charter schools (with 9th and 10th grade beginning at Plato Academy Tampa at the 2025-2026 school year). Students will be admitted to Plato Academy Schools regardless of race, gender, religion, or ethnic or national origin.

Please complete an application and add each and every campus location for which you have an interest.

Students that submit completed applications during an open application period will be selected for enrollment either on a first come-first serve basis or through a lottery process (when there are more student applications than seats available).

Become Part of Plato Academy Schools Community!

Plato Academy Schools are opening enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year on November 1st, 2024 at 9 am. Applications submitted during this period will be considered for available spots either on a first-come-first-serve basis or via a lottery system if demand exceeds the number of seats.

Families can apply to any of the 8 campuses, for kindergarten to 8th grade (located in Pasco and Pinellas Counties) and kindergarten to 10th grade at Plato Collegiate Academy of Tampa.

9th grade available at Plato Academy Tampa from 2024-2025 school year and 10th grade starting from the 2025-2026 school year.

High School Enrollment

Please note:

High school applicants are required to submit an official school transcript during the application process.

Open to All Students, Regardless of Race, Gender, Religion, Ethnic or National Origin

Application Process

Create an Avela Account

Sign Up: Go to Avela Sign Up and click “Sign Up.” Fill in your name, email, and password. Confirm your email if needed.
Add Students: Log in and enter your student(s) details.

Submit Application Form

Access Avela Home: After logging in, go to your dashboard.
Complete the Form: Find the application section and fill it out for each student.
Submit: Double-check your info and hit “Submit.”

Check for Status Updates

Monitor Status: Regularly check your account.

- “In Progress” means something’s missing.

- “Submitted” means you’re either waiting for us to add you to the waitlist or you’re waiting for the Kindergarten lottery. For those applying for Kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year, the lottery will take place on Tuesday, December 2nd.
- “Waitlisted” shows your position on the list.

Getting an Invite

Await Notification: If a seat opens up, we’ll call you and send an email or SMS.
Respond to Offer: Your status will change to “Offered.” Follow the prompts to accept or decline.

Enrollment Priority & Lottery

If the number of applications exceeds the available seats, a lottery process will be used to determine enrollment. See below for more detailed information about Enrollment Priority and how our Lottery process works.

Notification and Enrollment

After the lottery process, students will be notified of their admission status via email and/or telephone. If offered a seat at Plato Academy, families will have the option to accept or decline the invitation. Enrollment is contingent upon student interest, availability of qualified staff, and facilities.

What Parents Are Saying

This school has been such an amazing fit for our daughter. The staff, teachers, and principal truly care about each and every student and their individual needs.

Rebecah J.C.
Kindergarten Parent
This school is so different from everything I expected. The teachers are like an extended family that honestly cares about the whole child including their families.

Melissa H.
Plato Parent

Things You Need to Know

Currently enrolled families should not reapply unless they want to transfer to a different Plato campus.

Enrollment Priority

The following students are provided enrollment preference and are allowed to bypass a lottery or will be provided an enrollment preference for all grades in the following order of priority:

Students who remain enrolled at the same Plato Academy Charter School from the previous year.
Applicants who are the children of an employee of the charter school.
Applicants who are siblings of a student enrolled or accepted in the charter school.
Applicants who are the children of a member of the governing board of the charter school.

Schedule a Tour Apply Today K-10

The Lottery

A lottery will be held if there are fewer seats available than there are applications.

HOW THE LOTTERY WORKS

A lottery will be conducted among each priority group where there are more applications than seats available, until all preference priority applicants have been assigned a wait list number.

Students will be randomly drawn and numbered sequentially as chosen and recorded in that order.

Available seats are filled first and remaining students are placed on a waiting list in the order of their drawing.

After each priority lottery is conducted a general lottery will be conducted.

Plato Academy lottery drawings are open to the public and all lottery dates and locations will be posted on the website.

WAITLISTED?

Please note that the placement of a student on Plato Academy’s waitlist will not affect or interfere with enrollment at any other Pinellas County public or charter school.

FL STATUTE 1002.31

Pursuant to FL statue 1002.31 students residing in the district will have priority over those residing outside the district.

Note: A charter school may be exempt from the requirements of s. 1002.31 if the school is open to any student covered in an interdistrict agreement and any student residing in the school district in which the charter school is located. Any eligible student shall be allowed interdistrict transfer to attend a charter school when based on good cause. Good cause shall include but is not limited to, geographic proximity to a charter school in a neighboring school district.

Stephanie Thomas

Enrollment and Recruitment Specialist

Please feel free to contact us with questions about our application and enrollment processes at school@platoacademy.net

Frequently Asked Questions