ENROLL AT ALPHA

Unlock Your Child’s Future

Alpha Public Schools prepare children for college and career. Apply today and experience a high quality, tuition-free education. We serve TK-12 students and their families in East San José. 

Benefits

Meeting the Needs of
All Learners

Your child deserves the very best education, a fundamental right we champion with heart and soul. We advocate for all students, especially those who have academic, social, emotional, and behavioral needs.

Earning Your Child's Trust Through Compassion

Students learn best when they feel safe, seen, and understood. Teachers build meaningful relationships based on trust. We continually seek to understand each student’s personal context and take a respectful approach to personal development.

Expanding Your Child's Potential with Every Lesson

Enroll at Alpha, and your child will experience a classroom environment where challenges turn into opportunities for growth. Each lesson aligns with Common Core standards and readies your child for a thriving future.

Important Dates

We hold two lotteries for enrollment for the upcoming school year as we typically have more applicants than spaces available. Once the lotteries have passed, we continue to accept applications on a rolling basis.

High School Lottery
Enrollment for 2025-2026

TK-8 Lottery
Enrollment for 2025-2026

Upcoming
Jan222025
TK-8 Deadline for Lottery Enrollment
Jan232025
All Schools TK-8 Lottery Alpha: Blanca Alvarado, Alpha: Cornerstone Academy, Alpha: José Hernández

All Grades Current Year
Enrollment for 2024-2025

Upcoming
Dec202024
Application Closes for the Current School Year
2 EASY STEPS

Alpha Public Schools Application

The process can be completed in the following 2 steps.

Find an Alpha School

Alpha is located in San José, CA.
Find the school that best fits your family’s needs.

Fill out the Application

Fill out the application through SchoolMint at alphapublicschools.schoolmint.net/signup

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Enrollment

After you apply to Alpha Public Schools, please take note of the lottery dates above and tune in for the results to enroll.
You do not need to attend the lottery via zoom to secure a seat for your child. Lottery results will be sent to families via text and email. Your child will either receive a lottery seat or they will be placed on the applicant waitlist. Click here to view details on admission and lottery requirements.

Offered a Seat

Once the lottery takes place and your child is offered a seat, you will receive an email sharing official enrollment paperwork to fill out and the required documents to submit in order to complete enrollment. Don’t wait to enroll — secure your seat as soon as you can!

Applicant Waitlist

If there are more applicants than spaces available, your child may be placed on the waitlist. Enrollment is offered to the next student on the waitlist whenever a spot becomes open. Some schools and grade levels may have longer waitlists than others.

After lottery enrollment, if there are still seats available and no students on the waitlist, you can submit an application and be given a seat until all remaining seats are filled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Charter schools are public schools: they are tuition-free, publicly funded, and open to all students regardless of the neighborhood they live in. Charter schools operate independently from the local district and have increased autonomy over a range of decisions, including how to allocate budget, how to staff schools, and how to structure the school day. In exchange for increased autonomy, a charter school is accountable to deliver strong results for students. In general, charter schools are schools of choice: parents opt in to sending their children to a charter school. For families seeking an alternative to their neighborhood district school, charter schools represent an opportunity for a family to exercise choice in search of the best option for their children — a choice that, without charter schools, was once limited to families with the means to send their children to private school.

No, Alpha is open to anyone who applies, regardless of where they live or their previous educational history.

Yes. If the number of applicants exceeds the number of spots, we hold an open public lottery. In accordance with Education Code Section 47605(d)(2), preference in the public random drawing shall be provided in the following order of descending priority:

  1. Siblings of students admitted to or attending the Charter School.
  2. Children of staff or board members, not to exceed 10 percent of total enrollment.
  3. Students residing within the School District and eligible for the Free and Reduced Meal Program (FRPM).
  4. Students residing within the School District and not eligible for FRPM*.
  5. Students residing outside the School District and eligible for FRPM*.
  6. All other applicants.

*Note that FRPM preference currently applies to Cornerstone Academy and Cindy Avitia HS, and will apply to Blanca Alvarado & José Hernandez starting on July 1, 2025, pending authorizer approval.

**Note regarding priority #1, In order for siblings to receive preference, they must be applying for the same school (i.e. Jane's sister currently attends Alpha: Blanca Alvarado School but is applying for Alpha: Cornerstone Academy Preparatory School. Jane will only receive preference as a sibling if she applies for Alpha: Blanca Alvarado School).

Once your student is enrolled in an Alpha Public School, you will not need to re-enroll them again.

In recent years, California law has changed so that Transitional Kindergarten (TK) eligibility is growing progressively more inclusive each year.

A child who turns the age of 5 years old from September 2, 2024 - June 2, 2025 is eligible for Transitional Kindergarten (TK) in the 2024-25 school year. A child who turns the age of 5 years old on or before September 1, 2024 is eligible for Kindergarten (K) in the 2024-25 school year.

Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, a child who turns the age of 4 years old on or before September 1, 2025 is eligible for Transitional Kindergarten (TK).

Still have questions? Visit our FAQ page for more information.
ENROLL

Become an Alpha scholar.