Charter School Marketing in Georgia: Funding, Lotteries, and the Enrollment Math

Method note. FTE is the count Georgia uses to fund schools. It is not a headcount of students. We did not find a verified statewide charter enrollment total or a charter share of Georgia public school students, so this page states neither. The 105 includes approved schools that may not yet be open.

What this means for enrollment marketing. A Georgia state charter competes with its district school, the next charter, private schools, and two large virtual state charters whose attendance zones span the state.

Taylor Wiz measures what we control: the cost of a submitted application. You know your own yield, meaning the share of submitted applications that become enrolled, attending students. Divide our number by your yield and you have your marketing cost per enrolled student.

The Taylor Wiz figure. Across 20 charter school accounts, from October 2025 to September 2026, a submitted application cost $113 in Meta ad spend over the full year, and $103 from October through July. Three of the 20 accounts are in Georgia. The seasonal detail is in the Charter Enrollment Marketing Benchmark 2026.

The math at different yields, using $113:

Against the base supplement. At a 50% yield, $226 in ads is 2.9% to 3.8% of the $6,000 to $7,725 base supplement per student, before any other funding.

What this table does not include. Staff time, open houses, printed materials, and any cost other than Meta ad spend.

Method. Total Meta ad spend divided by applications marked submitted in our CRM, counted only in months with at least $300 in ad spend. The full method is on Cost Per Enrolled Student.

What your ads must match (SCSC Rule 691-2-.05, state charter schools):

1. Open enrollment within capacity. Students who live in the attendance zone and apply on time must be enrolled unless applications exceed capacity.
2. A random lottery when applications exceed capacity. The governing board must approve a written lottery policy. The lottery follows any enrollment preferences in the school's charter and gives applicants without a preference an equal chance.
3. Only the preferences in your charter. Mention a preference only if your charter uses it.
4. Limited application questions. The application may ask only what is needed to identify the student, set the grade, and contact the parent. It may not ask about race, ethnicity, religion, family income, previous school, academic performance, special education, or language assistance.

Do not promise a seat or imply that applying early or following up improves lottery odds, unless a listed preference applies. We did not find a Georgia rule that names charter advertising either way. Whether a specific campaign is an appropriate use of public funds is a question for your governing board, counsel, auditor, and authorizer.

1. Meta advertising. Facebook and Instagram campaigns aimed at families in your enrollment area, timed to your application window.
2. Parent outreach. Our outreach team contacts every inquiry within 15 minutes during business hours, by the next business day otherwise, and never later than 48 hours. They work with each family until an application is submitted. See Parent Outreach.
3. Enrollment websites. Inquiry and application paths built to convert on a phone.
4. Creative and video. Ads and video that show your school the way families experience it.
5. Reporting. Submitted applications and cost per submitted application, by month and by ad.

Your school takes it from there: lottery, offers, registration, and enrollment. We report submitted applications because that is the step we control.