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

Students by program, 2024-25 (ODEW):

Method note. The community school count is ODEW's. The share uses LSC's FY 2025 counts, which include STEM schools, so it is shown as "about 7%." Scholarship counts are headcounts from ODEW's FY 2025 report. A student in a scholarship program is not counted as a community school student. ODEW has not posted a 2025-26 community school report, so this page uses 2024-25 and does not show a trend.

What this means for enrollment marketing. One in about fourteen Ohio students attends a community school, and a larger group uses a state scholarship at a private school. A family choosing a school in Ohio is weighing the district school, other community schools, online schools, and a private school paid for with a scholarship.

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. None of the 20 accounts is in Ohio. The seasonal detail is in the Charter Enrollment Marketing Benchmark 2026.

The math at different yields, using $113 and the $8,241.61 average base cost:

Over more than one year. A student who stays four years brings at least $32,966 in base cost at the FY 2026-27 average ($8,241.61 times 4, calculated). Use your own funding statement and your own re-enrollment data.

What this table does not include. Special education and other weighted funding, supplements, facilities money, staff time, open houses, and printed materials. It is ad spend against average base cost only, so the real share is lower.

Method. Total Meta ad spend divided by applications marked submitted in our CRM, counted only in months with at least $300 in ad spend. All 20 accounts are charter schools in other states. The full method is on Cost Per Enrolled Student.

The authorizers. Ohio community schools are authorized by sponsors approved by the Department of Education and Workforce. 18 sponsors authorized the 340 schools in 2024-25 (ODEW).

What your ads must match (Ohio Revised Code 3314.06):

1. Open admission. Admission is open to any individual age five to twenty-two entitled to attend school in a school district in the state, subject to what your contract says. Ads should invite families to apply.
2. No ability screening. A school "may not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, or athletic ability." An ad that suggests students are chosen by grades or test scores conflicts with that. A school may limit enrollment by grade level, age group, a defined at-risk group, or a geographic area in its contract.
3. No discrimination. There is no discrimination "on the basis of race, creed, color, disability, or sex," with limited exceptions for single-gender schools and autism programs.
4. Your actual preferences. When applicants exceed capacity, preference goes to students who attended the school the year before and to students who live in the school's district. Preference may also go to siblings of students who attended the year before, and to children of full-time staff, as long as that group stays under 5% of enrollment. Mention a preference only if your school uses it.
5. Capacity. A school admits only the number of students its programs, classes, grade levels, or facilities can hold.

We did not find an Ohio rule that names community school advertising either way. Whether a specific campaign is an appropriate use of public funds is a question for your governing board, counsel, and auditor.

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.