The Ranches Academy

The Ranches Academy is a tuition-free public charter school in Eagle Mountain serving kindergarten through sixth grade. Students leave for seventh grade elsewhere. The charter, School LAND Trust plan, and board of trustees materials are all public.

Special education is run by a director, Mrs. Cousin, with two full-time licensed special education teachers and several paraprofessionals who work with students daily on needs that cannot be met in the general classroom. Each student's specialized instruction comes from that student's Individualized Education Plan. Families who suspect a disability can start a referral by contacting the director or the special education office, and the referral route covers children advancing from grade to grade as well as students in private schools and children who are homeless or migrant. Public documents include the Child Find notice, the procedural safeguards notice, diapering and toileting protocols, and the special education policies and procedures manual. As Utah law requires of charter schools, the school also notifies parents of students with disabilities about the Carson Smith Scholarship Program.

Enrollment runs on a lottery. Applications received between October 1 and January 31 go into the general pool and later applications into a late pool, with the lottery drawn using software on the first Wednesday in February. Preference order is children of founding families, then staff and current board members' children, then siblings of currently and formerly enrolled students. Families can book a school tour before applying.