Enrollment
Please note:
- Waitlist applications are open.
- Incoming kindergarteners must submit this application and they must be 5 on or before September 1, 2026.
Powell Butte Community School does not limit student enrollment based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, disability, terms of an individual education program, income level, proficiency in the English language or athletic ability.
Community
Inquiry
Civics
Authenticity
Engagement
Place-based Learning
Lottery Application to Enroll 2026-27
Please note:
- The lottery is closed.
- Applications submitted after April 1, 2026 will be added to the waitlist.
- Incoming kindergarteners must submit this application and they must be 5 on or before September 1, 2026.
Powell Butte Community School does not limit student enrollment based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, disability, terms of an individual education program, income level, proficiency in the English language or athletic ability.
Enrollment Information
Enrollment FAQs
Applying for 2026-27
The enrollment period is February 16-April 1.
If you submitted an application after April 1 last year, and space was not available for your student, your application will go through the lottery process the first week of April 2026.
How classes are filled
PBCS will have an overall enrollment of 220 students for the 2026-27 school year.
Per ORS 338.125, priority is given as follows:
- Current students enrolled with PBCS who wish to return for the 2026-27 school year.
- Incoming kindergarten siblings of existing students.
- Incoming kindergarten students who live in the established Powell Butte boundary.
- Incoming kindergarten students living within the Crook County School District, outside the Powell Butte
boundary. - Incoming kindergarten students from outside the Crook County School District.
- Siblings of existing students in first through eighth grade.
- Students living within the Powell Butte boundary in first through eighth grade.
- Students living within the Crook County School District, outside the Powell Butte boundary in first
through eighth grade. - Students living outside the Crook County School District in first through eighth grade.
Being Notified
After the lottery PBCS will notify you within one week via phone or email regarding your student’s enrollment opportunity with PBCS, or their rank on the waiting list.
Once an offer for enrollment is made, you have one week to accept. If you do not respond or decline within the week, your student
will be moved to the decline list, and you must reapply.
As we work through our waiting list, we may notify you over the summer or after school starts in the fall of enrollment opportunities. If an enrollment offer is made after August 15, or after school starts for the 2026-27 year, you must respond within two business days.
Contact Information
Phone: 541-548-1166
Fax: 541-548-7635
Email:pbcsinfo@crookcountyschools.org
Address:
13650 SW Hwy 126
Powell Butte, OR 97753
PBCS Boundary Map
Have questions?
About us
MISSION
Powell Butte Community School will develop the ability to think critically, communicate effectively, and excel academically. Through place-based learning our students will become stewards of their environment and community.
VISION
Powell Butte Community School is a rural public school dedicated to the integration of an outstanding academic program with the community, the land, and its people.We offer a joyful and creative educational experience where engaged students practice the skills they need to be effective citizens and stewards.Powell Butte Community School will serve as a model for preserving schools in rural communities.
HISTORY
Upon learning that the Crook County School District intended to close the eighty year old Powell Butte Elementary School at the end of the 2009-10 school year, the Powell Butte Community came together and established a non-profit public charter school. The Powell Butte Community School opened grades K – 6 in the fall of 2010 with 146 students. Seventh grade was added for the 2011-12 school with a constant enrollment of 166 students. Eighth grade was added for the 2012-13 school year, and it remains a K-8 public charter school.
PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT
Powell Butte Community School members believe:
- In using local place to learn how to act both locally and globally:
- Prepare people to live and work effectively in a democratic society;
Sustain the cultural and ecological integrity of the place we inhabit.
In providing a quality education:
- Systematically and intentionally integrate place-based education and service learning;
- Maintain a standards-based core curriculum;
- Utilize an integrated, multidisciplinary approach;
- Use varied methodologies (such as: experiential learning, inquiry, storyline, problem-based learning, and direct instruction);
- Personalize and make more meaningful the educational experience of individual students.
In perceived individual and community benefits: - Improved academic achievement;
- Increased student efficacy;
- Enhanced appreciation of the natural world;
- Stronger ties to the community.