"if they miss this year's deadline there's always next year?"
I don't know about all charter schools but in our area if you don't get in K your chances of getting the 10 spots that open up for any grade after that are very slim. You have one shot at getting in where there are any odds at all (K) after that it is a complete long shot (and if someone gets a kid in during the K lottery and they have an older sibling and want the spot there is one less spot for the 2nd grade lottery because siblings have priority before the lottery pull for the upper grades).
