Create Your First School Year
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Before you can create enrollment applications, you need at least one school year set up. School years in Lazarus define the academic period that applications and classrooms are associated with, so this is an important early setup step.
Where to Create a School Year
Navigate to Account in the left sidebar, then select the General tab. The School Years panel is located on this page.
Setting Up a School Year
Click the button to create a new school year. You'll need to provide two pieces of information:
- Start Date — The first day of the school year. Use the date picker to select the date.
- End Date — The last day of the school year. This must be after the start date.
Once you've set both dates, click Create School Year to save it.
How School Years Are Used
School years serve as the organizing backbone for several parts of Lazarus:
- Enrollment applications — When you create an application, you'll link it to a school year. This tells families which academic period they're applying for.
- Classrooms — Classrooms are associated with school years, keeping your class structure organized across academic periods.
- Reporting context — School years help you view enrollment data and application history in the context of a specific academic period.
Managing School Years
You can create multiple school years to plan ahead. For example, if you're currently enrolling for the 2026--2027 academic year but want to start building applications for 2027--2028, you can set up both.
To edit an existing school year, return to Account > General and click on the school year you'd like to update. Adjust the dates as needed and click Update School Year to save your changes.
Tip: Set up your school year early in the onboarding process. You'll need it when you create your first enrollment application, and having it ready means one fewer step in that workflow.