Winning the Old Rochester Regional High School lottery for school choice was thrilling for Wareham’s Hannah Deane. Her family recorded her reaction.

“There’s video of me screaming and jumping up and down,” she said.

Last May, ORR accepted Deane and 19 others as part of school choice.

Since joining the statewide program in 2010, administrators have recommended accepting more students from outside the tri-town each consecutive year. The school choice law allows children to attend school in other towns with the sending school paying tuition to the receiving school.

Today, 12 percent of the ORR’s population is made up of school choice students, but this may be the first time in four years new that slots won’t become available.

“I think we’re at our limit right now, and I don’t think we’re going to recommend adding more school choice slots,” said Superintendent Doug White.

With its strong academic reputation, ORR has no shortage of parents seeking to enroll their children.

Staff in the superintendent’s office fields many questions about school choice each year. Currently, 94 school choice students attend ORR.

In 2010, 31 slots were open, but only 15 students from outside the district attended, according to the Massachusetts Department of Education.

White said declining enrollment in the junior and high schools prompted the vote to join school choice four years ago.

Ideally, the high school should have at least 700 students to offer a variety of courses, said White.

“With a population less than that some of those classes would not have full enrollment, and we would have to look at cutting some courses,” he said.

Right now, 730 students attend the high school.

Since adopting the program, administrators have recommended increasing the number of slots each year. Twenty slots were added in 2011, 21 slots in 2012 and another 21 slots in 2013.

Those slots became a financial windfall for the school as rising salaries and healthcare costs sapped the budget.

This year, the district will receive almost $500,000 courtesy of school choice. For every school choice student who attends ORR the district is paid $5,000 by the town where the child lives.

While school choice makes sense at the high school White has not recommended the program for Sippican School or Rochester Memorial School.

“One additional child will have a much greater impact in a fourth grade classroom than one child would in the upper grades,” said Rochester School Committee Chair Michelle Cusolito.

Because high school students aren’t in one classroom all day, unlike elementary students, it’s easier to absorb the extra numbers.

“We have reasonable class sizes, which have been pretty stable for a long time,” Cusolito said. Her committee had weighed the decision, but ultimately decided to vote against the measure.

School committees across the state have the opportunity to revisit their school choice stance each year.

Discussions begin in April. Committees take a vote in May. Sippican Elementary School and Rochester Memorial School do not participate. Mattapoisett School Committee members voted last year to offer school choice.

Often, the decision is made after information about next year’s enrollment numbers is clear.

Deane and her stepfather Bob Kilcup were disappointed that ORR originally decided against opening up school choice slots last year.

“We were kind of crushed. We were hoping for at least a shot,” Kilcup said. “We are a faithful family and we put it into God’s hands.” Deane agreed.

“I remember it was very close to the end of the school, and I was so nervous that I wouldn’t have anywhere to go,” the sophomore student said.

According to White, the additional slots become possible when the number of incoming eighth grade students was less than expected. He recommended the School Committee add 21 slots to the program.

Deane was picked fourth.

“When we heard, we didn’t tell her right away. We went out and bought her an ORR sweatshirt, a cake and some other things to surprise her,” said Kilcup.

At ORR, Deane said she is enjoying the academic environment and a robust drama club.

“I’m in the Drama Club and that is pretty much the reason I wanted to go to school here,” Deane said. “I love the way the drama programs are directed.”

She had been a student at New Testament Christian School in Norton her freshman year.

Kilcup had no issues with the academic program, but said, “The drive was killing us.”

In her first year at ORR, Deane said she has earned a role as an extra in the school’s upcoming play “Seussical.”

She’s also had no trouble fitting in. “I’ve made a lot of friends here,” she said.