Massachusetts Charter Schools

For Immediate Release
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Contact:	Jacqueline Reis 781-338-3115

State Estimates 32,600 Students Remain on Charter School Waitlists

MALDEN - The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) today released an initial report showing that approximately 32,600 students are on waitlists for admission to one of the Commonwealth's charter schools. The year's report reflects ESE's ongoing effort to increase the timeliness and accuracy of charter school waitlist data. To ensure uniformity, ESE created a common template that each charter school must use to report its waitlist, and the template automatically flags duplicate records. In order to verify student information, ESE checked each waitlist for possible transcription errors or inconsistencies. In addition, ESE compared all of the school reports to identify students who appear on more than one waitlist. The total number of waitlisted students accounted for in the statewide report excludes these duplicate entries. Twelve of the state's charter schools submitted waitlists that include the names of prospective students who originally applied prior to March 31, 2014. As per state regulation, waitlisted students who have applied after that date must resubmit their application each year to remain on a waitlist. "These figures show that demand for high-quality options continues to exceed supply," said Commissioner Mitchell Chester. "I am proud of the work that my staff has done and continues to do to ensure the accuracy of these reports." The 10 cities with the largest number of waitlisted students are shown below. These 10 cities account for approximately 67 percent of all the students in this waitlist report.

City/Town Name	Number of Unique Students Reported for Each City/Town
Boston	10,308
Springfield	3,931
Malden	1,789
Lynn	1,118
Lawrence	1,097
Brockton	851
New Bedford	819
Worcester	793
Everett	764
Medford	536
Subtotal	22,006

To see the full report, go to Waitlist Initial Report for 2016-2017 (FY17). ###

Last Updated: June 30, 2016