Over 111,000 applications submitted to 78 schools

Philadelphia – On January 25, 2021, the application window closed for families to apply to most Philadelphia charter schools for the 2021-22 school year on Apply Philly Charter, an easy-to-use system created by public charter schools to provide families with a streamlined application and school notification process. Overall, the 78 participating schools are expected to fill an estimated 7,500 available seats for the 2021-22 school year.

Here are the next steps for the 23,792 students who applied on Apply Philly Charter:

School Lotteries and Notifications

The public charter schools on Apply Philly Charter will hold their lotteries on February 10, 2021. All families who applied before the deadline will be notified on February 12, 2021, about the status of their application. On February 12, 2021, families will receive an email through Apply Philly Charter for each school they applied to with the results of their application and will be able to view their application results on their Apply Philly Charter account. If a seat is not available for them, they will be placed on a school’s waitlist. Schools will contact families according to the order of the waitlist, on a rolling basis, should any seats become available for the 2021-22 school year.

Renaissance charter schools—neighborhood schools that are operated as public charter schools and can only enroll students from the neighborhood, also known as a catchment zone—continue to accept applications on a rolling basis past the January 25, 2021, deadline. Families can still apply to these schools on Apply Philly Charter.

Enrollment Process

If a student receives a seat offer by a public charter school on Apply Philly Charter, they must accept that seat in their Apply Philly Charter account. Seats offered on February 12, 2021, must be accepted by March 12, 2021. After accepting their seat, families should then follow the instructions provided by the school to submit their enrollment paperwork and finish securing their seat. If they’re offered a seat by a charter school at any other point (i.e. off of the waitlist), they must also accept that seat in your Apply Philly Charter account by the deadline communicated to them and visible in their Apply Philly Charter account.

Post-Deadline Applications

Families can still submit post-deadline applications to charter schools on Apply Philly Charter. Applications submitted after the January 25, 2021, deadline will not be included in schools’ lotteries. Schools that still have space available will consider post-deadline applications on a first-come, first-served basis after March 12, 2021.

Application Window for 2022-23

The application window for the 2022-23 school year will open in September of 2021.

A graphic with 2021-22 Apply Philly Charter data is available below.

Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) manages applyphillycharter.org and provides technical support to the participating charter schools.