Nearly 170,000 applications submitted to 80 schools

 

Philadelphia – On January 27, 2020, the application window closed for families to apply to most Philadelphia charter schools for the 2020-21 school year on applyphillycharter.org. This concluded the second year of 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 80 participating schools are expected to fill approximately 7,500 available seats for the 20-21 school year.

Here are the next steps for the 34,017 students who applied on Apply Philly Charter:

School Lotteries and Notifications

The public charter schools on Apply Philly Charter will now hold their lotteries and notify all families who applied by no later than February 25, 2020, about the status of their application. Families will also be able to view their application results on Apply Philly Charter starting on February 25, 2020. If a seat is not available for them, they will be placed on a school’s waiting list. Schools will contact families according to the order of the wait list, on a rolling basis, should any seats become available for the 20-21 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—will continue to accept applications on a rolling basis past the January 27, 2020 deadline. Families can still apply to these schools on Apply Philly Charter.

Enrollment Process

If a student is accepted by a public charter school, families should follow the school’s enrollment process to secure their seat for the 20-21 school year. Families will also be able to view school-specific instructions on Apply Philly Charter beginning on February 25, 2020. Once a family enrolls their student in a school for the 20-21 school year, they should let all other schools they applied to know so their seat or spot on a waiting list can be freed up for another student.

Application Window for 2021-22

The application window for the 2021-22 school year will open in September of 2020. Even more Philadelphia public charter schools will be on Apply Philly Charter next year.

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