In Partnership with 74

Number of students on CA charter school wait lists hits a record

Vanessa Romo | May 7, 2014



Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.

Charter Schools Waiting ListDespite the ongoing debate over whether charter schools are better than traditional public schools and the steady increase annually of new charters, the California Charter Schools Association reports a record number of students are on charter school wait lists statewide.

In LA Unified, the largest district in the state, an estimated 36,300 students are hoping to get a spot in either an affiliated or independent charter school next year, according to the report. The average number of students on a wait list for one of the 249 charters available to LA Unified students is 146.

Statewide, the number of students on charter wait lists is 91,000 —  an increase of 13,000 over last year — and the number jumps to 164,000 taking into account students who are on more than one wait list.

“Year after year parents are making their voices heard and they want to send their kids to charter schools,” Jed Wallace, president and CEO, California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) said in statement.

“And each year the California Charter Schools Association works harder to ensure that no barrier – at the state or local level – prevents us from making good on our promise to provide a high quality public charter school education to all students in California.”

Statewide, CCSA, estimates more than half a million students are enrolled in California’s 1,130 charter schools, 104 of which opened for the 2013-2014 school year.

Read Next