NEARLY 30,000 APPLICATIONS FLOOD ONLINE PORTAL

(New York, NY) Only weeks after unveiling the Charter School Common Online Application for the 2014/15 school year, applications have already exceeded the number of available seats – two months before the application period concludes on April 1.

Since the website began accepting applications almost eight weeks ago, New York city families have submitted 27, 680 applications for one of the 22,000 open seats in public charter schools for the upcoming school year – which includes 3,500 seats in 34 new schools. This school year, 70,000 students attend 183 public charter schools, and 50,000 families are on waitlists.

Earlier this month, technical experts were called in to increase the capacity on the multilingual Charter School Common Online Application website. Since the New York City Department of Education began providing a direct link to the Common Online Application through its Kindergarten Connect portal, as many as 10 applications per minute were flooding in.

“Look no further for proof that public charter schools are in higher demand than ever from the constituency that matters the most – New York City families,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center. “Parents know that charter schools are among the city’s highest performing public schools, and that’s why families from across the five boroughs have submitted nearly 30,000 applications in the first weeks of application season.”

Due to the high demand outweighing the number of available seats, charter schools hold random lotteries in the spring to fill their seats. The schools must give preference to students in its Community School District (CSD), siblings of current students, and some offer preferences for various special learning needs, such as English Language Learners. Applicants who are not drawn in the lottery are placed on a wait list.