Waiting lists for charter schools in some of the country’s largest urban areas have swelled to more than 300,000 students collectively, says a report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
New York City had the largest number of students with their names on wait lists, at 163,000, according to estimates from the Washington-based alliance. Los Angeles followed with 68,200 and Houston with 35,000. The number of students on waiting lists in New York is nearly double the number actually attending charter schools in the city. In Boston, almost three times as many students are on the lists compared with those already enrolled in charters.
The report’s authors acknowledge their estimates don’t account for the fact that students might be on multiple waiting lists, which could skew the numbers upward.
