Massachusetts Charter Schools

Massachusetts Charter School Waitlist Initial Report for 2025-2026 (FY26)

As of March 14, 2025

Each spring, charter schools send the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Department) the number of students enrolled for the upcoming school year as well as the number of students who were placed on the schools' waitlists through each school's initial lottery, which is typically held in February or March.

The information provided below reflects the number of students who applied to charter schools but did not gain admittance and were reported to the Department as of March 14, 2025. Note that charter schools may have established a waitlist during the principal application cycle, but exhausted it prior to the March 14 reporting deadline. Additionally, charter schools may have implemented their principal application cycle and offered a seat to every applicant, resulting in no waitlist being established. Charter schools that have exhausted or not established a waitlist as of March 14, typically run subsequent application cycles. The waitlist report does not include any applications collected but not yet included in an admissions lottery. This initial 2025-2026 waitlist report finds the following:

  • 64 out of 72 charter schools in the Commonwealth reported a waitlist as of the March 14 reporting deadline.
  • There are 32,024 entries across all waitlists, representing 20,900 unique students.
    • Of the unique students, 15,778 students appear on a single waitlist and 5,122 students (24.5 percent) appear on more than one waitlist.

Figure 1. Unique Number of Students on Charter School Waitlists

Number of Waitlists a
Student Appears On
Unique (Unduplicated) Number
of Students on Charter School
Waitlist(s)
115,778
22,629
31,149
4491
5278
6191
7188
8130
930
109
1112
129
134
141
191
Total20,900

Figure 2. Total Number of Applications Reported on Charter School Waitlists

School NameTypeTotal Number of
Applicants Reported on
Charter School Initial Waitlists
Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public SchoolCommon-wealth
(CW)
610
Academy Of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School*CW24
Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter SchoolCW799
Alma del Mar Charter SchoolCW649
Argosy Collegiate Charter SchoolCW274
Atlantis Charter SchoolCW324
Benjamin Banneker Charter Public SchoolCW231
Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public SchoolCW730
Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public SchoolCW42
Boston Collegiate Charter School*CW795
Boston Day and Evening Academy Charter SchoolHorace Mann
(HM)
27
Boston Green Academy Horace Mann Charter SchoolHM364
Boston Preparatory Charter Public School*CW346
Boston Renaissance Charter Public School*CW728
Bridge Boston Charter School*CW1,333
Brooke Charter School*CW3,016
Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter SchoolCW68
Codman Academy Charter Public School*CW1,215
Collegiate Charter School of LowellCW323
Community Charter School of CambridgeCW6
Community Day Charter Public SchoolCW1,408
Conservatory Lab Charter School*CW1,455
Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter SchoolHM49
Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers: A Horace Mann Charter Public SchoolHM202
Excel Academy Charter School*CW1,110
Four Rivers Charter Public SchoolCW70
Foxborough Regional Charter SchoolCW416
Francis W Parker Charter Essential SchoolCW218
Global Learning Charter Public SchoolCW344
Hampden Charter School of ScienceCW256
Hill View Montessori Charter Public SchoolCW320
Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public SchoolCW219
Holyoke Community Charter SchoolCW19
Innovation Academy Charter SchoolCW186
KIPP Academy Boston Charter School*CW850
KIPP Academy Lynn Charter SchoolCW1,659
Lawrence Family Development Charter SchoolCW359
Learning First Charter Public SchoolCW281
Libertas Academy Charter SchoolCW65
Lowell Community Charter Public SchoolCW311
Marblehead Community Charter Public SchoolCW179
Martha's Vineyard Charter SchoolCW4
Martin Luther King Jr Charter School of ExcellenceCW87
Match Charter Public School*CW1,073
Mystic Valley Regional Charter SchoolCW1,624
Neighborhood House Charter School*CW880
New Heights Charter School of BrocktonCW234
Old Sturbridge Academy Charter Public SchoolCW235
Pioneer Charter School of ScienceCW1,652
Pioneer Charter School of Science IICW1,394
Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter SchoolCW211
Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public SchoolCW138
Prospect Hill Academy Charter SchoolCW100
Rising Tide Charter Public SchoolCW230
River Valley Charter SchoolCW191
Roxbury Preparatory Charter School*CW106
Salem Academy Charter SchoolCW233
South Shore Charter Public SchoolCW580
Springfield International Charter SchoolCW310
Springfield Preparatory Charter SchoolCW440
Sturgis Charter Public SchoolCW163
UP Academy Charter School of DorchesterHM92
Veritas Preparatory Charter SchoolCW67
Worcester Cultural Academy Charter Public SchoolCW100
Commonwealth (CW) Subtotal 31,290
Horace Mann (HM) Subtotal 734
Grand Total 32,024

Please note that the total number figure represents every student record found on each charter school's submitted initial waitlist.

*These 13 Commonwealth charter schools utilized the Boston Charter School Application online application system.


The unique waitlist counts provided in this current report should be taken as the Department's best understanding and representation of the demand for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year rather than exact numbers of students willing to accept offers at each school.

Each charter school is responsible for maintaining its own individual waitlist. To ensure uniformity, the Department created a waitlist collection template and required charter schools to use it to input waitlist data. This template contained embedded tools that automatically flagged duplicate records, which each school could then remove before submitting its waitlist. The template also embedded tools that flagged the waitlist for other inconsistencies, such as unrealistic dates of birth (e.g., 2/28/2025) and student age. In order to verify student information and address overall waitlist accuracy, the Department corrected any transcription errors or inconsistencies in submitted charter school waitlists. Finally, the Department continues to implement its matching process, which is refined and updated to increase accuracy in identifying students who applied for admission to more than one charter school.

The Department thanks all of the charter school administrators and staff who worked diligently to report their waitlists as accurately as possible. The Department appreciates the efforts made by schools to submit accurate and complete waitlist reports prior to the deadline.

The appendix to this report contains the following numbers based on a March 14, 2025 data collection:

  1. the unique number of students on waitlists;
  2. the total number of new applicants reported on charter school waitlists by March 14, 2025;
  3. the unique number of students on waitlists by grade;
  4. the unique number of students on waitlists by city/town;
  5. the total number of students on waitlists for each charter school by grade (with backfilling overlay);
  6. the unique number of students on waitlists by city/town and grade; and
  7. the total number of students on waitlists for each charter school by city/town by grade.

For more information on waitlist policies and procedures and the number of students found on previous cycles of charter school waitlists, see Charter School Technical Advisory 16-3: Enrollment Processes and FAQ's and Pre-Enrollment and Waitlist Data. For further information regarding this report, please contact Brenton Stewart or the Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign at charterschools@mass.gov .

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Last Updated: April 30, 2025