Yesterday, we discussed waiting list trends across the country, including the findings from a national survey of public charter schools conducted we conducted in the spring of 2012 that estimates that there were 610,000 students on waiting lists to attend public charter schools before the beginning of the 2011-2012 academic year.
While the national picture of demand for public charter schools remains strong, let’s look at the findings more closely. Many states and jurisdictions reported large numbers of students on waiting lists to attend public charter schools in the 2011-12 school year:
New York City: 52,900
Massachusetts: 45,000
North Carolina: 29,000
New Jersey: 27,000
District of Columbia: 15,000
Chicago, IL: 10,000
Los Angeles, CA: 10,000
Idaho: 8,000
Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC: 8,000
Connecticut: 7,000
The fact that New York City, D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles have high waiting list numbers is no surprise. They are all “Top 10” Districts in terms of serving the highest numbers of public charter school students according to our annual market share report. But despite the high concentration of public charter schools and students in these urban centers, parent demand for charter schools continues to outpace supply.
