Demand for a Quality DC Public Charter School Continues to Grow in Washington, DC

Washington, DC — Demand for a public charter school education continues to grow as evidenced by the waitlist analysis released today by the DC Public Charter School Board (DC PCSB).  Overall, there are 8,640 individual students on waitlists to attend one or more participating public charter schools in the 2016-17 school year, an 1.3% increase over last year’s 8,526 students. In total 20,880 students are on a waitlist at any PK-12 school, this is an increase from 18,835 last year. 

The data show that the greatest demand continues to be for a seat in the early grades.  The waitlist consists of 11,302 names for a space in grades PK3 through kindergarten, which is an increase of about 1,400 names from last year.  Since many students are on multiple waiting lists, the names represent an unknown number of duplicates.

The waitlist numbers published by DC PCSB are accurate as of April 1 and will change as seat offers are extended to students.  Families are encouraged to check with each school for the most current information and to visit My School DC for available seat offerings and waitlist movement for previous years, which will show how likely it will be to move off a waitlist when a space becomes available.  The data will be available at myschooldc.org later this month.  Families can find detailed information about waitlist data below.  DC PCSB publishes this information annually to ensure parents with children who are not matched with their top choice are able to see which schools have shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. 

In the last three years, DC PCSB has approved 11 new public charter schools and expanded more than a dozen schools with a Tier 1 rating on DC PCSB’s Performance Management Framework. 

DC PCSB is currently considering two new charter applications as part of its regular application cycle.  A Twitter Town Hall will be held on Monday April 11 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss these applications.  Tweet questions to @dcpcsb using #AskPCSB or watch the livestream on our website dcpcsb.org. 

In the upcoming school year, DC PCSB will provide oversight to 118 public charter schools, 102 of which participate in My School DC.  Most of the non-participating schools focus on adult or alternative education programs or offer highly specialized programs. 

Overall, there are 8,640 individual students on waitlists to attend one or more participating public charter schools in the 2016-17 school year, an 1.3% increase over last year’s 8,526 students.