Boston charter schools are seeing a huge spike in applicants amid renewed talk nationwide about vouchers to allow disadvantaged students to attend.
Applications for the upcoming school year have more than doubled from last year, The Boston Globe reports. Much of that is attributed to a new online application process allowing students to apply to multiple charter schools simultaneously, though another reason is believed to be more awareness of the schools following the recent failed effort to increase the number of such schools allowed in the state of Massachusetts.
According to the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, the 16 schools using the new online method received 35,000 applications for 2,100 available spots. Those same schools received 13,000 applications last year.
Most charter schools will hold lotteries on Wednesday to choose which new students get in.
The charter school movement had hoped a statewide vote in November would have allowed the number of schools to increase, but it suffered an overwhelming defeat.
Still, writes Paul Crookston at National Review, the amount of publicity generated by the debate may have given more parents the incentive to try to get into the existing schools.
Charter schools also are receiving nationwide attention with the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as President Donald Trump's secretary of education. DeVos is a longtime advocate of charter schools and vouchers, joining conservatives and libertarians who say they give parents the ability to remove their children from bad public schools.
Liberals argue that vouchers actually hurt those who remain in public schools since the lower number of students ends up cutting tax funding.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.