No New Charter School Applications Recommended for this year. Three schools seek expansion and one school seeks to convert to a charter.
The Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeff Riley has announced that no new charter school applications will be moving forward in the 2019- 2020 cycle. Back in June, four prospectuses were submitted for new charter schools to be considered in the 2019-20 application cycle.
On September 20, 2019, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced that none of the four proposed schools will be invited to submit a final application.
The four charter applications were:
Applications for expansions of existing charter schools and an application for a conversion of a school to a Horace Mann II charter school are still active. The applications include:
Horace Mann II Application – Convert district school to Horace Mann School
The DESE has received one application from Warwick, MA to convert the K-6 Warwick Community School into a district-affiliate charter school under MGL 71, Sec 89 (also known as a Horace Mann II charter school). If approved, this conversion will remove the Warwick Community School from the Pioneer Valley Regional District .
Expansion Applications
Three existing charter schools have submitted applications to expand enrollment and grade ranges.
While there is no timeline for approval of the expansion requests, you can voice your opinion on them today. Members of the public may submit written comments to:
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
c/o Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign
75 Pleasant St. Malden, MA 02148
or by email to charterschools@doe.mass.edu.
Stay tuned to our #CharterSchools tag for updates.