Charter & Virtual Schools SY27: Proposals, Requests and Amendments

The 2026-27 school year brings us one new charter school application and one new virtual school application. Three charter schools are seeking changes to their charters and twelve schools are up for renewal. The dates and details are linked below and follow this page for updates.

2026-27 General Timelines

	Charter Schools – New Applications	Charter Schools – Amendments to Existing Schools	Charter Schools – Existing Board of Trustees	Commonwealth Virtual Schools
Letters of Intent/Request	July 23, 2026	August 13, 2026	Accepted until August 13, 2026	June 11, 2026
Initial Application/ Prospectus	August 13, 2026	n/a	n/a	July 23. 2026
Commission Invite to submit Final Application	October 2, 2026	n/a	n/a	September 2026
Final Application	November 4, 2026	n/a	November 4, 2026	November 4, 2026 by 12 noon
Public Hearings	December 2026	TBD	December 2026	December 2026*
Commissioner Decision/BESE Vote	February 2027 (BESE meeting TBD)	TBD	February 23, 2027	No later than March 2027

*Applications for statewide CMVS include a presentation and review of the proposed Learning Management System (LMS) in December 2026 and interviews with the final applicants (December 2026-February 2027), if necessary.

Status of Current Commonwealth Virtual Schools

In 2026, the two operational Commonwealth Virtual Schools had their certificate to operate renewed by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Greater Commonwealth Virtual School (max enrollment 1200) and the TEC Connections Academy Virtual School (max enrollment 3000) were both renewed for an additional four years.

In summer of 2026, the TEC Connections Academy Virtual did adopt a name change to Massachusetts Connections Academy Commonwealth Virtual School (MassCA).

A third school, the Felix Commonwealth Virtual School, opened in Fall 2026 under a set of conditions approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Felix School opened with a limited enrollment region, cap of 200 students and enrollment limited to grades 9 and 10 in the first year. The enrollment at the start of the 2026-27 school year was 59 students.

New Commonwealth Virtual School Proposal

One new letter of intent and prospectus to open a new Commonwealth Virtual School was submitted to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to open a statewide virtual school for the 2027-28 school year.

School Name	District/ Region	Grade Span	Proposed First Year/Max Enrollment	Available Seats from Sending Districts in FY27
Great Hills Commonwealth Virtual School	Statewide	K-12	572/1435	n/a

The Letter of Intent and the prospectus were both submitted to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The DESE staff and Commissioner will review the prospectus in August and September. The Commissioner will then notify the applicant group if they will be invited to submit a final application by the end of September.

New Charter School Proposals

For new operators, applications to open a new charter school were due on August 13, 2026. While two Letters of Intent were submitted to DESE, only one application was submitted by the August 13 deadline.

School Name	Districts/Region	Grade Span	Proposed First Year/Max Enrollment	Available Seats from Sending Districts in FY27
Ashby Evergreen Charter School	Ashby, Townsend, Pepperell, and Fitchburg	K-8	150/250	North Middlesex – 235 (currently 50 students in charters)

The Commissioner indicated that he intends to announce his recommendation regarding this application at the at the September 22, 2026 BESE Meeting.

New Charter Schools Operated by a Current Board of Trustees

Applications for new charter schools operated by a current Board of Trustees is open until November 4, 2026. No letters of intent to open a new school from a Board of Trustees were submitted to DESE by the August 13, 2026 deadline. However, final applications are accepted until November 4, 2026.

Amendments to Existing Charter Schools

Three charter schools have submitted requests for amendments to their existing charters as of September 18, 2026.

School	Current District of Region	Grade Span	Maximum Enrollment/ 2026 Enrollment	Proposed Amendment
Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS)	Marblehead, Swampsott, Nahant	4-8	230/226	Add Peabody and Beverly to the region
Pioneer Charter School of Science	Chelsea, Everett, Revere	K-12	780/786	Add PreK and increase enrollment to 1,224
Pioneer Charter School of Science II	Saugus, Peabody, Danvers, Lynn, and Salem	K-12	858/684	Add PreK and increase enrollment to 1,224

Note that MCCPS currently enrolls more than 20% of students from outside of their current region and required to request the amendment to reflect the current enrollment patterns.

Public comment is now open. The deadline for public comment is December 4, 2026. 

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
c/o Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign
135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
Email to charterschools@mass.gov.

The Department currently anticipates bringing this matter to the Board for consideration at the January 27, 2027 BESE meeting, if the request is recommended by the Commissioner for approval. Updates on this process may also be found on the Department’s Board Meeting Schedule and Agendas website.

Charter School Tuition Cap Increases

The Charter School Tuition Cap Increases will not impact charter school applications for the current year, however, additional seats may be available in the “lowest 10%” districts in future years.

The Massachusetts charter school law and regulations limit the amount of charter school tuition that can be charged to school district in any given year. The default limit is 9 percent of the district’s net school spending (NSS). For districts in the “lowest 10 percent” of all statewide MCAS scores from the two most recent school years the tuition limit increases to 18 percent of NSS. The “lowest 10 percent” list was most recently updated in spring 2026 based on 2024 and 2025 data. This data will affect the charter school cap for the 2027-28 school year.

Districts subject to changes in the charter school cap were updated in April 2026:

Athol-Royalston	Fall River	Holyoke	North Adams	Ralph C Mahar	Taunton
Barnstable	Fitchburg	Hoosac Valley Regional	North Brookfield	Randolph	Ware
Brockton	Florida	Lawrence	Orange	Southbridge	Webster
Chelsea	Gardner	Lynn	Pittsfield	Spencer-East Brookfield	Winchendon
Everett	Gill-Montague	New Bedford	Quaboag Regional	Springfield

Districts that exited the lowest 10% in the 2026 ranking include Dennis-Yarmouth, Framingham, Greenfield, Marlborough, Revere and Worcester.

Applications to Renew for Existing Charter Schools

All charter schools are required to submit annual reports and apply to renew their charter every five years. The SY2027 cohort of charter school renewals does include one school that is also seeking to amend the charter to add additional seats and one grade level. This school is indicated with an * asterix.

DESE anticipates that requests for renewal will be brought to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for consideration at the February 23, 2027 BESE meeting.

The deadline for public comment for charter renewals is December 4, 2026.

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
c/o Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign
135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
Email to charterschools@mass.gov.

Charter School Name	Current District or Region	Maximum Enrollment/ 2026 Enrollment	Grade Span
Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School	Boston	545/501	5-12
Brooke Charter School	Boston, Chelsea	2,221/2230	K-12
Christa McAuliffe Charter School	Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Marlborough, Natick, Southborough, Sudbury	396/315	6-8
Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School	Boston	325/261	PK-5
Global Learning Charter Public School	New Bedford	500/501	5-12
KIPP Academy Boston Charter School	Boston	588/627	K-8
Libertas Academy Charter School	Springfield	630/592	6-12
Old Sturbridge Academy Charter Public School	Brimfield, Brookfield, Holland, Monson, North Brookfield, Palmer, Southbridge, Spencer-East Brookfield, Sturbridge, Tantasqua, Wales, Webster	360/358	K-8
Pioneer Charter School of Science*	Chelsea, Everett, Revere	780/786	K-12
Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School	Agawam, Amherst, Amherst-Pelham, Belchertown, Chesterfield-Goshen, Chicopee, Conway, Deerfield, East Longmeadow, Easthampton, Frontier, Gill-Montague, Granby, Greenfield, Hadley, Hampden-Wilbraham, Hampshire, Hatfield, Hawlemont, Holyoke, Leverett, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Mohawk Trail, Northampton, Pelham, Pioneer Valley, Shutesbury, South Hadley, Southampton, Southwick-Tolland-Granville, Springfield, Sunderland, West Springfield, Westfield, Westhampton, Whately, Williamsburg	684/592	K-12
Sizer School: A North Central Charter Essential School	Ashburnham-Westminster, Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster, Lunenburg, Nashoba, North Middlesex, Wachusett	400/270	7-12
Veritas Preparatory Charter School	Springfield	766/769	5-1