Apply Philly Charter is the easy way to apply to most of Philadelphia's public charter schools for grades K-12. You can apply online at applyphillycharter.org. An application only takes a few minutes to complete.
A charter school is an independently run public school. The "charter" establishing each school is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, students served, performance goals, and methods of assessment.
We encourage you to use all available resources when looking for the right school for your child:
Call or visit schools
Talk with your family and friend
Use the Philly Schools Compass school resource tool
Visit School District of Philadelphia Charter Schools Office
You only need to apply if your child is interested in attending a charter school that he/she does not currently attend. If your child is interested in staying at their current school, follow your school's re-enrollment policy. Charter schools may encourage, but not require, families to complete paperwork indicating that they plan to re-enroll at the same school the following year.
No. While most public charter schools in Philadelphia are part of the Apply Philly Charter platform, not all Philadelphia charter schools participate. See a full list of participating schools. If you are interested in applying to non-participating schools, contact them directly. The School District of Philadelphia Charter Schools Office has contact list for every school.
No. Using Apply Philly Charter is completely free.
All Pennsylvania residents ages five (5) through twenty-one (21) are eligible to attend Philadelphia charter schools. But schools must give preference to students who live in Philadelphia over students who live elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Some schools must give preference even to students who live in certain parts of Philadelphia. If you have questions about a school’s preferences, please contact the school directly.
Yes, all charter schools accept students with special needs. Make sure to talk with your school about your child’s IEP and how they will meet their needs.
In order to be considered for a charter school, you must apply on Apply Philly Charter, ranking your preferred schools. Applying does not guarantee an offer. If a charter school receives more applications than the number of seats available in a certain grade, it must offer these seats through a random lottery. A lottery is held to determine who is accepted and who will be placed on a waiting list for the next school year.
You can submit an application using Apply Philly Charter by clicking the Apply button above. You will be asked to create an account and select a password using just your name and an email address. You will fill out a family profile, add students to your account, and rank order the schools you want your child to attend in your order of preference.
No. If you don’t have an email address, access to the internet, or don’t speak one of the languages offered on Apply Philly Charter, you can submit an application over the phone by calling (800) 891-3999.
Yes. The Apply Philly Charter site is available in nine different languages. And the Apply Philly Charter Helpline is available in dozens of languages.
The application deadline for the 2025-26 school year is January 20, 2026. Some schools, such as Renaissance schools, will enroll students on a first-come, first-served basis after the deadline in accordance with their admission policy. See below to learn more about Renaissance Schools.
A Renaissance Charter School is a neighborhood school that is operated as a public charter school. Renaissance Schools can only enroll students from the neighborhood, also known as a catchment zone. Most Renaissance schools enroll students from the catchment zone on a first-come, first-served basis and will only enroll a small number of students from outside the neighborhood if there is additional space. If you live within a Renaissance Charter School's catchment, you can request to be enrolled at that school at any time. If you have questions about a Renaissance school's admission policy, please contact the school directly. For more information about Renaissance schools, see the Philadelphia Charter Schools Office website.
Yes. If you are looking for a seat right now, you can submit an application for the 2025-26 school year; however, most schools do not have available seats. If you apply, you will be placed on a school’s waitlist and contacted in the event a seat becomes available. Some schools, like Renaissance schools, will enroll students on a first-come, first-served basis after the application deadline.
Visit Philly Schools Compass to research more about schools before you apply.
Yes, you can edit your application for September 2026 at any time before the January 20, 2026, deadline. Log in to your account and click the "Edit" button in your student's tile on the homepage. You can add schools, remove schools, or change how you rank order the schools. If you are applying for the current school year, you can edit your application at any point during the school year.
Yes. You can still apply to participating charter schools for the 2026-27 school year after the deadline. If a school has space available, applicants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. For schools that do not have space available, applicants will be placed on a waitlist.
To be entered into a non-Renaissance school’s lottery, you must submit an application before the January 20, 2026, deadline. After the deadline, schools that have seats available will admit students on a first-come, first-served basis. Renaissance schools will also enroll eligible students on a first-come, first-served basis after the deadline, according to their admissions policies. See 'What is a Renaissance School' above for more information.
You can apply to up to 15 schools, rank-ordering them in order of preference. The school you want most for your child should be ranked #1, followed by the school you would want next, and so on. It is important for your child's success that the school be a good fit, so we encourage you to learn about all the charter schools you are interested in and only rank the charter schools you think are best for your child. Renaissance schools do count towards your 15 schools that you can apply to; however, you will not need to rank them. Also, to research your school options as you are applying, please see the Philadelphia Schools Compass to explore and learn about all of your charter options.
Apply Philly Charter runs a single, unified lottery and seeks to assign each applicant to the highest-ranked school on their application that has a seat available for them, given their priority to that school and their random lottery number. When the lottery is run, it will first take into account the priority group an applicant falls into (e.g., if a school provides a priority for siblings or a particular zip code), and, second, the applicant's random lottery number. Seats will first be offered to applicants who fall into the priority group in order of lowest random lottery number to highest. The lottery will then offer seats to applicants in the second, third, etc. priority groups in order of random lottery number, until the number of available seats has been exhausted.
If an applicant receives an offer to the school ranked #1 on their application, that is the only offer they will receive. If an applicant is assigned to a school ranked #2 or lower on their application, they will be added to the waitlist of the school ranked above the school to which they received an offer. If an applicant is unable to be assigned to any of the schools ranked on their application, they will be added to the waitlist of all of the schools on their application. If you live within a Renaissance Charter School's catchment, you can request to be enrolled at that school at any time. See 'What is a Renaissance School' above for more information.
All schools will notify applicants of their application outcomes on February 6, 2026 You will receive an email through Apply Philly Charter to view your application results. You will be able to log in to your Apply Philly Charter account to view your application results by clicking "View Application Results" on the home page.
If you receive a seat offer from a charter school, you must accept that seat in your Apply Philly Charter account by clicking "accept". Seats offered on February 6, 2026, must be accepted by February 20. After accepting your seat, you should then follow the instructions provided by the school to submit your enrollment paperwork and finish securing your seat. If you are offered a seat by a charter school at any other point (i.e., off of a waitlist), you must also accept that seat in your Apply Philly Charter account by the deadline communicated to you and visible in your Apply Philly Charter account. You can only accept one seat at a time. Clicking “accept” will auto-decline any other seat offers in the system.
No. Apply Philly Charter does not collect enrollment paperwork. After you accept your seat in your Apply Philly Charter account, you must then submit your enrollment paperwork directly to the school. Follow the "Next Steps" instructions in your Apply Philly Charter account and communicate directly with the school about how to submit your paperwork.
This means that the charter school to which you have applied has no seats available at this time. If a space becomes available, schools will make offers to applicants off of their waitlists. In that event, you will receive an email from Apply Philly Charter notifying you of your offer and the deadline for accepting. You must log in to your Apply Philly Charter account and accept your seat offer by the deadline.
To enroll in a charter school, you must submit the following: (1) proof of your student's age; (2) your student's immunization records; (3) proof of residency; (4) a parent registration statement, and (5) a home language survey. Schools may also request documents such as a copy of a parent/guardian photo ID, as well as other health and academic records. After accepting a seat offer, you must follow the instructions provided by the school and submit all paperwork to the school directly by the deadline set by the school. For examples of documents and more information on what schools are allowed and not allowed to collect, please visit thethe Charter Schools Office website.
Use the School District of Philadelphia School Finder to determine your zoned district public school.
No. Using Apply Philly Charter does not forfeit your current seat. Please speak to your current school for more information about re-enrolling.
Schools have different policies on transportation. Contact the school you are interested in directly to find out whether your child would qualify.
Apply Philly Charter is part of the Elevate 215, a philanthropic non-profit organization committed to creating educational opportunities and improved outcomes for the students in Philadelphia.
Apply Philly Charter only provides your information to the schools to which you have applied. We are compliant with both FERPA and COPPA regulations. Your information will not be used for purposes outside of Apply Philly Charter and Elevate 215. Review our terms and conditions.
