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More than 10,000 students applied to Newark schools for the upcoming school year, with charter schools seeing the highest number of applicants through their recently launched enrollment system.
Newark Public Schools received 7,400 applications through its enrollment platform, Newark Enrolls, while city charter schools had a record-high 3,454 applications submitted through the Newark Common App, which was launched three years ago.
Newark parents must apply for a school if their student is enrolling for the first time, wants to switch schools, or is in the final grade of their current school, for example, a preschooler who will start kindergarten next fall, or an eighth grader who will be starting high school.
For years, the only way to apply to most public schools in the city was through the Newark Enrolls website, but in 2022, 10 Newark charter schools broke ties with the district’s enrollment system and created the Newark Common App. But the Newark school district requires all students, including those attending charter schools, to submit residency documents before formally enrolling in a matched school.
The open enrollment period for Newark Public Schools and charter schools began on Nov. 2, with families receiving school match letters in April.
The application data does not reflect actual enrollment for the 2025-26 school year, but it provides schools with an early projection of how many students to expect. The projections are important because enrollment impacts school funding, staffing decisions, transportation planning, meals, services for students, and school facilities needs.
Public school enrollment in districts across the country has decreased since the pandemic, while rates in some school districts are holding steady, according to data released in December by the National Center for Education Statistics. Across the country, public school enrollment reached 49.5 million students for fall 2023, which represents a less than 1% decrease compared to fall 2022 and a 2.5% decline from pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Newark Public Schools enrolled over 40,000 students this school year, while city charter schools enrolled over 20,000. As districts dealt with the fallout of the pandemic and declining enrollment, Newark’s public schools surpassed charter school growth in 2023, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of state fall enrollment data between 2019 and 2024. In Newark, charter schools educate more than a third of the city’s public school students, and across the state, they represent about 5% of all public school enrollment.
Among district schools, Newark Enrolls applications slightly decreased from 7,407 for the 2024-25 school year to 7,400 for the upcoming year, according to Newark Enrolls data obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request. Of the applications for enrollment this fall, 3,981 were for high school grade levels and 3,419 were for pre-K-8 grade levels, according to the data. On April 18, 7,377 match letters were sent to students, according to the figures.
Before the pandemic, Newark Enrolls received 11,800 applications for the 2020-21 school year, but that number dropped sharply to about 7,800 applications for 2021-22. Those applications were submitted before the creation of the Newark Common App in 2022.
Among the charter schools, the Newark Common App applications increased from 3,092 for the 2024-25 school year to 3,454 for the upcoming year, an increase of 362 applications, according to recently released Newark Common App data. Ninth grade received the highest number of applications, followed by kindergarten, according to the data. Overall, 82% of Newark Common App applicants were matched to schools, and 71% received their first choice, according to the figures.
District leaders are preparing for new and expanded costs to support rising enrollment and services for Newark’s most vulnerable students. The costs also include payments to charter schools, which are privately run but publicly funded schools. Under New Jersey law, school districts must provide charter schools with at least 90% of per-pupil funds for students who live in the district.
Since his appointment in 2018, Superintendent Roger León has been vocal about his attempt to stop the expansion of charter schools, while district leaders have raised concerns about the high costs associated with funding them.
Newark Public Schools’ payments to city charter schools are rising by $24.8 million, totalling $416 million for the upcoming school year.
District leaders have also raised concerns about charter schools serving a disproportionate number of vulnerable students, such as English language learners and students with disabilities, which costs schools more money to educate and provide services for them. Newark Public Schools expects more than 11,000 English language learners and over 7,000 students with disabilities next school year.
In New Jersey, enrollment has gradually increased over the last three school years, according to fall enrollment data. The 2024–25 school year marked the highest district and charter school enrollment in recent years, per state data, but those figures do not account for private or homeschool enrollments.
Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
