This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
Usually, charter schools hold lotteries to decide who will attend. But one school is scheduled to hold a lottery Thursday night to find out who will have to leave.
A forced enrollment cut is just one of many problems faced by the Walter D. Palmer Charter School in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood.
A pioneer of the local school choice movement, Walter Palmer has for years overenrolled his charter school, hoping to force the Philadelphia School District to eventually pay for the extra students.
He lost that fight in court this year. Now, almost half of Palmer’s 1,200 students have to find new schools.