SACRAMENTO – The California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) reported that 104 charter schools opened across the state for the 2013-14 school year, bringing the total number of charter schools in California to 1,130.

Charter enrollment grew by an estimated 49,179 increase, or 10 percent, for a total of over 519,000 students in charters.

California maintains its position as the state in the nation with the highest number of charter schools and charter school students.

Momentum in the charter movement continues to grow year after year as parents and communities across the state turn to charter schools in ever greater numbers.

This growth comes in spite of the continuing challenges charters face to secure equitable facilities, reach approval for state start-up grants, and overcome inconsistent authorizing practices.

“It is heartening to see educators, parents, and community leaders coming together to open new schools across the state in order to make school choice an option for more of California’s students every year,” said Jed Wallace, president and chief executive officer of CCSA. “And we anticipate seeing even greater growth in coming years with the passage of Governor Jerry Brown’s new Local Control Funding Formula. While not perfect, the new formula levels the playing field by achieving significant funding equity for new charter schools.”

This school year, the Los Angeles region had the largest charter school growth with 45 new charters opening. The second largest growth area is in the Southern California region of Inland Empire, Orange County and San Diego counties where 27 new charters opened.

Despite this growth, an estimated 50,000 students remain on charter school waiting lists across the state for the 2013-14 school year. Such numbers clearly indicate that many more families would choose the charter public school option if there were sufficient space to serve them.

“Parental school choice is alive and well in California. And I am very excited about the growth that we are seeing. Over the next several years, I think we will continue to see significant additional momentum to what has already been a very robust growth picture for charter schools in California,” added Wallace.

For more information, please visit www.calcharters.org .