1. No Caps

Alabama law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Alaska law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Arizona law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Arkansas law provides that an unlimited number of conversion charter schools may exist. Arkansas law provides that the number of open enrollment charters that are allowed automatically increases by five each time the number of schools comes within two slots of the cap, which is initially set at 24.
The law provides that an open enrollment charter school may not open in the service area of a public school district administratively reorganized under state law until after the third year of the administrative reorganization.

Under California law, the current cap on charter schools is 2,450 statewide, but the cap is raised by 100 schools each year. As of the 2019-20 school year, there were 1,336 charter schools open in the state.
California law imposes a moratorium on the establishment of new, nonclassroom-based charter schools until January 1, 2025.

Colorado law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Connecticut law contains the following caps: 250 students per state board of education-authorized charter or 25 percent of the enrollment of the district in which the charter is located, whichever is less, and 300 students per state board of education-authorized K-8 charter or 25 percent of the enrollment of the district in which the charter is located, whichever is less. State law allows the state board to waive these cap restrictions for charters with a demonstrated record of achievement.

Delaware law contains a provision allowing local school boards to refuse to accept applications in any given year, which is a potential deterrent for applicants. The law does not contain a similar provision for the state department of education.

The law limits charter school growth to 10 new charter schools per authorizer each year. In addition, in any year where an authorizer does not approve 10 new petitions by April 1, another authorizer may grant additional charters before June 1, provided that the total number of new charters approved by all authorizers in any calendar year does not exceed 20.However, charters are approved for a local educational agency (LEA). Each LEA can operate multiple campuses if approved to do so by the authorizer. There is no restriction in the law on the number of campuses an LEA can operate and additional campuses opened by the same LEA do not count against the cap.

Florida law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Georgia law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Hawaii law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Idaho law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Illinois law contains a limit of 120 charter schools, with a maximum of 75 in Chicago and 45 in the rest of the state. It reserves five of the charters in Chicago for drop-out recovery schools. There are currently 55 charter schools open in Illinois - 40 in Chicago (including two drop-out recovery charter schools) and 15 in the rest of the state.

Indiana law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Iowa law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Kansas law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Louisiana law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Maine law provides that there can be no more than 10 schools approved by the State Charter Schools Commission and districts. There are currently 10 charter schools that have been approved by the State Charter Schools Commission.Maine law also contains temporary enrollment caps in that a charter school cannot enroll more than 5% to 10% (depending on the size of the school administrative unit) of a school administrative unit’s students per grade level in each of the first three years that a school is open.
Maine law provides that the total enrollment at all virtual public charter schools authorized by the State Charter Schools Commission may not exceed 1,000 students.

Maryland law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Massachusetts law contains the following caps on charter school growth:
(1) 120 charter schools statewide are permitted, with 72 reserved for commonwealth charter schools and 48 reserved for Horace Mann charter schools.
(2) Not less than two of the new charters approved by the state board of education in any year shall be granted for charter schools located in districts where overall student performance on the statewide assessment system is in the lowest 10 percent statewide in the two years preceding the charter application.
(3) In any fiscal year, no school district's total charter school tuition payment to commonwealth charter schools shall exceed nine percent of said district's net school spending. However, in the districts performing in the lowest 10 percent statewide, this percentage is 18 percent between Fiscal Year 2011 and Fiscal Year 2017, with any new charters above the previous cap of nine percent reserved for the replication of high performing schools these districts. The law provides that the schools authorized above the previous cap of nine percent don’t count toward the cap of 72 commonwealth charter schools.
(4) The state board of education shall not approve a new commonwealth charter school in any community with a population of less than 30,000 unless it is a regional charter school. In any year, the state board of education shall approve only one regional charter school application of any commonwealth charter school located in a school district where overall student performance on the statewide assessment system is in the top 10 percent in the year preceding charter application.

There are currently 78 charter schools open in Massachusetts - 72 commonwealth charter schools and six Horace Mann charter schools. However, the state's cap on a school district's total charter school tuition payment to commonwealth charter schools in the districts performing in the lowest 10 percent statewide is a constraint on growth in many school districts in the state (including Boston).

Michigan law is generally free of caps. However, it does contain caps on charter “schools of excellence” and cyber charter schools.
Michigan law allows charter “schools of excellence” - of which the first 5 must serve high school students. With the exception of statewide cyber schools, schools of excellence may only be approved within districts having a graduation rate of less than 75% for the most recent three school years for which the data are available. Michigan law includes a cap of 15 on the total number of contracts that may be issued by all statewide authorizing bodies for schools of excellence that are cyber schools. The law provides that a board of a school district, an intermediate school board, the board of a community college that is not a statewide authorizing body, or two or more public agencies acting jointly according to state law may not act as the authorizing body for more than one school of excellence that is a cyber school.

The law allows a cyber school to serve up to 2,500 students in its first year of operation, not more than 5,000 students in its second year of operation, and not more than 10,000 students in its third and subsequent years of operation. The law provides that the total statewide enrollment in cyber schools may not exceed 2% of the state’s public school student population.

Minnesota law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Mississippi law allows the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board to approve a maximum of 15 qualified charter applications during a fiscal year.

Missouri law allows public charter schools to open in the Kansas City school district, the St. Louis school district, unaccredited districts, provisionally accredited districts, and accredited districts.
Missouri law prohibits public charter schools from serving more than 35% of public school students in accredited school districts that enroll 1,500 or more students.

Nevada law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

New Hampshire law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

New Jersey law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

New Mexico law provides that no more than 15 schools may open each year with a five-year cap of 75, with slots not filled within a five-year period rolled over to the next five years. New Mexico law also requires that an application for a charter school in a district with 1,300 or fewer students may not enroll more than 10% of the students in the district in which the charter school will be located.

New York law contains a cap of 460 start-up charters. Currently, there are no charters that can be granted for schools to be located in New York City; there are 98 charters that can be issued outside of New York City. There are also an unlimited number of conversion charters that can be granted both in and outside the city, though no district school has used this conversion process in more than a decade.

North Carolina law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Ohio law allows each authorizer to approve up to 100 schools, except for the state department of education which can approve no more than 20 schools each year during its initial five years of chartering, and of those 20, only five can be new start-ups. The 100-school limit does not apply to any authorizer receiving an “exemplary” rating for two consecutive years under the state authorizer evaluation system.

State law allows most authorizers to approve an unlimited number of charter schools. However, in counties with fewer than 500,000 population, the law provides that the state board of education shall not sponsor more than five charter schools per year each year until 2020, with not more than one charter school sponsored in a single school district per year. Statute also limits the state board of education to approving not more than two schools affiliated with the Office of Juvenile Affairs between July 1, 2010, and July 1, 2016.

Oregon law does not place any caps on charter school growth. However, the law provides that if more than 3% of students residing in a district are enrolled in virtual charter schools not sponsored by that district, any additional resident students must receive approval from the district before enrolling in a virtual charter school. The law provides for a state appeal if the district does not give approval in such cases.

Pennsylvania law does not place any caps on charter school growth. However, some school districts have chosen to place a moratorium on new schools and issue enrollment caps.

Rhode Island law permits 35 charters statewide. There are currently 25 charters.

South Carolina law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Tennessee law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Texas law has the following caps on open-enrollment charter schools: 285 charters beginning September 1, 2018; and 305 charters beginning September 1, 2019. Currently, there are 228 operational charters in the state.
However, it does not have a cap on open-enrollment university charter schools, open-enrollment junior college charter schools, or school district-authorized charter schools. The law allows for detention, correctional, or residential facilities serving juvenile offenders to apply for a charter with the state board of education. It also provides that charters granted for dropout recovery schools are not counted against the cap.

The law allows up to five open-enrollment charters to be granted for schools primarily serving students with disabilities. It provides that these schools are not counted against the larger charter cap.

It is important to note that existing open enrollment charter schools can apply to the Texas Education Agency for expansion. In addition, high-performing charter schools may use an expedited process to add a new campus. If a charter holder submits to the state commissioner of education an application for expedited expansion, the expansion is automatically approved unless, not later than the 60th day after the date the charter holder submits the application, the commissioner provides written notice to the charter holder that charter holder does not meet the requirements for an expedited expansion.

In Utah, the budget bill provides the total authorized enrollment in charter schools for the coming school year. There is room between the authorized enrollment and the actual enrollment for ample charter school growth in the state.

Virginia law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

Statute allows a total of 40 charter schools to be established over a five-year period commencing with April 3, 2016, of which no more than eight may be approved each year during the initial five years, with any unused slots rolling forward.

After five years, the State Board of Education and the Washington Charter School Commission must submit a recommendation to the governor, the legislature, and the public at large regarding whether or not the legislature should authorize the establishment of additional schools.
The five-year authorizing window closed in April 2021. As of December 2021, the legislature has not acted to extend this time-frame for establishing new schools. The State Board of Education and the Washington Charter School Commission have not yet submitted a recommendation regarding whether or not the legislature should authorize the establishment of additional schools (and/or extend the five-year authorizing window).

West Virginia law provides that the total number of public charter schools authorized and in operation under an approved contract in this state shall be limited to three ten pilot public charter schools until July 1, 2023. Beginning July 1, 2023, and every three years thereafter, an additional tenthree public charter schools may be authorized and in operation under an approved contract in this state. The Mountaineer Challenge Academy, if converted to a public charter school, shall not count towards these limitations.

Wisconsin law is generally free of caps on charter school growth. However, Wisconsin law provides that the number of charter schools authorized by the college of Menominee Nation and the Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwa community college may not exceed six.

Wyoming law provides that not more than three charter schools shall be authorized by the state loan and investment board until the state superintendent of public instruction reviews the impacts and benefits of charter schools and provides a report to the joint education interim committee recommending that additional charter schools should be authorized under the process implemented in the law and the legislature acts to repeal the cap. The cap does not apply to charter schools authorized by school districts.