07/15/26
Expanding Family Access: How SchoolAppSTL Is Building the Infrastructure for a More Connected Education System
This past year, families submitted more than 7,500 applications through SchoolAppSTL for just 2,159 available seats. For the coming 2026–27 school year, more than 4,000 applications have already been submitted, with five participating schools filling more than 90% of their available seats and three already at capacity.
As overall enrollment declines and birth rates continue to fall, one trend stands out: families are actively seeking high-quality public school options. The question is no longer whether demand exists. It is how schools and communities coordinate to meet it.
For Anthony Bartlett, Founder and President of Acclimate, a firm that helps families relocate to St. Louis for employment, the trend comes as no surprise.
Helping families relocate to St. Louis often starts with one question: Where will their children go to school?
“It’s not a factor. It’s THE factor,” Bartlett said.
Yet navigating school options can be challenging, with different schools maintaining separate applications, deadlines, and enrollment processes. At the same time, schools often have limited visibility into what families actually want, making it harder to plan for growth and better serve students.
To address those challenges, The Opportunity Trust partnered with education leaders to launch SchoolAppSTL, not simply as an enrollment platform, but as the foundation for a more connected enrollment system. By creating a common front door, the initiative helps families navigate options, gives schools a clearer picture of demand and lays the groundwork for stronger coordination across the region’s schools.
When Schools Work Together, Everyone Benefits
For years, families navigated a maze of separate applications, timelines, and enrollment processes, while schools managed enrollment independently with little opportunity to coordinate their efforts. SchoolAppSTL replaces that fragmented experience with a common front door, making it easier for families to explore schools while giving participating schools shared data and new opportunities to collaborate.
“SchoolAppSTL is a clear example of what’s possible with shared resources. It makes the charter school application and enrollment process easier for both families and member schools,” said Katie O’Sullivan, Admissions Officer at Atlas Public Schools.
Creating those opportunities for collaboration was intentional. By bringing schools together around a shared enrollment platform, The Opportunity Trust is helping build relationships, establish common practices, and create the kind of coordination that benefits both schools and families.
“SchoolAppSTL helped our enrollment, no question, but it also provided an opportunity to connect with peers doing similar work each and every day and with experts who understand it,” O’Sullivan said. “SchoolAppSTL is a powerful reminder that we are stronger together.”
For participating schools, SchoolAppSTL is becoming more than an enrollment platform. It’s shared infrastructure that helps schools plan, collaborate, and respond to family demand, impacting the entire ecosystem.
Demand Is Clear. Now Comes the Work.
Beyond making enrollment easier, SchoolAppSTL is giving educators, funders, and policymakers the clearest picture yet of where families are seeking more school options.
“There are five schools in the portfolio that are 90% or better full,” Kohlmeyer said. “Three of them, 100%.”
SchoolAppSTL makes demand visible, helping to identify where new quality seats are needed and where future investments can have the greatest impact. Atlas Public Schools is adding more than 500 new seats across two campus projects, supported in part through The Opportunity Trust’s federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) grant. Premier Charter School recently received a $2 million CSP grant to create more than 300 additional seats. Together, those projects will create nearly 900 new seats in response to demonstrated family demand.
The data is also revealing interest beyond St. Louis City. While SchoolAppSTL was initially launched with participating charter public schools, the long-term vision is a unified enrollment system that includes schools across sectors. Even under its current model, the platform continues to receive applications from families outside the city and Normandy, offering valuable insight into demand that extends beyond existing enrollment boundaries.
“We do not put up a blockade because we want the data on demand to understand what people are looking for,” Kohlmeyer said.
For civic leaders and policymakers, these insights provide a clearer picture of where families are seeking opportunities, where access gaps may exist, and how the region can respond more effectively.
Building What’s Next
SchoolAppSTL represents an investment in the infrastructure that help schools collaborate, families navigate options, and leaders make better decisions using real demand instead of assumptions.
As leaders look toward the future, the challenge is no longer understanding whether families want great school options, but how to respond.
“Where can we grow? Where is demand?” Kohlmeyer said. “And then how do we do that responsibly?”
More than 7,500 applications delivered a clear message: families are eager for more high-quality public school options. Through SchoolAppSTL, The Opportunity Trust and its partners have created something the region has never had before: a shared view of family demand across participating schools. That shared fact base is helping schools, funders, and civic leaders make smarter decisions about growth, coordinate investments, and expand access to high-quality public schools for more students.
Eliminating Barriers: Inside SchoolAppSTL’s First Year of Impact