The BBC is reporting that the Department for Education has received 20 bids to open special free schools in England in the second round of applications that closed on 15th June.
Of the 281 bids in the whole second round, 227 were for mainstream schools, 20 for schools for children with special educational needs, and 34 for alternative provision schools, such as pupil referral units.
Of the 227 mainstream applications, 56% were from local groups, with 18% from independent schools wishing to move into the state sector, and 5% from existing academy schools.
The successful bidders will be announced in September.
Michael Gove is due to give a speech on the free schools programme on Monday, in which he will say there have been some "extremely promising proposals".