Chicago Teachers Union calls for more charter school oversight

With more than a dozen charter schools waiting for the Board of Education to renew their contracts, the Chicago Teachers Union is calling on the school district to rein in spending on charter management overhead and the stockpiling of public money.

About 50,000 Chicago Public Schools students attend 119 publicly funded, privately run charters.

Charter school accountability came to the forefront this school year after one of the city’s biggest networks, Acero Schools, announced plans to close seven of its 15 campuses. The Board of Education, angry that the action could displace the families of 2,000 children, eventually swooped in to save five schools in a debated and expensive action. CPS officials worried that would set a detrimental precedent that the district would bail out charters in the future.

The Acero drama set back charter renewals this spring. The board usually votes on charter extensions in January or February. After a few delays, 16 charter schools whose contracts expire in June are expected to be considered for renewal at the board meeting next week.

Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, said the delay is the result of a disagreement over how long the contracts should last. CPS recommended most charters be given two-year terms, while a few would get three or four years.

Broy said some board members who support charters agree with INCS that the private operators should be given longer terms.

The board also withdrew a resolution last month that would have required charters to give 18 months’ warning and return public funds. It’s unclear if the board will be reconsidering that resolution.

When it came to the Acero closures, the CTU found itself in an odd position: It historically has opposed privatization and thus charter schools, but it also opposes school closings and represents staff at Acero.

Ahead of next week’s vote, CTU leaders, families and charter school staff gathered Thursday outside Acero’s Tamayo Elementary in Gage Park to share their report’s findings and demand more oversight of charter schools.

CTU Vice President Jackson Potter said the report shined a light on “the shadowy practices of the charter industry,” accusing them of “hoarding public dollars for public gain.”

“They are trying to slash school budgets that harm educators, that harm students and harm families,” Potter said. “We can’t have unaccountable tyrannies like companies that run schools but don’t pay attention to the voices that are supposed to benefit from those institutions.”

CTU researchers said at least six charter school operators have millions of dollars in reserves, including Acero. The CTU wants CPS to require the charters to return that money should they close.

The union also aimed criticism at nine charter school operators that took Paycheck Protection Program loans during the pandemic despite CPS funding continuing unabated.

At least one charter school operator was able to use a PPP loan to help it finance a building, the report said. If a school were to close, there are questions about which entity would retain ownership of the building if it was constructed using public dollars.

Lucy Salgado, mother of third and fifth graders at Tamayo, said Acero leaders were quick to inform their financial stakeholders before announcing last year’s school closures but didn’t extend that courtesy to parents. 

“Acero told us they were closing our schools with no warning, no conversation, nothing,” Salgado said. “The report proves what we live. Charter companies take public money but act like private businesses. They close schools suddenly with no explanation, and its students and families pay the price.

“The Board of Education stepped in but now they have to make sure no other families go through this,” Salgado said. 

Broy dismissed the CTU report, calling it “more of the same, just trying to use charter public schools as the scapegoat for their ill-informed policies.”

He argued that charter schools are already held to higher standards than other schools by having to regularly meet renewal conditions. He said CPS shouldn’t micromanage charter schools.

Broy said charters should be judged on three criteria: student achievement, proper board governance and financial management that keeps schools viable and stable.