CPS to shut down financially distressed ASPIRA campuses, scattering students to new schools

Chicago Public Schools officials told leaders of the ASPIRA charter school network Wednesday night that the district is transferring students out of their two high schools for the remainder of the school year.

This is an unprecedented move by the school district that will disrupt the education of some 545 students.

CPS officials told the financially distressed charter network that it was taking this action to “safeguard students’ educational stability” and to make sure it’s complying with state and federal laws. ASPIRA has been relying on cash advances from CPS to make payroll, but the state limits how much CPS can do that.

“To be clear, CPS is not revoking ASPIRA’s charter at this time, but is moving forward with a student transition process as oversight, due to the emergency situation created by ASPIRA’s failure to demonstrate financial sustainability, which places the education of ASPIRA’s students at risk,” CPS told ASPIRA’s board president David Rodriguez and other ASPIRA board members in a letter.

Seniors from ASPIRA’s two high schools will be at the CPS board meeting Thursday to try to convince members to change their minds. Just last month, some board members said they were reluctant to keep giving ASPIRA cash advances, even as they sympathize with how this decision impacts students.

Eighteen-year-old Angeline Melody Solis said she wants the board to keep that top of mind.

“We don't control the money and where the money goes so it really sucks that at the end of the day, we face the most consequences,” she told WBEZ in an interview Wednesday. “The students have so many concerns about college and their credits. There's just so many things that should have been taken into account, besides the money.”

CPS officials made this decision after they gave ASPIRA a Tuesday deadline to find outside funding to make it through the school year and to submit a financial plan for the future. ASPIRA responded by saying it was trying to get a bridge loan and would fundraise, according to documents provided to WBEZ by CPS.

ASPIRA leaders also demanded that CPS give the charter network four years of retroactive funding to make up for what ASPIRA’s leaders believe is a chronic underfunding of all charter schools.

CPS officials rejected this, saying there is no way to give back funding once the budget for past years is closed. They also said that ASPIRA’s response to CPS’ demands were insufficient.

The back-and-forth between ASPRIA and CPS has been going on for months, with both sides blaming each other for the network’s financial problems.

CPS contracts with private organizations to run charter schools and, at the recommendation of CPS leaders, board members renewed ASPIRA’s contract in April 2025.

As it did with many recent charter renewals, CPS gave ASPIRA a shorter two-year contract and imposed several conditions, including that it participate in a “financial remediation” program that requires the network to submit monthly cash flow statements so the district can conduct additional oversight.

But the charter network had financial struggles throughout the school year. In November, WBEZ and the Sun-Times previously reported, CPS sent ASPIRA a letter after a months-long investigation blasting the charter network’s leadership for “a failure of governance” and “a lack of financial proficiency necessary to successfully run a school.”

ASPIRA’s executive director Edgar Lopez responded that the charter school network did not have enough money to make payroll through the end of the school year. He said the charter network needed $4.5 million.

CPS has given ASPIRA $2.25 million in cash advances “to support payroll and continuity of student services,” according to CPS.

But, when Lopez announced last month that he needed even more to get through the school year, board members pushed back that it would be against the law to continue sending the charter network extra funding.

State law requires school districts to give charters between 97% and 103% of what they provide for district-run schools. CPS would be over that limit if it kept advancing ASPIRA money.

Board members also said they worried about the precedent they were setting.

In just the last two years, four private organizations with contracts to run public schools in Chicago have said they no longer want to operate them.

Charter schools’ budgets are closely tied to student enrollment and, with an overall decline in the CPS student population, charters are having trouble filling their seats. ASPIRA has the CPS permission to admit up to 1,600 students at its two high schools, but this year started out with less than 600. Charter school operators also cite other issues that have added to their financial troubles, including rising labor costs.

Board members are taking over management of the Chicago High School for the Arts and five schools run by the Acero Schools charter network. But CPS is letting two other Acero schools and a small Southeast Side charter school called EPIC close.