The Chicago Board of Education voted Thursday to renew the contracts of 16 charter schools set to expire at the end of June.
The district used a revised evaluation process to assess schools based on four criteria: academic performance, financial performance, inclusive programming and equitable systems and organizational compliance.
Seven of the 16 schools up for renewal were new to the district’s revised process, and all received a contract renewal recommendation shorter than their prior contracts.
“This is not about penalizing them this is about giving them the different conditions,” CPS Chief Portfolio Officer Alfonso Carmona said. “Our job is to support them along the way. These 50,000 students are our babies.”
“There’s more to economic development than tax breaks and subsidies for private projects,” Martinez said. “In my view, the cornerstone of any truly equitable, sustainable, economic development strategy is a fully funded public education system to nurture our homegrown talent and to attract new families to our city… At the end of the day, we all want the same things for CPS and our students. We want to fully fund our schools, we want to protect the progress that our students have made, and we want to keep the momentum going into the future.”
The charter school renewal process typically takes place in January or February, but was delayed when the hybrid, elected and appointed board members took their seats earlier this year. The four-month delay is “unprecedented,” Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, told the Tribune Wednesday. “It’s never been this late in the 30-year history of charters in Illinois,” according to Broy, who called the holdup an example of “shoddy authorizing.”
Charter schools should be given a much more transparent renewal process and “the ability to earn longer renewal terms,” Broy said, both of which the board hasn’t afforded schools in the last several months.
However, INCS is advocating for three-year minimums. Anything less than that is “never appropriate” as it places charter operators on a “perpetual renewal treadmill” while not allowing them the opportunity to focus on improvement, Broy told the Tribune Wednesday.
INCS recommends that “high-performing” charter schools should be granted seven to ten-year renewals, and schools that meet academic performance standards should be renewed for five to six years. Schools that need improvement should be renewed for three to four years, with no school receiving less than that, Broy recommended. Doing otherwise, Broy said, would be “contrary to what’s best for students.”
Charter renewals have become a contentious topic in recent months following Acero Schools Inc. announcement last fall that it would be closing seven of its schools at the end of the current school year. While the board voted in December to save all threatened schools, the school board voted in April to reduce the number to five. Consequently, Acero’s Octavio Paz School and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz School will close at the end of the school year.
The Chicago Teachers Union has since called for increased oversight of charter school operators following the backstep to protect other families from the same fate. The union has come out in support of a resolution introduced by District 7 board member Yesenia Lopez calling for improvements to the board’s charter renewal process.
The resolution, which passed with 15 board members voting in favor and 5 abstaining, requires charter operators to notify the district at least six to 18 months prior to closing schools, depending on how many years schools’ contracts were renewed for.
“We need accountability and oversight on these operators so they cannot continue to destroy school communities when they are no longer profitable,” Andrea Chavarin, a bilingual first grade teacher at Acero, said. “This board has the responsibility to hold these operators accountable to the communities they serve. We must prevent another charter from doing what Acero has done to us.”
Jodie Cantrell, INCS’ Chief of Public Affairs, called the resolution the latest in a “long line of baseless attacks on charter schools.” Rather than being about students, Cantrell claimed the resolution to be about “power and control.” All that would come from it would be confusion, instability and a lack of accountability to families, who would be most affected, she said.
“Charter schools are public schools, that fact is clear in state law,” Cantrell said. “They are part of CPS and serve over 55,000 students, the vast majority of whom are Black and brown, low-income and first-generation college students. These families deserve respect and not the political gains. They deserve options and not ultimatums. It’s time for a different conversation in our city, one focused on what works for kids.”
The charters’ renewal vote followed outgoing schools’ CEO Pedro Martinez final remarks imploring the board, Mayor Brandon Johnson, and the Chicago City Council, to come together for students’ sake to use tax increminal financing or “TIFs” to shore up the $529 million deficit Chicago Public Schools is facing in the upcoming school year.
“There’s more to economic development than tax breaks and subsidies for private projects,” Martinez said. “In my view, the cornerstone of any truly equitable, sustainable, economic development strategy is a fully funded public education system to nurture our homegrown talent and to attract new families to our city… At the end of the day, we all want the same things for CPS and our students. We want to fully fund our schools, we want to protect the progress that our students have made, and we want to keep the momentum going into the future.”
Thursday’s monthly board meeting marked the last for CEO Pedro Martinez, whose last day as schools chief is June 18. The outgoing CEO was tapped to become the next commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Delivering a tearful farewell, Martinez thanked the teachers who supported him during his time as a CPS student and those who supported him during his tenure as CEO over the last four years.
“I want everybody to know that Chicago and CPS will always be in my heart,” Martinez said. “I will never stop advocating for CPS students and I thank the entire CPS community for the gift of the past four years. It’s truly been an honor of a lifetime.”
Several board members thanked Martinez for his time leading the district, applauding him for his various efforts and navigating the turmoil that enveloped the district for several months last year.
The board voted unanimously to terminate Martinez in December, after the CEO refused Mayor Brandon Johnson’s request to pull a $300 million short-term loan to fund the CTU’s contract and cover pension payments.
“You’ll be remembered for your integrity,” District 4 board member Ellen Rosenfield said. “For doing what was right, no matter what other people said. You’re going to be missed. Massachusetts’ gain is no doubt Chicago Public Schools’ loss.”