Only 6 of the 10 new charter schools initially approved by the Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees this year are scheduled to open on the first day of school next week as originally planned because of problems locating adequate school buildings.
The North River Preparatory, Enterprise, I Have a Dream and Student Builders Schools will not open on Aug. 28 because they failed to obtain leases or had other problems in finding a suitable building, said Greg Richmond, the district official who oversees charter schools. Currently, 1,885 students have enrolled in the six schools.
Richmond said the district has developed better guidelines and a more comprehensive application process this year for those organizations interested in opening a charter school.
“Next time around we’re going to ask a lot more questions of the owners of the buildings to determine the availability of the building,” Richmond said. “We have a much better understanding of what needs to happen than we did a year ago.”
Despite the setback, charter school advocates plowed ahead with planning for additional Chicago charter schools at a workshop held last Saturday at the University of Illinois at Chicago. At the meeting–sponsored by the board and the Leadership for Quality Education, a business-backed organization that supports charter schools–representatives of 31 organizations gathered applications and information about how to vie for the nine charters for the 1998-99 school year. The deadline for the applications is Oct. 6.
Illinois–which has authorized the formation of 45 charter schools, including 15 in Chicago–is one of 26 states that allow for charter schools. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 450 charter schools were open in the previous school year and 770 are expected to be operating this fall. Other states with charter schools include Minnesota, California, Arizona, Michigan, Massachusetts and Texas.
Charter laws allow teachers and community organizations to ask states or school districts for permission to open a new school. If approved, they receive the same amount of operating funds per student paid directly to the districts. The schools are generally exempt from bureaucratic red tape and union contracts. However, they are held accountable for management and academic success and must submit annual reports to the board on the school’s financial status, academic performance and standardized test scores.
The scheduled opening of only six schools this fall does not bode well for charter school planners. When school officials accepted applications for 38 charter schools last year, they stressed that they would only grant charters to schools with solid budgets and building plans.
But John Ayers, executive director of the Leadership for Quality Education, said the failed opening of the schools is a reflection of the board’s adherence to rigid guidelines, not poor planning.
“It’s good that the board pulled the plug, because those schools did not open with inadequate facilities,” Ayers said. “It’s exactly what you want. You want to work with the schools to make sure they can pull it off.”
The development of charter schools is part of the district’s overall plan for school reform established in 1995 after the state gave Mayor Richard Daley the power to create the Reform Board and appoint a new chief to run the district.
Ted Kolderie, a writer and researcher who helped push for laws in Minnesota creating the nation’s first charter schools, said Chicago’s board is one of the few that supports charter schools. Kolderie said many school boards want to control funding and policy for all of the schools in their districts.
“Chicago is unusual,” Kolderie said. “School districts tend to be passive to negative. There is a very traditional attitude among regular school board members that `we own and run the schools, we do not want autonomous schools.’ “
The six schools scheduled to open later this month each have 5-year contracts with the board.
They are: the Academy of Communications & Technology, at 4319 W. Washington Blvd.; ACORN, at 2414 S. Albany Ave.; Chicago Prep, at 4731 S. Ellis Ave.; Perspectives, at 1532 S. Michigan Ave.; Chicago International (SABIS) with two branches at 2235 N. Hamilton Ave. and 1309 W. 95th St.; and Triumphant, at 4949 S. Seeley Ave.
