CHICAGO (CBS) — The Chicago Board of Education has passed a new resolution aimed at pressuring charter school operator Acero Schools to keep seven of its schools open.
Charter schools like Acero’s are privately run but publicly funded.
Acero announced plans to close seven schools last month—Bartolomé de las Casas, 1641 W. 16th St.; Sandra Cisneros, 2744 W. Pershing Rd.; Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz K-12, 7416 N. Ridge Blvd.; Carlos Fuentes, 2345 W. Barry Ave.; Octavio Paz, 2651 W. 23rd St.; Esmeralda Santiago, 2510 W. Cortez St.; and Rufino Tamayo, 5135 S. California Ave.
Acero attributed the planned closures to financial problems.
Thursday’s resolution demands that Acero come before the board to explain the reasons and discuss alternatives.
After Thursday’s vote, representatives of the Chicago Teachers Union said they support the measure.
“The hope this gives us is that CPS will look at Acero’s finances – how they have mismanaged their funds – and ensure that there is a place where these schools can remain open,” said Caroline Rutherford, vice chair of the Charter Division for the Chicago Teachers Union.
In a statement, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools blamed the union for Acero’s financial problems.
“The unfortunate reality at Acero Schools is that the challenges have been created entirely by the CTU’s exorbitant budget demands and its decision to enforce a strike at the schools several years ago,” the network said. ‘Acero Schools’ is the same story, on a smaller scale, playing out in the Chicago Public Schools today: declining enrollment, a huge budget deficit, no new revenue and an exorbitant proposed labor contract by the CTU that will leave CPS in debt for years end up. “
The school board cannot force Acero to keep schools open.
