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Chicago Public Schools officials are urging the school board to absorb one independently operated high school facing closure into the district and wind down another one after this school year.
The recommendations come after officials at EPIC Academy, a South Side charter school, and ChiArts, a West Side contract school, both announced they no longer planned to operate the schools, citing financial difficulties. Leaders at both schools suggested CPS keep the campuses going as district-run campuses, as the district is doing with five Acero schools the network had slated for closure.
School district officials want the board to vote later this month to preserve ChiArts as a district-run school, but they are recommending the board let EPIC Academy close at the end of 2025-26 and make a plan to transition its students and staff to other campuses.
At Wednesday’s school board meeting, some members decried the string of recent decisions by charter and contract school operators to stop operating campuses. Some urged district officials to do their best to minimize disruption for students and to engage the school communities in finding solutions.
At a Tuesday press conference, the Chicago Teachers Union, which represents educators at Acero, EPIC, and ChiArts, called for a state investigation into why these schools have foundered financially, often within months of receiving renewal by the district. The union, which has been a vocal critic of charter schools, forcefully pushed to avert the Acero closures.
Earlier this year, the school board passed a resolution to increase oversight of charter schools and embrace a more stringent process for deciding whether to renew them.
But Andrew Broy, head of the advocacy group Illinois Network of Charter Schools, said in an interview with Chalkbeat there is no evidence of financial mismanagement at Acero or EPIC. He said “unaffordable” educator contracts the CTU negotiated at these schools and CPS underfunding coupled with enrollment dips made the campuses financially unsustainable.
“It’s a rich irony that the CTU organized some charters, forced on them structurally unaffordable contracts, and then complains when they are forced to close,” Broy said.
Megan Pietz, a fifth-year teacher at ChiArts and CTU leader who rallied outside the school Tuesday, said union contracts should not be blamed for contributing to the independent board not seeking renewal.
“If you cannot afford to figure out how to pay people a living wage with the same public tax dollars that Chicago Public Schools can figure out how to pay people a living wage with, then you probably shouldn’t be in the business of public education,” Pietz said.
At the Thursday meeting, district officials also rejected the suggestion that information — including about sketchy fiscal practices — had been withheld from the board. Alfonso Carmona, the district’s chief portfolio officer, said federal COVID relief dollars and a practice of holding charter budgets harmless amid enrollment drops helped EPIC weather dramatic enrollment losses until this fall. CPS ended that practice this year, and a grant the school was counting on did not materialize in time, Carmona said, and neither did an offer on a building the school tried to sell.
“This is the same as me losing my job and not being able to pay my mortgage,” he said.
Still, said school board member Yesenia Lopez, “It honestly breaks my heart that we’re having these conversations again.” She added, about renewing EPIC this past spring: “There was information that wasn’t shared with us.”
Parents called on the board to save their schools
The announcements at EPIC Academy and ChiArts this fall set off anxiety among students and parents and a scramble to advocate for the continued existence of their schools.
On Wednesday, numerous students, parents, and educators at both schools pleaded with the school board to avert their closures. Several parents spoke about moving their families to Chicago from the suburbs or out of state so their children could attend ChiArts, the city’s only public school that combines college prep academics with an arts conservatory model.
“What happens at ChiArts is something magical, therapeutic really,” said parent Aracely Madrigal, adding her daughter found a supportive environment there after some staff and peers at a former school refused to use her preferred pronouns and name. “I can say without exaggeration that this school saves lives.”
At the CTU’s Tuesday event outside ChiArts, Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps, a former teacher and CTU employee whose district includes ChiArts, said the decision by ChiArts to not seek renewal is destabilizing for the community.
“This is what happens when education is treated like a hustle,” Stamps said. “When it’s transactional, instead of a public good, when decisions about our children’s futures are made behind closed doors at big tables with people who will never see these babies’ faces, who will never walk down these hallways, who will never see their artistry and their brilliance.”
Brooklynn Rodgers, a junior visual arts student majoring in sculpture at ChiArts, asked CPS to find a way to keep the school open.
“Don’t take this community away from us,” Rogers said. “Don’t take this away from the city or for the next generation who haven’t found their way to express their boldness.”
Broy, at the charter network, said Tuesday that CPS has put a strain on charter school budgets by imposing a 3% administrative fee and withholding dollars for employee pension costs.
The network has also recently raised concerns with the district about changes to the GoCPS application used by families to attend a school other than their zoned one. Broy said the system makes families less likely to choose charter schools because the default does not show families charters unless they specifically search them by name. Broy said this has hurt charter enrollment, which impacts these schools’ budgets because they’re more reliant on student numbers compared to district run schools. The GoCPS application is currently open, and families have until Nov. 14 to apply and rank the schools they want to attend next school year.
Charter schools have lost enrollment in recent years, mirroring the districtwide trends.
In the case of Acero, four out of the five schools the district opted to adopt experienced dramatic declines in enrollment this fall, coming on the heels of previous student losses there. The district earmarked $20 million in its 2025-26 budget to help with the transition of these schools to district management. District officials said the move will require staff to reapply for their jobs next school year, which several teachers spoke against at Wednesday’s meeting.
Some board members want to engage with school communities before votes
Carmona stressed that absorbing a charter or contract school is a complex process of bringing these campuses into compliance with numerous district requirements that these independently run schools do not have to meet, including that all their teachers be licensed educators. Absorbing ChiArts will involve an added roughly $2.5 million to operate the school’s art conservatory, which is currently funded by the school’s foundation.
“These are effectively new schools that we’re opening,” he said.
Carmona said the board should vote at their Oct. 23 meeting so that families have certainty and so students will know whether or not to apply to these schools next school year. The GoCPS application is currently open, and families have until Nov. 14 to apply and rank the schools they want to attend next school year.
Board members urged the board to keep ChiArts going and to look for a way to keep EPIC families and teachers together at another area school. Some members such as Ed Bannon urged the district to seek input from the two schools’ families before the vote later this month. Carmona argued that the board must first decide if the CPS will absorb the schools.
Member Ebony DeBerry raised the possibility of finding new independent operators for either school, though Carmona argued this would be a tall order on such a short notice. Member Carlos Rivas said all families want to keep their schools open.
“But there are realities in terms of what’s possible for us to do,” he said. “We need to work with communities to understand what we can do together.”
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
