CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools has filed lawsuits against the Illinois Charter Commission after the state agency forced CPS to keep open three charter schools.
CPS planned to close Amandla Charter High School in Englewood, Betty Shabazz-Barabara A. Sizemore Academy in Greater Grand Crossing and Bronzeville Lighthouse Charter in Bronzeville, but the State Charter School Commission voted to save the charters at a March 1 meeting.
The schools were underperforming, critics said, and CPS proposed sending students to alternate schools if the charters were closed.
The commission dismissed those plans at the March 1 meeting, and groups like Raise Your Hand, a public education advocacy group, criticized CPS for using a "flawed" system to try to shutter the schools.
But the commission put "politics ahead of what's right for our students," and CPS has sued, CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said in a statement sent out Wednesday. Keeping the charters open and state-run would mean a $13 million loss in funding for CPS, the school system said.
CPS' lawsuits will argue that the commission cannot issue charters to failing schools, that it disregarded requirements in the State Charter Law and it cannot making a ruling on closing a campus or transferring a charter "without local consent," according to CPS.
RELATED: State Saves 3 Charter Schools Despite CPS' Effort to Close Them
“The Illinois Charter Commission ignored its own academic standards to keep three poor-performing schools open, despite their clear records of failing students who deserve a quality education," Claypool said.
The state's decision meant CPS will no longer receive state funds meant for the schools, with the money going from the state board directly to the charters, and the district will no longer oversee the schools.
State-authorized charter schools receive more money per-pupil than CPS' neighborhood or charter schools, according to CPS, and the funding is deducted from the general aid CPS gets from the state. That could add up to about $13 million lost from CPS' general state aid next fiscal year, CPS said.
The Illinois Network of Charter Schools criticized the lawsuits, saying they were premature as the three charter schools still haven't met the commission's conditions for remaining open. The schools are still looking for places they can open since CPS is planning to cancel their leases, according to the network.
"One thing the city doesn't need is additional litigation, especially litigation that threatens to drag on for months and create more uncertainty," the network said in a statement released Thursday. "Now is the time to seek resolutions to the myriad problems facing the district rather than instigating new conflicts."
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