CPS charter school faces insolvency by March, and most board members question if it should be saved

The majority of Chicago school board members seem prepared to allow a charter school network in financial distress to close mid-year — something unheard of in the district and would leave more than 570 high school students in a precarious position.

These board members say they are not inclined to save the Aspira charter school network, which has informed the school district that it needs $4.8 million from CPS to stay open through the end of the school year. Aspira CEO Edgar Lopez says he will no longer be able to make payroll starting in mid-March.

In a letter to interim CEO/Supt. Macquline King, 13 of the 21 board members didn’t seem keen on Aspira’s request for a lifeline. They called it “unprecedented” and said it would violate a state law that limits the amount school districts can provide charters.

The board members urged the district to prepare for the “reality” of the charter operator’s potential insolvency and come up with a plan to allow the community to stay together as they leave for other nearby schools, as well as minimize disruptions to students’ educations.

CPS officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The charter network runs two high schools — Aspira Business and Finance High School and Aspira Early College High School — both in Avondale on the Northwest Side. Together, they have about 570 students. Aspira also runs a third school, an alternative school that re-enrolls dropouts, through Youth Connection Charter School. It is unclear how these students might be impacted by a potential closure.

“If Aspira closes, we are not the ones closing Aspira, Aspira’s actions and Aspira's plans and Aspira's decisions are what is closing that school,” said Debby Pope, a board member representing a North Side district.

Board member Norma Rios-Sierra, whose district includes both Aspira high school campuses, acknowledged the dire situation for the charter network and said she’s spoken with principals at other nearby schools about supporting Aspira students.

“We have come to a space where the very real reality is we are going to possibly see a mid-year closure,” Rios-Sierra said at a Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday.

One parent told the Sun-Times that she is preparing to transfer her freshman out of Aspira Early College. “I’m done with it,” said Edith Villasenor, noting that the turmoil has dampened her son's excitement about school.

But Lopez said he doesn’t “see” CPS allowing schools to close down mid-year, though he admitted, “I don’t control it. I can’t say for sure what’s going to happen.”

Lopez warned CPS in November that the charter network couldn’t make it to the end of the year without $5 million in additional revenue. District officials rejected that request, instead giving Aspira a $750,000 cash advance and sending a letter accusing the network of a “failure of governance” and a “lack of financial proficiency necessary" to run a school.

Lopez said his network is suffering from CPS’ chronic underfunding of charter schools and declining enrollment. In an interview Tuesday, he pointed out that CPS has a lot of underenrolled schools that get more money per student than those with healthy enrollment. Lopez said he is putting together a list to prove this to CPS officials.

Board members, though, seem to be growing weary of having to bail out charter schools, several of which are struggling with declining enrollment and rising costs.

Last year, the school board voted to take over five charter schools and let two close. And in November the CPS board voted to turn the privately run, publicly funded Chicago High School for the Arts into a district-run magnet school after its operator didn’t renew its contract with the district due to financial deficits.

Many members of the board are generally against school closings, citing the harm caused to students, but they are allowing a small charter school in South Chicago to close in June.

The letter signed by the 13 board members demanded the district improve its oversight and renewal system for charter school contracts.