Type: Title:
Committee(s) Assignment:
Resolution
Call on Illinois State Board of Education and Chicago Board of Education to jointly impose moratorium on charter school expansion for 2015-2016 school year Committee on Education and Child Development
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Chicago Public School system (CPS) is currently in the midst of significant financial strain having recently passed an annual budget that has an operating deficit of $500 million dollars, and
WHEREAS, there have been more than 1000 layoffs in district-run schools in the last 3 months, with special education and bilingual education the most impacted among others, and
WHEREAS, CPS, like every other Illinois school district is legally required to accept applications for new charter schools; and
WHEREAS, the Illinois State Board of Education can and has granted charter school licenses over the objection of CPS; and
WHEREAS, it is not sound fiscal policy to fund the creation of any additional charter schools during a fiscal crisis when expenditures significantly overshadow revenue; so
WHEREAS, An independent analysis of CPS data by parent organization Raise Your Hand - Illinois has shown that there are more than 12000 un-filled charter school "seats" available, so
BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the undersigned members of the Chicago City Council do hereby express our desire for the Illinois State Board of Education and Chicago Board of Education to jointly impose a moratorium on charter school expansion for the 2015-2016 school year, and conduct a comprehensive study of long term facility and school programming needs as required by state law (IL P.A. 97-0474-as amended) through the mandated revision of the Chicago Public Schools' Educational Facilities Master Plan, a draft of which must be made public by CPS by January 2016; and provides the City Council and the public with a plan to bring CPS' financial balance sheet to long term stability.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be...
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