Chicago Public Schools announced recently that the district is not looking for new charters to open in fall 2015, but will proceed opening up to seven charter schools that were already approved. Since 2012 and including the year the district approved closing a record 50 neighborhood schools, CPS has opened 31 new charter schools.
Charter enrollment has grown rapidly since 2000, increasing by more than nine times from 5,400 students to nearly 49,000 in 2013 at about 120 schools — or about 12 percent of all public school enrollment. Student enrollment in traditional public schools fell during those years to about 345,000 from about 426,000.
The report also cites Chicago Sun-Times stories analysis, which found that in 2013, neighborhood elementary schools had higher growth on standardized tests notably in reading over charter schools, and that CPS had a higher percentage of elementary students who exceeded the standards on state tests for reading and math than charters.
The Chicago Teachers Union has argued that charter schools siphon money from already struggling traditional public schools, but the union could not be reached for comment on Monday, the Columbus Day holiday.
CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey also could not immediately reached.
Article Appeared @http://blackstarjournal.org/?p=4411