Where 14 candidates for mayor stand on charter schools — their full responses

Fourteen of the candidates for mayor responded to our question about the future of charter schools in Chicago. We asked: What is the appropriate role of charter schools within the Chicago Public Schools system?

Here are their full responses, in the order we received them:

JOHN KENNETH KOZLAR

The following steps should take place in education when it comes to school selection: 1. Let the parent(s) and student pick the school that he or she will like to attend, 2. Let the principal pick his or her teachers with the LSC members in that specific school, 3. Let the best schools remain for all of our students. Competition within our education system is much needed, so that schools in every area can be good schools. Some students simply may not want to attend a public school or a charter school, so we should make it possible for them to receive the best education as possible. Our current problem is that we force children to attend under-performing schools, because of economic and environmental barriers. The bad schools need phase out, with the good schools flourishing all across Chicago. With holding our individual schools accountable, there will be less and less of low-performing schools in the system.

LORI LIGHTFOOT

I support a freeze on new charter schools. We must hold existing charter schools accountable for educating our children just as we do Chicago Public Schools. We must change the relationship between CPS and charters. Charters play a significant role in the education of our children, but CPS’ approach is often to treat charters like just another vendor. That must change.

PAUL VALLAS

Charter schools are public schools without some of the State and local collective bargaining restrictions that impede their ability to do innovative things that can help improve education services. They are also vehicles to expand school choices for families that do not have the means to secure other options. The problem in Chicago is the way the City has used Charter schools. The Renaissance 2010 program, initiated in 2004, was designed to close almost one hundred neighborhood schools and reopened them as charter schools without guaranteeing that the displaced children could return to their neighborhood schools. Later as CPS enrollment declined the district continued to open new charter schools with no thought to its impact on neighborhood schools or the growing overcapacity of the school district. While I was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, I only opened 15 charter schools. When I left the District after six consecutive years of increased enrollment, we had 558 schools and over 435,000 students. Today the district has one hundred more schools and over seventy thousand fewer students. At this time, I would not support the opening of new schools of any type until the district has a long-term plan to deal with over capacity. With over 120 charters, I would support existing high performing charters taking over failing existing charter schools with “no displacement of children” and would under certain circumstances support the opening of a new charter to address the needs of displaced students who are currently not being served.

TONI PRECKWINKLE

During the last administration, charters have become a weapon for corporate privatization of education. Given the scandals that occurred around Uno, Noble and other networks, it’s time to stop the expansion of school privatization so we can focus our efforts on improving oversight and ensuring that all our schools treat families, students, and teachers with respect. I support a freeze on any new charter schools until a fully elected school board can be implemented.

DOROTHY BROWN

I have never been a proponent of charter schools because they have contributed to a reduction in enrollment and closing of Chicago Public Schools, and diverted funds that should have been dedicated to a higher quality public education for all children. However, since charter schools exist, and those workers are charged with teaching and caring for some of the children of Chicago, it’s important they are well-trained, well-supported and well-compensated to prepare students for their roles as citizens, providers and workers. Therefore, it is appropriate for teachers at charter schools to organize into unions as needed so that they will receive the support they deserve from unions, and be treated fairly by school administrators and elected officials.

GERY CHICO

It is no secret that I have been involved with and helped found many charter schools throughout the city. I believe charter schools can be an effective tool to address situational needs in individual neighborhoods. Recent events have cast doubt on many of the city’s charter schools, and I would order a full review of all charters before opening new ones.

LA SHAWN FORD

Charter schools, and selective enrollment schools, can be excellent, and I believe they are more like public schools than many people know. Nevertheless, some of them have seemed to weaken our neighborhood schools and contributed to the current epidemic of closures. Charter schools can create a view that neighborhood schools are the selection of last resort. This seems to have, in cases, weakened our neighborhood public schools, and contributed to the epidemic of school closures. We may have enough charter schools for now, and we need renewed attention to our neighborhood schools. What has in the past been seen as schools that are “chronically low-performing” do not, and never needed closure. They need to asset-based scientific evaluation, holistic best practices, and caring attention. Some schools need repurposing, such as additional room for mental health services and other programs, and innovative ideas the students, parents, and the teachers desire. Still, other neighborhoods require new schools such as the new comprehensive high school in Austin that I have worked hard on as state representative.

JERRY JOYCE

Nationwide charter schools in large part resulted from the dissatisfaction with the public school system. The question is, does Chicago want a neighborhood public school system? I am in favor of that. Presently enrollment in CPS is 290,000 and approximately 75,000 students are enrolled in charter schools, 80,000 attend parochial schools and 4,000 – 5,000 are homeschooled. I am in favor of strengthening neighborhood schools I believe every neighborhood should have a viable public school option. Having said that, charter schools that utilize innovative educational programs, such as Waldorf Education, can be an appropriate alternative for parents. However, to avoid unfair competition with neighborhood schools, the field should be leveled. Things like residency requirements and administrative pay should be subject to similar regulations as traditional CPS schools.

SUSANA MENDOZA

I believe that we need to first prioritize our neighborhood schools and ensure that we have a comprehensive conversation that includes every stakeholder in our school system to help shape the future of the district together and best serve every student in CPS regardless of where they live and the school they attend. I support the work that CTU did to negotiate a charter school cap in their contract. And, I support the right of teachers to organize in charter schools.

While my focus will be on empowering CPS principals and teachers, charter schools have historically played a role in testing new educational models that, if successful, can be scaled to larger districts. Charters can remain a piece of that overall strategy when needed, as long as they are held accountable to the same high standards and do not divert resources from our neighborhood schools.

AMARA ENYIA

Privatization shifts the various duties of government from the public sector to private, for-profit entities.

Rather than private sector on-ramps that use public resources to generate profit (to the detriment of predominantly underserved children of color) charter schools are most appropriate for piloting and evaluating education innovation approaches that increase education quality.

The charter school model of education is a product of privatizing what was previously a government-provided public good. In poor communities of color, the provision of charters is based on the faulty notion that expensive public-sector bureaucracy and unqualified union-protected personnel are to blame for underperforming schools and students. And what started out as cost-saving, performance enhancing pilots unencumbered by governmental standards, rules and policies, have morphed into scantly-monitored education models of operation where corporate profit and shareholder returns on investment take priority over resource availability, academic performance, and future preparedness of students of color to remain competitive.

Chicago Public Schools seemingly favors pulling the plug on public education as we know it in favor of a “school reform” system. This new system prioritizes public money being put into private pockets over one that adequately prepares predominantly poor, Black and Brown kids to compete for 21st century top tier

employment and job creation opportunities. This approach to public education gives up on first-class, top-tier education for all children while allocating contracts in the form of charter school designations.

With few exceptions, the reliance on charter school education, as a standard (rather than experimental) education model, submits to a two-tiered, millennial remix version of “separate and unequal”: except this time, class bias is baked into it as much as racial bias.

WILLIE WILSON

With the recent horrific revelation that over 500 of our children have been sexually abused in our schools under the noses of our ‘professional educators’, it is clear that we have a failed school system and the basic concept of keeping our children safe while in our charge has not been fulfilled. Clearly we need a complete overhaul of our system as well as our expectations and accountability.

I would, in a similar manner as the CPD, involve the communities with the Board of Education and an elected School Board to determine which of the 50 schools closed by Rahm should be reopened or rebuilt and like other departments, participate in forming the direction of all major decisions. Community based parent organizations in conjunction with an elected school board and the CPS staff will determine the proper number, size, location and staffing of each school and each community. This include curriculum design. I also expect that community driving issues such as ‘pryer in school’ would be properly discussed and decided jointly by the educators and the parents.

It will then be the responsibility of my administration to find the funds and implement the plans. The issuance of debt for a fairly developed school system plan is a higher priority use of financing than is public debt for private business expansion such as gates at O’Hare or a new sports stadium, these examples are often unaffordable/unusable by a large portion of our citizens.

The State of Illinois announced that Chicago Public Schools must turn over control of its special education program to the Illinois State Board of Education. The board voted to appoint a monitor who will have final say on all policies and budget plans related to special education for the 52,000 with disabilities , children with learning issues and physical handicaps need a properly run school system.

The CPS analysis released Friday breaks down 16 regions of the city, and shows South Side and West Side neighborhoods have the lowest concentrations of highly rated elementary and high school programs. All of the schools in a large North Side region defined by CPS as Greater Lincoln Park have the district’s highest performance ratings. In one West Side region, however, only 35 percent of the schools achieve those high ratings.

Citywide, 45 percent of black students attend Level 1 or 1-plus schools, while 91 percent of white students attend the top rated schools.

BOB FIORETTI

Charter schools have a role to play in that parents who are unhappy with their educational choices should have an opportunity to choose a different school for their children. I support, however, the current recommendation for a moratorium on new charter school applications until at least a new Mayor has been chosen and a comprehensive education strategy can be implemented.

BILL DALEY

It’s time to move beyond the debate of charters vs. traditional public schools and recognize that they are all public schools. Parents just want a good school and the debate should focus on what is in the best interests of kids. Charter schools offer different learning options for families. They offer laboratories of innovation from which the traditional system can learn. There are over 150,000 open seats in CPS, and 60,000 open seats in tier 1 schools. We should be working together to give as many kids as possible the best educational fit close to home, whether it is traditional neighborhood schools, charters, magnets, or schools with a special focus, including ARTS, STEM, dual languages or IB.

GARRY MCCARTHY

My views on charter schools have evolved since I’ve observed more labor union involvement in charter school employee negotiations. I now believe that charter schools can be good neighborhood schools, especially in communities where neighborhood schools have been closed.