Democracy in Illinois. One unelected group overrules another unelected group on charter schools.
Some politicians, like 40th District State Representative Jaime Andrade, may prefer having their sponsorship of HB4268 on their campaign flyer without having to vote for it.
The Illinois Charter School Commission was established in 2011. Its membersare nominated by the governor and appointed by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
This unelected group has the power to overrule a local school board on charter school applications.
Everywhere in Illinois outside of Chicago it means the Illinois Charter Commission can usurp local control of schools, authorize a charter school after it has been denied authorization by the local community and then force the local community to pay for the school.
In Chicago we don’t have local control of our schools. Our CPS school board is appointed by the Mayor.
Chicago remains the only school district in Illinois with an unelected school board.
Yesterday we saw what democracy looks like in Chicago, where one unelected group overruled another unelected group. The SCSC ordered that three failing Chicago charter schools must remain open.
Three charter schools the School Board sought to close for poor performance won a reprieve Tuesday night as the state charter school commission voted 6-0 to keep them open.Amandla Charter School in Englewood and Betty Shabazz International Charter School’s Sizemore Academy in West Englewood both were granted permission to stay open for two years — theDemocracy in Illinois. One unelected group overrules another unelected group on charter schools. | Fred Klonsky:
