CPS Issues Call For Charter School Proposals

Chicago Public Schools may be looking at opening new charter schools in the next few years.

CPS officials posted a 52-page Request For Proposals (RFP) on its web site Tuesday "seeking proposals from operators who wish to open charter schools" in the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years.

Eleven priority communities were targeted as prime locations for new schools due to overcrowding, including nine neighborhoods elementary schools and two areas for high schools.

According to the document, CPS is required to hold an annual process to accept and review proposals for new charter schools, but not mandated to accept any. Charter schools are independently owned, but receive funding and monitoring from CPS.

A CPS spokeswoman told the Chicago Sun-Times that the request for proposals is designed to address overcrowding, and separate from the issue of underutilization that led to the bitter fight over multiple school closures this year.

The Chicago Teacher's Union has argued that one of the reasons CPS wanted to close schools was to add more charter schools in the city.

CPS currently has more than 125 charter campuses in the city.

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