A Cook County judge was wrong to block the Chicago Public Schools from shutting down the Urban Prep Academies charter high schools because a state-imposed moratorium on closing schools under the control of CPS only applies to traditional public schools, and not to charter schools, a state appeals court has ruled.
On June 6, a three-justice panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court in Chicago sided with the the Chicago Board of Education in its dispute with Urban Prep over the future of the highly successful, but controversy-bitten pair of all-male Chicago charter high schools.
"If the legislature intended to modify or suspend the school board's 'powers and duties' over Chicago charter schools during the moratorium period, then the legislature would have said so in ... the Charter Schools Law," the appellate justices wrote. "Urban Prep is asking us to not only rewrite the moratorium statute to encompass charter schools, but to also rewrite the clear language of the 'powers and duties' section of the Charter Schools Law to limit the school board's authority over existing charter schools.
Illinois First District Appellate Justice Margaret Stanton McBride
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"We decline to do so."
The decision was authored by First District Appellate Justice Margaret Stanton McBride; Justices Terrence J. Lavin and Mary L. Mikva concurred in the ruling.
The ruling potentially would allow Chicago Public Schools to move ahead with its plans to close Urban Prep for the upcoming school year and repurpose its buildings for a traditional public high school under the direct control of CPS.
In response to the ruling, a CPS spokesperson emailed a statement to The Cook County Record, saying: "This ruling has no immediate impact on the current students at (Urban Prep Academies.) District officials and the Chicago Board of Education will review this ruling and determine a path forward that best supports our students. The District will take all necessary steps to ensure clear communication and engagement with impacted families prior to bringing forward any possible recommendations regarding this charter to the Board of Education."
Urban Prep could also seek to appeal the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.
An attorney for Urban Prep did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Cook County Record.
Leadership at Urban Prep has been in court against CPS since April 2023, as they fight for survival of their programs at the South Side charter high schools.
In that lawsuit, Urban Prep accused CPS of violating state law by seeking to effectively seize control of the charter schools. Urban Prep has argued Illinois state law doesn't allow the Chicago Board of Education to simply evict the leadership of the charter schools and make them essentially just another CPS school.
The dispute dates back to October 2022, when the Chicago Board of Education under then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot voted not to renew Urban Prep's charter.
In justifying that decision, the CPS board accused Urban Prep’s leadership of mismanaging the charter schools’ finances, failures in providing special education services, and of failing to properly respond to accusations of sexual misconduct against Urban Preps’ former CEO and founder, Timothy King.
King resigned in August 2021, after the CPS Inspector General issued a report purportedly corroborating accusations against King by a former Urban Prep student and employee. King also sued CPS, asserting the investigation was a sham, conducted purely to railroad him out of his position and justify the eventual CPS takeover of the Urban Prep schools. That lawsuit remains pending.
King founded Urban Prep in 2003, growing the network of charter high schools to three campuses. The Urban Prep curriculum and programs have been nationally recognized for success in helping young males, predominantly from the Black communities on Chicago’s South Side, to succeed academically. Urban Prep has been consistently recognized for sending 100% of its students to college.
As of 2022, Urban Prep had about 1,500 students. Its high schools in Englewood and Bronzeville were chartered through CPS.
CPS indicated it would combine those two campuses into a single school under direct CPS control.
A state hearing officer upheld the CPS' decision.
Urban Prep then sued, winning first a temporary restraining order from a state appeals court blocking the closures, and then an order from Cook County Judge Anna Loftus forbidding CPS from taking any action against Urban Prep until at least 2025.
Loftus grounded her ruling in an Illinois state law that would ultimately lead to the creation of an elected Chicago Board of Education. To that point, the school board had been entirely appointed by the mayor of Chicago.
As part of that law, state lawmakers agreed to include a moratorium, strongly backed at the time by the Chicago Teachers Union, stopping CPS from closing public schools in Chicago until a new elected school board could be seated.
In its filings, Urban Prep asserted that moratorium should also block efforts by CPS to close Urban Prep or other charter schools until an elected school board is seated.
CPS, however, asserted that is a misreading of the law.
Loftus sided with Urban Prep, saying she did not believe the law should apply to any schools under CPS control, including schools operating under a charter granted by CPS and Illinois school officials.
The judge said her ruling was also intended to minimize disruptions in the lives of Urban Prep's students, who live in low-income communities and many of whom could be classified as at-risk youth. She noted she agreed with Urban Prep that closing Urban Prep could jeopardize their path to college and careers beyond.
CPS appealed the ruling, arguing Loftus had misinterpreted the law.
The appellate court agreed.
In their ruling, the justices extensively listed all of the allegations of misconduct and mismanagement leveled against King and Urban Prep's leadership by CPS in justifying the decision to yank Urban Prep's charter. That included a quote from CPS CEO Pedro Martinez asserting that Urban Prep's leadership had "prioritized personal considerations of executives and administrators over student health and safety, responsible fiscal management, compliance with laws, and compliance with their Charter obligations."
They further noted the conclusion from the state hearing officer that CPS would attempt to maintain Urban Prep's current programming.
However, the justices particularly centered their decision on interpreting the intention of Illinois state lawmakers when enacting the moratorium, and the interplay of different sections of Illinois' School Code, which governs public school districts in the state.
Specifically, the justices agreed with CPS that lawmakers did not explicitly include charter schools or "charter school non-renewals" on the list of actions the Chicago Board of Education couldn't take under the school closure moratorium.
And they rejected Urban Prep's contention that the moratorium should be read to include charter schools, along with traditional public schools.
The justices noted Chicago's traditional public schools are generally managed by CPS under a section of the School Code known as Article 34, while charter schools are established under a newer section of that law, known as Article 27A.
And the justices said the moratorium was established under Article 34.
So, since lawmakers did not explicitly include charter schools in the list of closures prohibited under the moratorium, that moratorium cannot apply to charter schools, and CPS is free to shut down charter schools, as the Chicago Board of Education deems appropriate.
To illustrate the point, justices pointed to legislation enacted by the Illinois General Assembly expressly including charter schools with "district-managed" schools when authorizing certain "COVID-19 paid administrative leave" in CPS schools.
The justices said, if Urban Prep disagrees with the ruling, they amount to "policy arguments" that "should be directed to the General Assembly, not the courts."
Urban Prep has been represented in the action by attorneys Eric Grodksy and Eric B. Bernard, of the firm of Petrarca Gleason Boyle & Izzo, of Flossmoor.