Chicago Mayor’s Plan for New Schools Hits Snag Over Finances

Charter Operators, Private Companies in Talks With District to Get More Money

Chicago is courting private organizations to set up dozens of new small schools, but many groups interested in running them contend that the district’s financial offer is inadequate.

At meetings with top district administrators in recent weeks, representatives from private school-management companies, current local charter school operators, and nonprofit groups have expressed concern that the new schools might not get money equal to allotments for the city’s regular public schools.

The talks are unfolding as part of Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Renaissance 2010 plan, which will close about 60 of Chicago’s underenrolled or poorly performing schools—10 percent of the city’s schools—and reopen them within six years as 100 or more smaller schools. ( "Chicago to ‘Start Over’ With 100 Small Schools," ...