Group Questions Ill. Charter’s Pact With Religious Nonprofit

Advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State is urging Chicago schools officials to deny a final OK to a planned charter school over the institution’s collaboration with a faith-based after-school program, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

The city’s board of education has tentatively approved the Chicago Education Partnership’s proposed charter elementary school, set to open next year. The partnership’s plan includes an after-hours program run by a group affiliated with Chicago’s Moody Church that would offer students help with homework, meals, and Bible instruction.

Illinois law requires that taxpayer-funded charter schools be nonreligious. A lawyer for the church-state group said the proposed arrangement represents “serious constitutional problems” and could prompt legal action if it goes through.

Michael Rogers, executive director of Chicago Education Partnership and a leader at the faith group, By the Hand Club for Kids, said the school and the after-school effort would be separately managed, and parents can decide if they want their children to participate in religious programming.