WBEZ News
WBEZ News
WBEZ Chicago
Former charter operator Aspira wants profit from sale of taxpayer-funded school
7 minutes Posted Aug 14, 2026 at 9:21 pm.
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Former charter school operator Aspira has declared bankruptcy.
It comes just 11 years after the nonprofit built a modern school in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood with $27 million dollars from the state of Illinois.
Now, Aspira wants to sell the building for $11 million dollars — and pocket some of the proceeds for its own operations.
Here to break down how we got here and what could be next for Aspira is WBEZ education reporter Sarah Karp and WBEZ investigations reporter Dan Mihalopoulos.
HOST: LARA