Durbin pushing bill to ease struggle of repaying private student loans

The bill would ensure that students who take out private loans, which carry no interest-rate limits and offer few alternative repayment plans, understand repayment options, the resources available to them and that they be treated fairly by financial institutions servicing the loans. Private loans are different from federal loans, which already have such consumer protections in place.

UIC’s faculty union begins strike-authorization vote

Bargaining talks that have lasted a year-and-a-half between the University of Illinois at Chicago and its unionized faculty reached a breaking point, as faculty started voting Monday to authorize a strike.

CPS will use state-run data program, not controversial inBloom storehouse

Chicago Public Schools has decided against using inBloom, a controversial data storehouse run by a nonprofit, and will work directly with a state-run data program, a spokeswoman said. In Illinois, an online platform called the Illinois Shared Learning Environment, or ISLE, is in development to collect student data in one place. The services of inBloom, which would allow access to a broader range of digital applications and content, were an optional add-on, but not mandatory, Illinois State Board of Education officials have said.

Sun-Times sues UNO over records

The Chicago Sun-Times filed suit Friday against the United Neighborhood Organization and its charter-school network, seeking records the newspaper says fall under Illinois’ open records law that the organizations have refused to release.

School report cards: Dramatic shifts seen in ethnic, racial makeup

According to new Illinois School Report Card data, 35 Chicago-area school districts have seen changes in the ethnic or racial makeup of their largest group of students in the past 10 years.

Shuttered CPS elementary to be home of Chicago High School for the Arts: sources

Though Chicago Public Schools officials and Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) say the former Lafayette Elementary School is only one of several buildings under consideration for ChiArts, other City Hall sources described it as a done deal. In the recent school closings, Lafayette was shuttered because of low enrollment. Some in the Lafayette community are questioning why their school was closed only to make room for a new one.

Activists urge action against ‘military coup’ at Logan Square middle school

Anna Espinosa wasn’t satisfied just knocking on the doors of Logan Square homes Saturday to ask for support for her plight against the conversion of Ames Middle School into a military academy. So she stopped every person in sight along Armitage Avenue, urging them to call Mayor Rahm Emanuel and top city school officials to stop what she and others called a “military coup at Ames.”

5 charters schools fail CPS academic standards, make warning list

The schools are: Catalyst Circle Rock, Catalyst Howland, Chicago International Charter School Longwood, EPIC Academy and UNO Tamayo.

Emanuel ducks questions over UNO chief

Mayor Rahm Emanuel sidestepped questions Monday about the future of a key political ally who runs the scandal-scarred United Neighborhood Organization’s charter-school network.

School Report Card: Payton scores No. 1 spot statewide; Hinsdale Central tops in suburbs

For the first time, Walter Payton College Prep ranks as the No. 1 high school in the state, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of school report card data released Thursday. Hinsdale Central High School claimed the top suburban spot — No. 4 statewide. The analysis of results from tests taken this past spring shows Chicago, with 84.9 percent of its students from low-income households, once again claimed some of the best and worst-scoring schools in the state.

Judge ousts Thornton H.S. District 205 board president over felony

The Chicago Sun-Times first reported that Kenneth Williams was in office despite being convicted of forgery in Indiana in 1985. Williams’ conviction was for an “infamous crime” that disqualifies him from serving on the board under the state’s School Code and the Election Code, Judge Rita Novak wrote.

Controversial company tied to UNO slated to get CPS deal

One of the construction companies at the center of the controversy surrounding the United Neighborhood Organization’s state school construction grant is in line to get part of a Chicago Public Schools deal that the Board of Education is expected to approve on Wednesday.

D’Escoto Inc., …

Chicago-area Catholic schools offer online classes

As of Tuesday, the nation’s largest private school system is offering online classes to middle and high school students through its new Virtual Academy as a complement to existing classes taught at its schools, the Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools announced.

A Quinn ‘no’ to UNO: Governor says no more school construction money

Gov. Pat Quinn vowed Friday not to give “any more” school construction money to the scandal-tainted United Neighborhood Organization after word surfaced this week of a federal securities probe into the clout-heavy group that’s spent tens of millions of dollars in state grant funds building charter schools. “My judgment is we’re not going to give any more construction money to UNO given the situation that they have found themselves in,” Quinn told reporters. On Thursday, aides to the governor disclosed they froze the last $15 million from a $98 million grant that lawmakers and the governor approved in 2009 for