ASPIRA Inc. of Illinois News Bulletin
Governor Signs Capital Bill Providing $12 Million to ASPIRA
Illinois to Build Charter Schools
 From left: Senator Iris Martinez, Governor Pat Quinn,
Jose Rodriguez (President & CEO of ASPIRA Inc. of Illinois)
ASPIRA Inc. of Illinois, whose flagship
charter school campus Mirta Ramirez Computer Science High School ranks #3 among
Chicago Charter High Schools, will receive $12 million in Capital Funding to
build additional high school campuses. Governor
Pat Quinn made this announcement as he
signed the capital bill budget into law at a gathering of hundreds of educators,
parents, and students, held at Marshall High School today. Senator Iris Martinez, representing the 20th
Legislative District, fought hard to secure this funding to bring more high
quality charter high schools to the northwest side of Chicago, where
neighborhood high schools rank among the lowest performing high schools in the
City of Chicago. The new ASPIRA charter high schools will follow the same "early
college" model as the successful ASPIRA Early College, founded in partnership
with Northeastern Illinois University in 2007.
Under the "early college" high school model, the students have the
opportunity to complete up to 60 transferable college credits by the time they
graduate from high school.
ASPIRA Illinois' network of charter school
campuses include Mirta Ramirez Computer Science High School (2003), ASPIRA
Early College High School (2007), ASPIRA-Haugan Middle School (2005) and Antonia
Pantoja High School (1986), currently a campus of Youth Connection Charter
School.
ASPIRA Illinois, the parent organization of
the ASPIRA Charter School Network, is a 40 year-old non-profit organization
dedicated to developing youth as leaders in their communities and beyond,
through investing in education. ASPIRA
Illinois is an affiliate of the ASPIRA Association, ranked by Hispanic Business Magazine's 2009
list of top nonprofit organizations, as measured by total revenues, as the #1 Hispanic Education Non-Profit in the United
States.
Release Date & Time:
Monday July 13, 2009 at Noon
http://www.aspirail.org
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