What a fabulous story!

Chicago Public Schools, known for their love of charters, turned down a proposal to open two new Concept charters. The one existing Concept charter school in Chicago had unimpressive test scores. So Concept went to the Illinois State Charter School Commission and won their charters!

What a coup! How did it happen? Well, it seems that Concept charters are affiliated with the Turkish Gulen chain, the largest in the nation. And they have a very good friend: House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Madigan is “the South Side Democrat who’s a powerful advocate of Concept and the faith-based Gulen movement to which the schools are connected.”

Better yet, the Concept charters will get 33% more funding than other charters in Chicago!

Madigan really, really likes Turkey, and he truly likes the Gulen charters, too, according to the story by investigative journalist Dan Mihalopoulos.

“Madigan, who’s also the…