The Chicago Board of Education voted today to close a South Side charter school that had been wrestling with red ink and slumping enrollment.

Choir Academy Charter School of Chicago opened in 2001. At one point offering about 175 kindergarten through eighth-grade students choral, piano and drum classes.

Faculty and parents have known for months about financial problems at the school, a Chicago Public Schools spokesman says.

According to CPS data, the Choir Academy improved in several measures of academic progress during the 2008 school year. At least 72 percent of students exceeded state standards in reading and mathematics, and 63 percent exceeded them in science.

Parents and students did not speak at today's board meeting. In the past, the meetings have been the venue for heated discussions over school closings. 

The meeting is still going on; we'll have an update early tomorrow.