A northern Indiana lawmaker has filed a bill that would effectively dissolve the Indianapolis Public Schools district and turn its remaining 50 district-run schools into charter schools.
House Bill 1136 proposes that any school district in which more than 50% of students who live within its boundaries are enrolled in a school not operated by the district must be dissolved. All remaining schools would be transitioned to charter schools.
The IPS district already has the most concentrated amount of charter schools compared to anywhere else in the state and has already seen thousands of its students choose charters over an IPS-run school in recent years.
The bill would also remove the current elected school board for each district affected and would instead place an appointed school board in its place.
According to the bill’s fiscal note, four other school districts in Indiana would be affected by this bill and in total 68 schools could turn into charter schools.
The bill’s author, Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, told IndyStar that he authored the bill to ensure that students are given the best education possible and “to find solutions in districts where the current governance is failing its students.”
“This bill would only apply to school districts where more than half of the students and families living within the school district’s boundaries are choosing to attend other schools, meaning their property taxes are funding a school system they don’t attend,” said Teshka in an emailed statement. “This is an important conversation to have, and I look forward to hearing from parents, educators, administrators and other stakeholders on the best path forward to ensure every Hoosier student receives a quality education.”
The other school districts affected by the bill are:
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Gary Community School Corporation: nine schools
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Union School Corporation: five schools
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Tri-Township Consolidated School Corporation: three schools
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Cannelton City Schools: one school
Charter schools are public schools that are created through a contract with one of the state’s charter authorizing entities and are held accountable by an non-profit board that is appointed rather than elected.
Charter schools can accept students from anywhere in the state, and they receive the same base-funding allocated by the state to all public schools but typically do not receive property tax dollars.
The majority of bills filed never make it into law, so there’s no guarantee this one will either as written. The House education committee Chair Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, said in an emailed statement that he hasn’t made any decisions yet about which bills will receive a hearing.
The legislative session starts Wednesday.
What would the bill do?
The bill would require all school districts that don’t meet the 50% threshold as of the 2024 fall count date to transition its schools by July 1, 2028.
The new governing board that would replace the elected board would be comprised of seven members, four appointed by the governor, one appointed by the mayor of the city or town where the school district resides, one by the president of the fiscal body for the county and one by the executive director of the Indiana Charter School Board.
This new governing board would have to create a uniform accountability framework used for all the charters located in the school district.
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The bill also says that the lowest performing schools on state standardized tests would be the first to transition to a charter. It also says that the board should recruit “high performing organizers” to operate the new schools but does not specify what is “high-performing.”
The new charter schools would also get to access the funds for any property tax referendums currently being used by the school district and can use the funds “in a manner that is, to the extent possible, consistent with the original purposes and use of the tax referendum levy revenue.”
Voters just approved a new capital referendum for IPS in 2023, that is meant to send $410 million to the district to fulfill various construction projects across the district, including updates to buildings current innovation charter schools occupy.
Where are IPS students going to school?
There are nearly 50,000 students who live within the IPS district boundary. Around 61% of those students attend a school outside of an IPS-run school.
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Around 11% attend another traditional public school corporation
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39% attend a charter school. That includes the district’s innovation charter schools, where charter organizers enter into a partnership with IPS which sometimes means the charters get to use IPS buildings and resources such as transportation.
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Close to 10% attend a private school using the state’s choice scholarship program
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Less than 1% of students attend a different traditional public school for reasons other than parental choice.
The district has a little over 21,000 students enrolled, including additional students who attend IPS from outside of the district.
Example of an innovation charter school: This high school mentors its students long after they graduate, and its seeing results
IPS has been slowly losing students throughout the past decade and beyond. The district has tried various initiatives to stop the bleed, one being the innovation network made possible by legislation passed in 2014.
The district is currently undergoing a massive reorganization of its K-8 schools – called the Rebuilding Stronger Plan – to better distribute students and resources across its district-run schools to improve efficiency and program offerings for all students.
However, the district continues to see some drops in enrollment with the district losing around 800 students from last school year.
Reaction to the bill so far
Four new commissioners join the IPS school board this week, some of whom were elected on a campaign that promised more collaboration with charters.
“The IPS Board of Commissioners recognizes the importance of addressing pending legislation that will affect IPS and its potential impact on our students, families, and community,” the board told IndyStar in an emailed statement.
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“As part of our commitment to thoughtful and unified leadership, the full board, including newly sworn-in members, will formally address this legislation following their Organization Day on January 7.”
Rep. Gregory Porter, D-Indianapolis, condemned the bill on Monday saying that this bill is like a “bolt out of the blue” and that it is an attempt to divert more state dollars to charter schools and that this legislation primarily affects communities of color.
“The supermajority touts school choice, but what about the parents who want their children to attend public school?” Porter said. “This bill is a naive solution to the difficulties our urban schools experience. Remember the money follows the child, and the majority is telling parents how that money will be spent.”
Contact IndyStar K-12 education reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter (X): @CarolineB_Indy.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Under new bill all IPS schools would become charter schools
