Two former Indianapolis mayors, three current City Councilors, and a former IPS Board President sign letter urging district to consider structure, transportation, property tax, and facility updates
For over two decades, Indianapolis has been known as a hotbed for education innovation. Our city boasts a growing number of high-quality school options, a robust nonprofit education ecosystem, and a policy environment conducive to transformation. This unprecedented era of sustained progress has become a model for cities across the country, and now it is time for Indianapolis leaders to ensure we sustain this progress through needed structural changes.
Prior to the passage of Indiana’s charter school law in 2001, students were assigned to public schools based solely on their address. Affluent families could pay for private schools or purchase a home in a wealthy neighborhood to gain access to the public school of their choice, while lower-income families were assigned to zoned schools whether they liked it or not. The establishment of charter schools – public schools of choice that have high amounts of autonomy in exchange for heightened accountability – changed all of that by creating options within our public school system.
These schools have proven to be extremely popular with families. Today, 61% of public school students within the boundaries of Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) attend a charter school or an autonomous innovation network school that has a contract with IPS. The vast majority of these students are Black, Hispanic, or lower-income.
Studies from many leading research universities all conclude the same thing: charter schools in Indianapolis lead their students to significantly more academic progress than traditional public schools. Additionally, the Progressive Policy Institute recently released a study that showed the growth of charters in Indianapolis has led to a significant reduction in the achievement gap between all public school students within IPS and their peers across the state. Remarkably, charters achieve these results while receiving significantly less per-pupil funding than their district peers.
IPS should be applauded for partnering with charter operators via its innovation network. Innovation schools are autonomous public schools that operate within the district. Their academic results and enrollment count as part of the district’s total. Today over 40% of IPS students attend innovation schools.
Nonetheless, IPS faces strong financial headwinds and must consider how it can remain financially and operationally sustainable. The legislature has taken notice and seems ready to act if needed. It is preferable, however, that any structural changes in IPS are driven locally and to the benefit of our Indianapolis students and community.
As current and former Indianapolis elected officials, this is why we feel it is important for IPS to proactively commit to transforming the district to ensure its sustainability. Indianapolis deserves a public education system that is high-performing, stable, and full of opportunity for our city’s youth.
We call on IPS and legislative leaders to ensure all public school students within IPS boundaries are served by a system that uses its resources fairly and efficiently.
Within the IPS boundaries, we must:
- Consider the structure of IPS so the district can become sustainable and avoid any risk of state takeover.
- Implement system-wide solutions to increase access to safe and efficient transportation for all public school students within IPS boundaries.
- Share local tax dollars fairly for the benefit of all public school students, including independent charter school students.
- Rethink how we manage public school facilities for schools of all types so that we can use our collective resources as effectively and efficiently as possible.
As with all institutions in times of great change, IPS must continue to evolve. The time is now for our community to work together to help solve the district’s structural challenges and secure the future for our city’s youth. There is no time to waste.
Greg Ballard, former Mayor of Indianapolis (R)
Maggie A. Lewis, Majority Leader, Indianapolis City-County Council (D)
Dr. Carlos W. Perkins, Member, Indianapolis City-County Council (D)
Bart Peterson, former Mayor of Indianapolis (D)
Leroy Robinson, Member, Indianapolis City-County Council (D) and former IPS Board member
Mary Ann Sullivan, former State Representative (D) and former IPS Board President
