The Indiana General Assembly introduced legislation that would effectively dissolve Indianapolis Public Schools — the largest public school district in the state.
House Bill 1136 seeks to dissolve public school corporations where less than half of students with legal settlement in a school corporation go to schools operated by the school corporation. The dissolved corporations would then transition to a charter school system by 2028, establishing an appointed governing board, requirements and procedures, according to the bill’s text. IPS is the largest school corporation to fall under this bill, and reports that approximately 61% of students are not enrolled in IPS schools. Bill author Rep. Jake Teshka (R-North Liberty) said considering the amount of parents choosing to enroll their children in a public school corporation is a means of measuring its performance.
“We say, if less than half of the parents in a certain district are choosing to send their students to that school, then we ought to look at maybe interjecting a new governance bill,” Teshka said.
Charter schools are publicly funded, tuition-free schools that differ from public schools through operating autonomously with state or local governments. This gives these schools more freedom to tailor their curriculum, staffing and academic focus than traditional public schools, according to the U.S. News & World Report. For example, one charter school may choose to emphasize the arts while others emphasize math or science.
Assistant Professor of Secondary Education Sarah Denney said charter schools can be a force for good; however, they may not share the same goals as members of its community.
“… There’s a big question mark in terms of what will be the outcome for our students,” Denney said. “We know that charter schools have high teacher turnover rates. We know that they tend to employ less experienced teachers, and in recent years, a charter school teacher’s license is on the books as being a really a less rigorous pathway to teacher licensure.”
The bill has received pushback, with the Indiana Education Equity Coalition sending a letter to the Indiana General Assembly outlining their opposition to the bill, claiming it is a “misguided proposal that will destabilize schools, silence communities, and jeopardize the future of public education in Indiana.” Teshka said he is willing to have robust conversations and listen to varying perspectives.
“Our job as legislators are when we see problems, to try and address those and of course, we want to have these conversations on an ongoing basis,” Teshka said. “… I would just tell folks to, first of all, don’t panic. Second of all, again, we’re going to continue to have those conversations ….”
Associate Professor of Political Science Laura Merrifield Wilson indicated the bill might be a political strategy to secure power over IPS’s domain; she said some would say it feels like an “open secret.” However, she said the real challenge with policy is how unclear the result of legislation is.
“Perhaps at the school corporation, we would need more charters to support all of these students,” Wilson said. “It’s not clear if there would be expansion of current charters. If you would have more charters crop up, would you have more private schools potentially trying to come in? It’s incredibly unclear.”
Additionally, Wilson said much of the politics between IPS schools and the legislature boils down to partisanship. The bill would give the state government more authority over the IPS school system, Wilson said, and IPS serves a different population than most of Indiana’s state legislatures actually represent. However, Teshka said the motivation for the bill comes from a need to make sure “Hoosier kids are educated to the best of their ability.”
HB 1136 is currently referred to the House Committee on Education for its first reading and can be tracked through iga.in.gov.
