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A repeat of the issues that have existed for decades and were raised again around the time IPS asked for $1billion in funding. Seems they are still unable to deal with it.
I agree. I hear 10 years ago and maybe three superintendents ago that peak enrollment was something like 100+K back in the 70s’ and now is less than 40K. Why have we not gotten rid of half the school buildings!
Rather than take the obvious lesson – that parents are dissatisfied with what IPS offers and will do just about anything to send their kids elsewhere as a result – the district and its board went all in on endorsing BLM, wokeness, and the fiction systemic racism is the biggest problem with chronic academic underperformance…rather than taking a hard look at the kids, their parents, and the school system itself. Decades of cultural and educational malpractice have caught up with the district, and it still has further to fall under its current leadership.
BINGO
IPS may very well be the largest property owner in the City. Properties that they built and acquired to teach children that lived in the areas they are located. These schools were hubs that helped to bring communities together. The absolute WORST thing is for these schools to fall into disrepair, exacerbating an already critical issue in some of the neighborhoods where they reside, adding to the blight that may already exist.
I think it would be in the best interest of IPS (and this is a very superficial statement coming from someone that doesn’t know all of the complications and/or issues) to relinquish the buildings to developers who would be required to transform them into affordable housing under a business plan that was both forward thinking and sustainable. Some could be transformed into buildings that provide useful resources that would include counseling and other social and health-related services. Through tax incentives and special loan programs from the public and/or private sector, these buildings would become useful facilities that would be renewed to serve the general good of the community and get them off the back of IPS. In this way, IPS could then focus on spending their dollars on the resources they need to continue their work of education rather than real estate. Work like improving teacher salaries, ensuring the buildings that are retained are MAINTAINED and/or improved while, perhaps, providing funds for other programs that need investment and the thoughtful leadership of the Administration and the Board.
I know this sounds radical, but the IPS boundaries follow the old pre-unigov city limits. This has created a foot print that is unmanageable from a transportation point of view with long arms of territory snaking east, west, south, and north.
IPS needs to look at a process to shed some of that territory to consolidate it’s boundaries and move those students to the township districts just so that it has a more compact and manageable foot print. I have no idea how that process would work, but it should be explored, because ultimately if it is going to be good for the students, it should be an option.
UniGov was meant to consolidate the good schools where white kids still lived and to abandon poor minority neighborhoods… Those lines can still be easily seen today and IPS legally cannot change the population it serves.
They are setup to fail, and everyone laments that they cant figure out an impossible problem.
No one is noting the effect that all of the charter schools have had on public education. Many have failed and these draw money and students from the public system. A charter school may be good for some students but too many have been approved and allowed. Once they have the funds at the start of the school year, those are lost from the public system. If the student returns to the public school the funds do not follow.
The concept was very good, but control has been lousy and not the public school system gets the blame. The politicians need to wake up and address this problem along with finding the best way to revitalize our public schools.
+1.
Public schools were failing long before anyone had even heard of a Charter school, and Charter schools largely came about because of it. It laughable to blame charter schools for the problem
I HIGHLY doubt “everything is on the table”. IPS is a Democrat political machine and jobs bank. ANY reduction is considered a threat and they fight it tooth and nail. Remember when a cash starved IPS refused to sell the abandoned Broad Ripple HS because they were afraid a charter school going into the building would show them up?
Reduce the physical and employee footprint to fit the current demand. Sell the rest. The current market will bring the most for those properties. In the unlikely event enrollment goes up, we can build new modern schools if needed. A high school level business class would come up with the obvious solution.
It is not wrong to endorse BLM as the objective is to ensure equal, not special, justice for those in the affected category. As such, many find such a comment offensive as it detracts from the issue of sound education via an unfortunate and unnecessary partisan volley of the pejorative pairing of two different aspects, BLM and perceived wokeness. It is not wrong to be sensitive to injustices of the past and present.
A solid and successful school system is absolutely necessary. The significant decrease in the number of IPS students in due not only to concern regarding educational quality but also demographic changes that have occurred in Marion County. Once relatively dense neighborhoods have changed significantly and the number of residents with children has decreased. Families have moved to areas of township schools and across the [Marion] county line to other districts in search of better, larger and newer housing as well as better school districts. Unigov established a significant increase in Indidanpolis population but only a partial commingling of what were once separate county and city offices — bluntly, IPS remained separate from township schools despite the so-called economies of Unigov and only relatively recently did the sheriff and IPD merge as a single agency. Unigov in too many aspects reflected both dysfunctional balkanization and forward-thinking coordination.
One does agree that IPS needs to focus on scholastic improvement of its quite diverse student body. The objective should be high quality education with high standards. Seeking the lowest common denominator is not a sound strategy. However, a key challenge is support not only from dedicated teachers but also from parents who much understand that education requires their involvement in supporting, encouraging and engaging their children to achieve. IPS must deal with excess infrastructure which likely means disposal (selling) for other purposes. A long term approach must be developed to focus on students at key locations where instruction, staff, equipment would be most efficiently utilized for sustained improvement in achievement.
However, one also questions whether a broader restructuring would be better. Should IPS be abolished and students be incorporated into the respective township systems. This, of course, would require and new district for Center Township or assignment of Center Township students and/or facilities to adjacent townships. Yes, I realize this is heresy for some readers. But what would best benefit students and how could improvement realistically be achieved. Perhaps continued attempts to upright a slowing sinking ship without lifeboats should be replaced with new more efficient vessels.
NOTE TO IBJ EDITORS:
This story is horribly incomplete.
At the outset, it asserts two problems: declining enrollment and buildings in bad shape. Anyone with any common sense would assume, “Great, problem solved! Close the bad buildings.” Next subject ……
Then a long diatribe about how expensive it would be to fix the old buildings …. “Hey, wait. Why wld we repair buildings we don’t need?” [This reporter never got anywhere near answering that question.]
Equally bad, Ms Gabriel leaves us completely confused about how many schools IPS actually operates. Kids enrolled in the Innovation Schools sponsored by The Mindtrust are counted in the IPS enrollment data; I think perhaps the Charter Schools — which are PUBLIC schools — may also be counted in the IPS enrollment … not sure. These are KEY facts. You need to tell us the answers. How about a chart that would show this info?
At the end of the day, isn’t the legitimate question: Why is IPS operating ANY schools. Why isn’t IPS the first district in the state to eliminate it’s massive fixed costs of administration and license each school to a qualified operator. Then let them all compete for the students. Sell all the buildings. And become a market-maker dedicated to providing DATA to parents about how well each school does.
Our tax dollars should not be going to support a school district; they should be going to support the education of kids inside the boundaries of the district.
Worse,
Nearly $500 million in improvements, repairs and other deferred maintenance is needed to fix those and other school buildings, according to a recent analysis the district commissioned. The analysis also found the district has 18,500 open seats across IPS-owned buildings.
These challenges come as the district faces impending annual deficits and seeks to stabilize enrollment and improve academics.
(1)
Indiana’s school funding laws separate “capital” and “operating” budgets, so it is easy for school systems to underfund and defer maintenance and later wrap all that deferred maintenance into “remodeling” capital projects.
I believe that’s what happened 15-20 years ago when Dr. White led the “modernization” capital program…which I believe was a $500 million referendum. Now that Bill is due again.
I agree that the article needed more clarity around what constitutes empty seats in IPS owned buildings.
Many charters are operated in IPS-owned buildings; are those students and buildings counted in the district total? If so, why? Shouldn’t the charters pay for maintenance and upkeep?