Florida-based Charter Schools USA, which operates three Indianapolis schools under contract with the state, earned a cautious go-ahead this week to open a charter school on Indianapolis’ south side next year. But the company didn’t get everything it wanted.
A bill passed Wednesday gives the State Board of Education more authority to oversee Indiana’s ISTEP program and a new grant program that gives more money to charter schools, while keeping Superintendent Glenda Ritz as chair until the next election.
After seeing a 2014 law fuel unprecedented collaborations between Indianapolis Public Schools and such charter schools as Phalen Leadership Academies, the Legislature decided to extend the same opportunity to school districts statewide.
Students at charter schools achieved twice as much growth on reading and math tests as similar students at local traditional public schools, according to a new study from Stanford University.
Indiana's state schools superintendent asked lawmakers Thursday to shift money that a House budget plan allocated for charter schools to public schools instead and also outlined her plan to cut the cost of student testing.
Rep. Robert Behning, who is sponsoring the measure, said: "We should not be taking bad schools and passing them off to somebody else."
Carpe Diem Meridian charter school in Indianapolis offered $100 Marsh grocery gift cards to anyone who referred a student who enrolled — an incentive that some critics say went too far.
The Senate Appropriations Committee heard almost two hours of testimony Thursday from representatives both for and against the governor’s suggested $1,500 per-student grant to the state’s public charter schools.
A bill introduced in the Indiana General Assembly would divert $10 million or more in state education money into a new fund that would make grants to schools that focus on teaching expelled students.
The governor said this will be an "education session" and said his priorities will include changes to the school funding formula and more money for school choice.
Republicans have rejected Democrats' calls to specify in Indiana's state budget how much money is going toward traditional public schools, charter schools and the private school voucher program.
Hardly any teachers got low ratings despite major changes to toughen up state’s teacher evaluation system in 2011.
The percentage of Marion County charter schools receiving a D or an F from state regulators has spiked from 30 percent two years ago to 54 percent this year.
As part of the negotiations over the city budget and a preschool proposal, a 1-percent charter school management fee is being considered.
IPS board members met this week to prepare a lobbying strategy for the Indiana General Assembly’s session that begins in January. Chief among their goals: reining in the state takeover process.
Challengers to incumbents are collecting the largest checks. Big contributors range from the Indy Chamber political action committee to executives with Facebook and LinkedIn.
For the second time in three years, Indianapolis’s Christel House Academy South charter school received a higher grade than the state’s scoring formula initially said it should.
The endowment hopes to expand educational MBA programs, including one at the University of Indianapolis, to give business skills to more principals and superintendents at Indiana public schools.
ADI Schools Inc. on Friday announced plans to relinquish charters awarded to Andrew Academy and Padua Academy charter schools. Both schools were sponsored by Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard.
The Flanner House Elementary charter school will close on Sept. 11 after the Indiana Department of Education found evidence of widespread cheating on the state standardized ISTEP test. The school has 176 students.
