Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said he will appeal a Marion County judge’s ruling that grants Indianapolis Public Schools an exemption from state law requiring districts to sell closed school buildings to charter schools for $1.
Researchers said their findings show that charter schools yield more learning and more predicted lifetime earnings per education dollar spent.
The school, which opened in 2018 in the Hawthorne neighborhood on the city’s west side, fell far short of its ambitious enrollment goals.
The opening of the three schools means charters’ footprint in the city will continue to grow.
The district plans to give preference to not-for-profits or government agencies before selling to other buyers.
The new version of the law targets districts with declining enrollment, such as the South Bend Community School Corp. and Indianapolis Public Schools, which had an average building utilization rate of 60% in 2021-22.
A seventh Excel Center adult charter high school has the green light to open in Indianapolis, and it’s hoping to open in a school that Indianapolis Public Schools will close at the end of this school year.
A charter school affiliated with the private Christian Hillsdale College seeks to open in northwest Indianapolis amid significant backlash after failing to acquire a school building in Carmel.
The proposals have been sharply criticized by Democrats and traditional public school leaders, who argue that the changes would come at the expense of thousands of students in traditional public schools.
Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston maintained Thursday that virtual charter schools deserve equal funding and denied that a virtual education company he consults for would unfairly benefit from a tax increase proposed in the state budget.
The latest push includes a statewide poll and multiple local advocacy events intended to sway the state’s budget writers.
A new funding stream carved into the House Republican budget would mandate the amount of funds every public school district and charter school receives for operations, which are collected through local property taxes.
Paramount Schools of Excellence said the charter school, called Girls IN STEM Academy, will be operated in partnership with Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, Every Girl Can STEM and Purdue Polytechnic High School.
The state law requires school districts to notify the state Department of Education if classroom buildings are left “vacant or unused.”
A bill in the Indiana Senate would significantly expand a state law that requires school districts to make their empty buildings available to charter schools.
Families were sent scrambling by a charter school that initially failed to win permission to open, fell short of enrollment projections, cycled through multiple principals, and lacked timely financial oversight from its authorizer.
The proposed operating referendum would provide $50 million annually over an eight-year period to expand student programs and increase teacher pay through the program.
The move comes as Indianapolis Public Schools plan to introduce two ballot measures in May to increase taxes to support more than $800 million in capital and operating expenses. The district has said the additional money is critical to its reorganization plan.
Critics argued the original proposal opened up tuition payments to private schools for even the wealthiest families.
A revised revenue-sharing plan from Indianapolis Public Schools to increase the amount of funding affiliated charter schools would receive from a potential tax hike is still inadequate, charter-friendly groups say.
