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.
Dozens of charter school parents and students packed the board room before the vote and called on the board to share more of the referendum money.
Leaders from 52 charter schools argued that the annual amount from the tax proposal IPS has offered to share with its innovation network charters would still leave a big funding gap between charter students and those in the district’s traditional public schools.
The six planned school closures follow the IPS board’s vote to adopt the Rebuilding Stronger plan last week.
The gift came as a surprise to Paramount Schools of Excellence, said CEO Tommy Reddicks. The funds are already earmarked for the ongoing construction of two new school facilities.
One of the city’s most popular charter schools was denied a request to open a new Marion County location during a boisterous public hearing that went on for hours.
The appeals court agreed with a lower court that the school corporations are prohibited from pursuing “takings clause claims,” which can prevent private property from being taken for public use without just compensation.
An Indiana political action committee chaired by former Democratic mayor of Indianapolis. In turn, that pro-charter school PAC has become a large contributor to Indiana Republicans.
Colearn Academy, a virtual school based in Arizona, applied earlier this year to open a school in Indiana, offering three learning pathways and the option for parents to purchase their own curriculum and activities with $600 yearly stipends.
The IPS Rebuilding Stronger plan—an attempt to address declining enrollment amid charter school growth—would leave multiple school buildings open for charter schools to potentially occupy.
The paucity of candidates comes right as the district embarks on its Rebuilding Stronger plan, a major overhaul to address declining enrollment and an impending fiscal cliff.
A similar model has already landed another Indiana virtual school in hot water with legislators, who passed a law earlier this year that expanded a previous ban on schools offering money as an incentive to enroll.
Applications for both schools are due in September. The Indianapolis Charter School Board will decide whether to grant charters for the schools during a public hearing in November.
