Karega Rausch, the leader of a national charter school organization with deep ties to the city’s charter school sphere, was chosen as the first executive director for the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation.
Rausch will oversee the new mayor-appointed board’s work directing transportation, building decisions and academic accountability for Indianapolis Public Schools and most of the city’s charter schools.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Rausch pitched himself as a collaborator who promised to work across all school sectors to produce strong outcomes for students.
“I've spent my career being a bridge builder among stakeholders of different perspectives but shared aspirations,” Rausch said. “If you talk to my colleagues, my coworkers, my friends, they'll tell you that I do have a unique ability to listen well to a wide range of people, and I've sought to listen carefully, communicate clearly, and build consensus around meaningful outcomes for kids and families.”
Rausch was chosen by Mayor Joe Hogsett out of six final candidates that were selected by an IPEC task force. Hogsett interviewed each of the finalists. Thirty-six people applied for the job.
The nine-member board voted unanimously to confirm Rausch.
“This leadership decision brings exactly the combination of local commitment, national expertise, and operational discipline that this moment demands,” Hogsett said in a statement.
The executive director will run the day-to-day operations of IPEC, develop long-term plans for the corporation and manage its budget, staff and vendors. They will also oversee major changes for the city’s education sectors, including a unified transportation system, potential school closures and the creation of a new accountability model.
The date when Rausch will officially take on the role is still being determined, as is his salary. The job description, however, stated the salary will be between $235,000 and $325,000.
For the job, Rausch beat out two current IPS administrators and a current IPS school board member, Deandra Thompson. Thompson is also a member of IPEC.
Rausch is currently the president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, or NACSA, which advocates for legislation and policy across the country on best practices for charter school authorizers. He said he will leave that position soon and the IPEC executive director role will be his full-time position.
Before joining the national organization in 2014, Rausch was the previous Indianapolis director for Stand for Children, a nonprofit education advocacy group.
He was also the director of the Indianapolis mayor’s charter school authorization office from 2007 to 2011, and was the previous chair of the Indiana Charter School Board.
A majority of the members on the IPEC board have ties to the charter sector. Of the members, four are charter school leaders, including the board chair, who is also the founder of The Mind Trust, the prominent nonprofit that works to expand the city's charter school sector.
In response to supporters of traditional public schools who have taken issue with the board's heavy charter school influence, Rausch said he’s also worked with IPS in the past during the tenure of former Superintendent Eugene White, leading the “What’s Possible” initiative that led to IPS allocating resources for preschool for the first time.
“The beautiful part about what this board is designed to do is we are bringing all public education together, not favoring one type of school or another, and really producing the kind of system that will be great for all kids,” Rausch said.
Rausch also earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in educational psychology from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from DePauw University, according to his NACSA biography.
Rausch is an Indianapolis resident and has lived in the city for around 30 years. He was born and raised in Denver, Colo., he told reporters Wednesday.
He said some of his top priorities starting out in the new role are reaching out to many stakeholders in the community to begin important conversations and work toward improving student outcomes.
Performance framework update
IPEC is also required to send an update to state lawmakers on its progress in developing a citywide performance framework by Aug. 1. The legislature is requiring the framework to tackle two main concerns: addressing chronically low-performing schools and reallocating underused school facilities.
During Wednesday's meeting, IPEC board member Eddie Rangel presented the initial work that has been discussed so far and shared that the framework will look at schools through six lenses:
- Academic results
- Student growth
- Discipline
- Enrollment
- Finance and governance
- Facilities
He said the framework will be used to generate various scores for each school and will be based on multiple years of data, and that decisions will not come down to just one measure.
Next, IPEC will begin seeking input on the performance framework from various stakeholders in the community.
IPEC must approve a final performance framework and send it to state lawmakers by Nov. 30, 2027.
The board’s next meeting is Aug. 12 at 4 p.m.
WFYI Education Editor Eric Weddle contributed to this story.
Contact WFYI Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org
