Task force advances proposals diluting power of elected IPS board

A state-mandated education task force has advanced two proposals that would both significantly dilute the power of the elected board governing Indianapolis Public Schools.

In a 7-2 vote on Wednesday, members of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance moved ahead with two potential recommendations to change how local schools are run, but did not indicate a preference for one of them.

The first model would increase the influence of the mayor and charters through a new three-way power-sharing arrangement.

The model’s proposed “collaborative compact advisory board” would consist of appointees from IPS, the mayor’s office, and charter schools. The IPS school board and charter schools’ boards would report to this advisory board, which would collect and levy property taxes and serve as a charter authorizer. The mayor’s Office of Education Innovation, however, which currently serves as a charter authorizer, could also continue in that role.

The second model would concentrate more power in the mayor’s hands by establishing an Indianapolis Education Authority consisting of a mayor-appointed secretary of education. In the version of this model presented last month, the mayor would also appoint a nine-member policy-making board. Four of those nine members would be selected from the elected IPS school board, which along with charter school boards would also report to the policy-making board.

The model would allow the Office of Education Innovation, or OEI, to remain as a charter authorizer. The Indiana Charter School Board would either be another authorizer, or would serve as an appeals board for charter schools seeking to challenge a decision made by the OEI.

Either plan would bring monumental changes to Indianapolis Public Schools and the 54 charters within district borders. The ILEA’s work is taking place against the backdrop of declining enrollment and significant long-term financial issues for IPS, while charter school enrollment in the area has grown. Tensions between traditional public and charters over funding and other resources have also escalated. And in recent years, state GOP lawmakers have sought to take power and funding away from IPS in different ways.

The Republican supermajority that approved the creation of the ILEA is also considering redrawing Indiana’s congressional map to potentially eliminate two Democratic seats statewide and dilute the electoral power of the urban core of Indianapolis.

The alliance was created by state lawmakers to recommend changing how IPS and charter schools could share resources. The ILEA’s members also agreed to advance two options for the management of IPS and charter facilities and transportation that would put power over bus services and school buildings under either a separate authority or advisory board.

The ILEA will collect public input on its three preferred models in two meetings later this month. One will be held on Dec. 10 at KIPP Legacy High School from 6 to 8 p.m., and another will be held on Dec. 15 at the Madam Walker Legacy Center from 12 to 2 p.m.

The group will pick its final recommendations to state lawmakers in a vote at a Dec. 17 meeting, although legislators could also disregard the ILEA’s preferences.

IPS superintendent critical of plans to reduce board’s power

The vote on the three models came after heated public comment Wednesday from both district and charter supporters.

While charter leaders opposed any moves to reduce the number of charter authorizers, parents supportive of IPS urged the alliance to give authority over both district and charter schools to a fully elected IPS school board.

“If charters have concerns about answering to the IPS board, they can campaign to elect members that are favorable to their kids,” said IPS parent Josiah Harris-Adam, referencing previous school board election cycles that have garnered financial support from charter-friendly organizations.

The IPS Parent Council, which supports traditional IPS schools, called on the ILEA to pause Wednesday’s vote to hear more public testimony on the options. The council also decried the 4 p.m. meeting time that they said was inconvenient for many students and families.

Superintendent Aleesia Johnson and IPS teacher and parent Tina Ahlgren were the two votes against the proposals to dilute the power of the current IPS board.

“The elected school board oversees the administration of transportation and facilities for 70% of public school students in our boundary, charter and district,” Johnson said. “It would seem to me that the least disruptive way to proceed would be to leverage that publicly elected board to provide service or set policy for 100% of the public schools within our boundary, charter and district, while still respecting the autonomy and flexibility that many of our charter schools enjoy today.”

But Angela Smith-Jones, who was appointed to the ILEA by Mayor Joe Hogsett, noted that the alliance must consider how state lawmakers will respond to the task force’s recommendations.

Fellow ILEA member and former Indianapolis mayor Bart Peterson agreed, and said the alliance will still be doing a lot of work to address unanswered questions. He also said the task force will take more public input before its final meeting in two weeks.

“I believe we can reach a proposal that we can be proud to put forward,” he said.

ILEA advances options for independent transportation, facilities oversight

Meanwhile, the proposals advanced by the ILEA to change oversight of transportation and facilities have some key similarities.

One option for facilities would be to create another “collaborative compact advisory board” to manage buildings. The board could set accountability and performance standards that could determine which schools receive buildings.

The other recommendation for changing facilities management would create an independent building authority that consists of facilities experts and professional staff.

The transportation options advanced by the task force are similar. One would create an advisory board that would set transportation zones. In this model, schools opting in to the service would pay for transportation services that continue to be run by IPS.

Another model would create an independent transportation authority that would collect property tax dollars and hire transportation contractors.

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Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.