Hayleigh Colombo - Chalkbeat Indiana

The thousands of poor Indiana children who will attend new publicly funded preschool programs this year through Gov. Mike Pence's state preschool pilot and an Indianapolis program sponsored by Mayor Greg Ballard all have one thing in common. They all must be legal U.S. residents.

What exactly school autonomy will look like for IPS is not yet clear. A plan isn't expected to be presented to the school board until this fall. But the fact that the board is insistent that it will happen could mean big changes for the district.

The Indianapolis Public School Board on Thursday approved hiring a new "talent officer," with a $125,000 salary, to help Superintendent Lewis Ferebee solve the district's latest staffing challenge: filling 300 vacant teacher and staff positions by the first day of school on Aug. 3.

United Way's Bridges to Success program, which this year helped more than 9,000 students in 20 IPS schools with basic needs like tutoring, mentoring, eye exams and other services, is going away after 21-years next year. But IPS and United Way say the intention is to expand access to the same services to students in every IPS school.

Adela Campos decided to skip her senior year at George Washington High School to get away from the violence. There's just nothing left for her at the West side school, she said. Her friends, many who are also Hispanic, have transferred to other schools. Her schedule was dotted with substitute teachers.

Some IPS schools will stop offering instrumental music lessons next year as part of a district-wide overhaul of music, art and gym programs aimed at making sure all schools get a full-time teacher in each of those subjects.

Seventh grade at Indianapolis' Northwest Community High School was going to be a big adjustment for Jel Lu Too: He was a newly arrived Burmese war refugee…

Indianapolis Public Schools is embarking on an effort to overhaul its services for children who are learning to speak English.

A State Board of Education member is hoping to shorten future ISTEP tests by eliminating unnecessary sections she says were included in contract bids by the Indiana Department of Education.

Indiana appears ready to ditch the company that creates ISTEP after years of testing problems, but the cost of delivering Indiana's state tests could go way up if it does.