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The Indianapolis Education Association delivered a petition to the school board on Thursday to enact a moratorium on any new agreements with charter schools, joining calls for a pause on charter schools’ growth in the city.
The petition from the local teachers union, which collected over 1,200 signatures, also demands that the board rescind a resolution passed last summer that reaffirmed the need for the board to collaborate with schools of all types.
“We see the action that has come out so far – all of the statements — but we need real action and real policy to sit behind it,” IEA vice president Monica Shelhammer told the board during public comment.
The school board’s latest meeting was similar to other contentious public meetings over the past few months that have largely pitted traditional public school proponents against charter school advocates. A big part of what’s driving the ill-will is Senate Bill 518, which would require the district to share property tax revenues with charter schools — a financial drain that the district said would force it to close multiple schools of its own. Charter advocates say the bill would provide more equitable funding for students.
Different entities have different types of authority over new charter schools in Indianapolis.
Charter authorizers grant new charter schools permission to open, and schools have their own boards. But the IPS school board has the power to approve contracts with autonomously run schools in its Innovation Network, most of which are charter schools. The network allows schools to run their operations independently from the central office while also utilizing district services, which can include transportation for some charter schools.
The board last approved a renewal of six Innovation agreements — five of which were for charter schools — in November. The newest Innovation charter school is Believe Circle City High School, which joined the network this school year.
Several parents and community members urged board members to cooperate with charter schools on Thursday.
Sashah Fletcher, the parent of a charter student at Purdue Polytechnic High School in the Innovation Network, asked the board to collaborate with charter schools in providing transportation solutions for charter schools that don’t offer it.
“We did struggle to alter schedules at times and make sure that my son could continue to attend the school that he wanted to be at,” Fletcher said.
A bill that would have required the district to share transportation resources with charters didn’t advance earlier this session. But Rep. Robert Behning, the Indianapolis Republican who authored the bill, told Chalkbeat he intends to insert language from that bill into other legislation.
Earlier in the day before the school board meeting, Democratic state lawmakers at the statehouse spoke to students during a “day of action” hosted by IPS, urging them to fight for their public schools.
“Send the message that you’re proud of IPS, that you don’t want your needs to be ignored while we fight about money,” Rep. Ed DeLaney, an Indianapolis Democrat, told the crowd. “Let’s fight about you and your future.”
Emma Wulf, a senior at George Washington High School, stood at one table writing a letter to Republican Sen. Linda Rogers — an author of Senate Bill 518 — to share her love of the district-run school’s programs and her opposition to the legislation.
“I grew up from a single mother well under the poverty line,” Wulf wrote. “If not for IPS my mother would have struggled to provide me with such an enriching and caring education.”
The legislative session ends April 29.
Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.
