Sound Off is a series of personal essays about education written by educators, parents, students, and community members.

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The Proposal

House Bill 1136, school corporation reorganization, has sparked conversation across the state of Indiana, especially in Indianapolis. This bill, authored by Rep. Jake Teshka (R) aims to convert all traditional public schools in a school district to public charter schools if more than 50% of students who live within district boundaries attend a school the school district does not operate. If this bill becomes a law, it will impact the following Indiana school districts: Cannelton City Schools, Gary Community Schools, Indianapolis Public Schools, Tri-Township Consolidated Schools, and Union Schools.

The Indiana Capital Chronicle noted, “Roughly a dozen other Hoosier districts are at or near the 50% threshold.” 

Proposal Opposition

IPS released a statement opposing the potential legislation. 

Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) strongly opposes House Bill 1136 or any bill this legislative session that threatens local authority and community control of public schools. HB 1136 proposes dissolving five school corporations, including IPS, by converting schools to charter status and eliminating local school boards. This harmful legislation would strip communities of their voice, destabilize our financial foundations, and further jeopardize the education of approximately 42,000 students. 

In a press release, State Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis) said: 

This is a ‘bolt out of the blue’ since this is the first time any sort of transformation like this has been discussed. The dissolution of public schools has never been seriously proposed. Most of the affected schools are in Gary and Indianapolis, majority-minority communities, where we’ve seen multiple issues with charter schools…Remember the money follows the child, and the majority is telling parents how that money will be spent. 

ISTA opposes HB 1136. The organization’s statement reads in part:

Rather than supporting schools and addressing critical issues like poverty and underfunding, HB 1136 would unfairly target districts based on student transfers—an issue mostly rooted in broader socioeconomic challenges beyond the control of schools.

ISTA stands with the educators, parents and students in these targeted districts. If heard, lawmakers should reject HB 1136 and instead focus on policies that strengthen Indiana’s public schools, address staffing shortages and ensure equitable resources for all students.

A Look at NOLA

It is important to take a look at history before addressing the potential elimination of school districts in Indiana.

August 2005, I began my senior year at Purdue, and Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Louisiana. It was one of the deadliest hurricanes in US history. The hurricane relief at both the state and federal level was scrutinized. Rapper Ye, then known as Kanye West, famously said during the Concert for Hurricane Relief telethon, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” This sparked a lot of debate about how the government addresses issues when mostly Black people are involved. Another part of that conversation included NOLA schools.

For a few years, I was an editor for an education publication in New Orleans. During that time, I learned a lot about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the school system. 

Two years before Hurricane Katrina hit NOLA, the Recovery School District (RSD) was created to take over poorly performing schools. After Katrina, student achievement declined, and RSD took over schools within Orleans Parish School District at an increasing rate. These schools were turned over to charter organizations to run. In 2018, RSD was no longer over Orleans Parish Schools and the Orleans Parish School Board was back in power. However, that didn’t change the status of the schools. By 2019, all Orleans Parish Schools were charter schools becoming the first all charter school district in the US.

In August 2024, The Leah Chase School, named after the Civil Rights activist, opened. This is the first traditional public school operated by the Orleans Parish School Board since the district went completely charter in 2019, ending the district’s 100% charter status.

During my time editing NOLA articles and talking to NOLA residents, I learned there was a lot of impact and inconsistency in education quality. If NOLA children weren’t attending certain schools, the education received was dismal. Getting support from the charter operator to address concerns was challenging as well. 

I believe NOLA is being used as a model for this legislation proposal in Indiana without consideration of the impact it had on students in the south.

School Choice in Indiana

In 2001, Bart Peterson (D) was the first mayor in the country authorized to sponsor charter schools. In 2002, the first ten charter schools opened in Indiana. In 2011, the Indiana school voucher program was created, championed by Governor Mitch Daniels’ (R). 

In its inception, the program was designed to allow parents of public school students to send their child(ren) to a private school. The first year, it was capped at 7,500 students and all of the students who participated were families with severely limited income. Over the years, the program has evolved. In 2023, a law was passed where most families qualified for a school choice voucher. During the 2023-2024 school year, there were a little over 70,000 students using vouchers.

When people talk about school choice in Indiana, the conversation tends to be centered around students leaving traditional public schools and going to a public charter school or a private school using a voucher. 

Last year, WFYI reported that nearly 20% of Indiana students do not attend their boundary school district. The leading place those students were going was to another traditional public school district, not charter or private. This type of school choice often is left out.

November 2024, WFYI reported, “As of Nov. 19, 71 students from Broad Ripple Middle School transferred to Washington Township schools. Forty-eight of those students are at Eastwood, 21 are at Northview, and two are at Westlane, according to district communications manager Ellen Rogers.

Under the IPS Rebuild Stronger Plan, the district eliminated its K-8 schools and shifted to stand-alone 6-8 middle schools. Thomas Carr Howe Middle School and Broad Ripple Middle opened as middle school buildings this school year. With families moving their students during the first semester of the school year, it sends a message that the middle schools were not rebuilt as strong as they needed to be.

Most people know I am unapologetically pro-school choice; however, my definition of school choice doesn’t center on vouchers and charter schools. Over the years, my views on charter schools have changed. I used to have no problem with a charter school popping up because I wanted options for families. I still believe charter schools should exist; however, I do not believe we need more charter schools. The existing ones should stay in existence only if they serve students and their families well. No new charter schools should be created. There aren’t enough students, and families are likely to switch to another traditional public school first.

White Flight and Class Flight in Indianapolis

March 2018, I wrote the article Is It White Flight or Class Flight? In that article, I explained why Indianapolis has 11 school districts.

Within Indianapolis’ boundaries, there are eleven school districts: Indianapolis Public Schools, two incorporated town districts, Speedway Schools and Beech Grove Schools, and eight Township schools.  According to an article published in Chalkbeat Indiana, “10 districts surround Indianapolis Public Schools. That’s by design: State lawmakers wanted to avoid local backlash, so they chose not to merge school districts when Indianapolis and Marion County unified in 1970 under ‘Unigov.’”

I went on to explain the impact of desegregation busing in Indianapolis. That order ended in Indianapolis in 2016. My husband and I were part of the many students who were bused out of IPS and into other Indianapolis school districts. I wrote:

When my husband and I were bused out to Lawrence Township, we rode on the bus for over 30 minutes right by cornfields.  Over time, the view outside the bus window started to change, and new homes were being built. After the “white flight,” there was the “minority flight.”  Some black and brown families who could afford to leave moved out of the boundaries of IPS and into the new subdivisions that were being built in the various township districts that were forced to accept students bused from IPS. 

This was another instance where families decided to take tangible action to switch school districts. In this case, families wanted the security of a public school education from a school district that wasn’t IPS. Adults, at the time, didn’t want their children stuck in IPS whenever the government decided end the desegregation busing order.

Being bused out to Lawrence Township had an impact on my educational choices for my own children. My paternal grandmother’s last residence was 411 N. Arsenal Avenue. My dad and his siblings went to Arsenal Technical High School in IPS. My dad’s youngest sibling ended up with the house when my grandmother died. When I graduated from Purdue and got married, of course, my family assumed I would buy the house and keep it in the family. However, I didn’t want to send my children to IPS. 

My boundary high school was Arlington High School. My husband and I lived on the last streets that were bused into Lawrence Township. Some of our friends went to Arlington where a slogan was, “Arlington Knights can’t read or write.” My friends didn’t even have the same course offerings as I did at Lawence North. Additionally, Arlington (my boundary high school) ended up being taken over by the state because of such dismal achievement. Years later, as a parent, I wasn’t going to risk it and take a gamble with my children’s education in IPS. 

Parents who want to live within the boundaries of Indy and can afford to rent an apartment or buy a house outside of IPS do simply because they believe IPS is an education gamble.

Bloodsucking Fleas

There’s an old adage, “If you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.” Gary Community School Corporation (GCSC) and IPS are covered in bloodsucking fleas. 

For some reason, some people naively thought these charter organziations, many with board members in other states, would really just walk away after they “saved” the poor, underachieving students (insert any one of those self serving press releases with cherry picked data those charter leaders release to assert they are education saviors). Why would they walk away? Why would they walk away from working as a leaders in a charter school organization where they are making six figures while traveling across the US and globe to “learn” about education to bring back innovative ideas that flop while having little accountability to families and other stakeholders?

Of course, they are going to be mad that Gary schools are no longer in takeover status starting this school year. 

Of course, they are going to be mad that IPS got around the law that would have forced them to sell unused IPS school buildings to charter organizations for $1.

The charter organizations want it all, and they don’t want to be monitored or checked.

Damn it if kids learn or not…they’re still getting paid.

No amount of touching school buildings while singing religious songs is going to save school districts from the greedy folks who found a cash cow in creating charter schools. 

If you have no clue what I’m referencing about touching school buildings, I strongly encourage you to read We Need to Ask Tough Education Questions in Broad Daylight to see one of the “strategies” used by the current GCSC superintendent to save the district. It is definitely giving Principal Ava vibes from the mockumentary “Abbott Elementary.”

Should IPS be Dissolved?

When people learned about House Bill 1136, several people asked me my thoughts and if I thought school districts like IPS and Gary should be dissolved.

My short answer is: Potentially.

Here’s my long answer.

The facts are clear. Too many parents are unhappy with their children’s IPS education. Other families are too leery to even consider living within the district boundaries. Most school choice is from traditional public to traditional public.

Instead of converting all the schools to charter schools, I suggest IPS be split across the other 10 school districts in Indianapolis. I know this would have a huge impact on every single school district. 

As a teacher, who has taught in more that one township school district, I would have loved having my students from IPS at the beginning of the school year and not mid year after they had a terrible education in IPS or a charter school.

We don’t need 11 school districts in Indianapolis. The city is not big enough for that.

Since roughly 1 in 3 charter schools close, why would we take a gamble and make more?

Yes, I know the other ten Indy school districts aren’t perfect, but at least students would have access to more core academic content, electives, athletics, a library, and licensed teachers and administrators. Charter schools, many times, don’t even have a library. Students can’t learn how to play an instrument. They don’t have access to specialty classes. I took marine biology at Lawrence North High School. Charter school students are lucky if they even have a teacher who is actually licensed to teach science. Don’t get me started on the lack of support for multilingual learners (MLLs), special education students, and high ability students. Those charter schools will collect Title III funds for MLLs but not even bother to hire a certified MLL teacher. Charter school students could be stuck on a five hour round trip bus ride to and from school, leaving little time to complete homework or spend time with their families.

I digress. Of course the legislation is statewide, so I understand my solution wouldn’t work.

However, creating more charter schools and experimenting with our children is not the answer.

Back to School Choice

HB 1136 is not the answer because it takes power away from parents. If parents want their children to attend a charter school, there are already enough in existence for them to make that choice.

Whether it is home school, online school, traditional public, microschool, public charter, parochial, private, independent, or some model that hasn’t been dreamed up yet, the number one decision maker should be parents and caregivers, not lawmakers.

Last time I checked, parents and caregivers weren’t asking for this…I guess excluding those who work at charters and send their children to expensive private schools.

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