Want to know where IPS school board candidates stand? Check our voter guide.

Where the candidates vying for seats on the IPS board stand on racial equity, innovation schools, and more.

Poll works during the May 2020 primary election in Indiana.
Poll works during the May 2020 primary election in Indiana. (Indiana Public Broadcasting)

Four seats are on the November ballot for the Indianapolis Public Schools’ Board of School Commissioners, putting the district’s future in the hands of voters at a pivotal moment.

The winners will join the board as the state’s largest school district faces the unfolding fiscal and educational impact of the pandemic. The next board will also weigh in on crucial issues, including: a reckoning with racial equity; potential school closings or consolidations; and the district’s ongoing commitment to partnerships with charter school operators. 

Now, the 10 candidates face a challenging campaign landscape. The pandemic curtailed face-to-face meetings and shifted the interaction with voters into the digital space. Candidates are relying on videoconferencing to meet constituents. Others are supported by texting campaigns organized on their behalf by outside groups. 

Chalkbeat Indiana and WFYI asked candidates to respond to the biggest issues facing the district and how they would represent their constituents. Candidates showed support for the district’s recent Racial Equity Mindset, Commitment & Action policy and concern for keeping students academically on track during the pandemic. Below are their answers. 

You can learn even more about the candidates and hear them answer questions from reporters at a virtual forum Tuesday. 

Districts 1, 2, and 4: 5:30 p.m. to 6:20 p.m.

At-large 6:30 p.m. to 7:20 p.m.

Register for the virtual event and submit your questions for the candidates here.

The Latest

Newark Public Schools high school students took part in a football-themed youth mental health summit that provided participants with strategies to tackle mental health challenges for themselves and their peers.

Mamás de DPS wrote that continuing with its motion, now that many students have been reassigned to new schools for next year, could create “an untenable psychological situation for Denver families.”

Adrienne Staten, a teacher at Philadelphia’s Northeast High School, said COVID was the catalyst that led to her embracing artificial intelligence tools.

The claim of payment delays is notable because it is one of the first concrete harms state education officials have linked to President Donald Trump’s effort to eliminate the federal Education Department.

The fight centered on a state law requiring New York City to provide charter schools space or reimburse them for the cost of rent.

The proposals are unconstitutional, the sponsors acknowledge. Enactment could set up a challenge to federal protections in place since 1982.