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The day before a scheduled vote on recommendations that could impact who oversees Indianapolis schools, Mayor Joe Hogsett and Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Aleesia Johnson announced their preferred outcomes.
The Indianapolis Local Education Alliance is scheduled to vote Wednesday on final recommendations about the future of the city’s district and charter schools. The ILEA will then send those recommendations to state lawmakers.
The task force is considering two proposals that would limit the power of the elected IPS school board.
One would give oversight of charter and IPS schools to a collaborative board consisting of IPS, mayoral, and charter school appointees. Another would give oversight to an independent Indianapolis Education Authority within the mayor’s office, and create a new secretary of education position.
But notably, Hogsett, the chair of the alliance, and Johnson, a member, didn’t express a preference for either proposal or any other plan for who would run schools.
Instead, their five priorities, which they announced via a Tuesday press release, focus on transportation and buildings, as well as limiting charter authorizers and ensuring schools have funding to serve all students, such as those with disabilities.
Hogsett and Johnson’s five priorities are:
- Exempting IPS from the so-called $1 law, which allows charter schools to purchase or lease district buildings no longer used as schools from the district for $1.
- Requiring all public schools — including district-run and charter schools as well as Innovation Network schools — to offer transportation or forfeit their share of property taxes. (Legislation passed earlier this year allows all charter schools to receive property tax funds starting in 2028.)
- Limiting charter authorizers to two who can approve schools within the boundaries of the IPS school district: the Office of Education Innovation and the Indiana Charter School Board. (Currently, charter schools in Indianapolis use one of three authorizers.)
- Have a shared framework for making decisions about buildings to give the community a clear understanding of how decisions about school buildings are made. The press release notes there are more than 103 school buildings for 41,000 students within IPS boundaries.
- Make sure all public schools, regardless of type, have resources and funding to serve and be accessible to all students, including students with disabilities, students facing homelessness, and English language learners.
The ILEA was created by state lawmakers and tasked with making recommendations about how the district and area charter schools might share buildings and buses. But lawmakers also gave the task force the ability to make recommendations on other topics, including school governance.
Last month, the alliance said addressing who oversees schools would be key to its recommendations. Hogsett and Johnson said they drew up their priorities for the ILEA’s recommendations after listening to community input.
The ILEA, which has nine members, has met since the summer and most recently had two public comment sessions ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
At one of those sessions on Monday, members of the Indianapolis community raised concerns about the potential impact of the ILEA’s recommendations on the elected school board. Another speaker asked whether the ILEA would recommend repealing the $1 law about building acquisitions — an idea that appears to have growing bipartisan support among Indiana lawmakers.
Members of the public have also sparred over whether the ILEA should recommend limiting the number of authorizers for Indianapolis, and requiring all public schools to provide transportation. Charter advocates in particular have criticized these ideas as an infringement on charter autonomy.
The ILEA will meet to vote on its final recommendations at 6 p.m. on Dec. 17 at the City-County Building at 200 E. Washington St.
Chalkbeat Indiana reporter Aleksandra Appleton contributed reporting.
MJ Slaby oversees Chalkbeat Indiana’s coverage as bureau chief. Contact MJ at mslaby@chalkbeat.org.
