What will next Indy mayor do with charter schools?

The next Indianapolis mayor will inherit a power that gives him direct control in shaping the city’s educational landscape, an elevated role that is essentially unprecedented in the state and across the country.

It’s a political hotbed that will put the city’s new chief executive in charge of a growing network of charter schools, which with about 14,000 students ranks as the fifth-largest school district in Marion County behind Perry Township.

The intent of charter schools was to provide students and parents more options for a public education beyond a traditional public school, particularly in low-performing districts such as Indianapolis Public Schools.

Charter schools enjoy more autonomy than their traditional counterparts. With those freedoms came the hope they would elevate student achievement and new methods for instruction.

While results have been mixed, both candidates for Indianapolis mayor say they support charter schools. But key differences are the pace at which Republican Chuck Brewer and Democrat Joe Hogsett would open new charter schools — and their party-line take on the unionization of charter teachers.

Brewer said any time a neighborhood is at risk of losing residents because of a low-performing school he’d consider opening a charter. Hogsett said he’d focus more on quality , and not quantity, when it comes to charters.

In 2002, former Mayor Bart Peterson’s administration authorized the first round of charter schools under a new power provided by the Indiana General Assembly. The Indianapolis mayor is the only mayor in the state with such authority.

Today, the mayor oversees 33 charter schools, some with multiple campuses.

The winner of the mayor’s race will play a lead role in the opening, overseeing and closing of charter schools in the city. The mayor also will preside over a city that’s seeing an emergence of innovation network schools, a new model similar to charter schools that both candidates say they support.

Brewer said he ultimately wants traditional public schools to win. Until Indianapolis Public Schools and other school districts innovate and raise their level of performance, he said, charter schools are needed to “bridge that gap.”

Hogsett has called for “bold, persistent experimentation” as part of his broader educational platform.

Beyond charters, Brewer and Hogsett also say if elected mayor they’d strongly advocate for more funding for early childhood education. Hogsett is banking on a proposal to attract highly-qualified teachers to Indianapolis by offering educators free or reduced-priced housing. Brewer says he’d build a central enrollment system for Marion County schools where parents can shop their options among traditional public, charter and even private schools.

Brewer and Hogsett agree charter schools play an important role in stabilizing the county’s tax base. The stability, they argue, comes through offering options that encourages families to stay in their neighborhoods rather than move to the suburbs once their children are ready to enter school. For the most part, mayor-sponsored charter schools are within Indianapolis’ urban core but at least four are located in more suburban areas of the city.

Mixed performance

Over time, the mayor’s office has authorized 43 charters, though 10 of those schools have either not renewed their charter, had it revoked or converted into something other than a charter school.

A report from the city’s education office indicates mayor-sponsored charter schools outperform the neighborhood schools where the student would have been assigned. At those charter schools, passage rates on the ISTEP were higher during the 2013-14 school year with 17 percent more students passing in English and 16 percent more students passing in math.

Mayor-sponsored charter schools also earned marginally better A-F accountability grades to reflect performance during the 2013-14 school year compared to IPS schools. Half of IPS schools received either a D or an F accountability grade. Among the mayor-sponsored charter schools that had a grade recorded for that year, around 40 percent of those schools received a D or an F.

Brewer said charter schools also have helped Indianapolis Public Schools innovate by providing competition.

“Now there is a lot more mobility in the marketplace, and parents can make choices, and that has created the kind of platform where (IPS) was forced to say, 'If we want to maintain our numbers, we have to create the same kind of quality product so that parents want to choose to send their child to our school.' ” Brewer said.

Hogsett said he doesn’t feel a mayor’s role is to engage in debates surrounding how education is delivered.

“I don’t think charter schools, per se, have really done anything other than provide kids with a wider variety of choice, and so in that regard, I don’t see charters being at odds at all with traditional public education,” Hogsett said.

If a charter is not having success, it needs to be changed or closed, he said.

“As it relates to mayoral-sponsored charter schools, I’m going to focus on quality more than I am on quantity,” Hogsett said.

While Hogsett says he will focus on holding existing charter schools accountable, he’ll hear out requests if residents feel a need exists for a new school.

Shannon Hasper, whose children attend Paramount School of Excellence and Herron High School, said they chose charter schools when the family moved to Indianapolis from California. Hasper thinks Indianapolis would benefit from the opening of more charter schools.

“Just the fact they have so much to offer, and it’s a smaller school really appealed to us,” Hasper said.

Advocates for traditional public schools want to see any further expansion of charters halted until their effectiveness can be reviewed. They worry charters take away students and funding from traditional public schools.

Charter schools receive the same base amount in state funding per pupil that traditional public schools do. But the final amount of state funding can vary widely by school.

New for this year, charter schools also are receiving an up to $500 per student grant from the state to help pay for overhead costs. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools can’t collect local property taxes to pay for facilities and transportation.

Mayor-sponsored charter schools also have had missteps. Two schools, Padua Academy and Andrew Academy, closed at the end of the 2014-15 year because of low student performance.

Teacher union’s take

Indiana State Teachers Association President Teresa Meredith said she hopes the new mayor begins by assessing what’s happening with charter schools in Marion County.

“The accountability piece is huge,” Meredith said. “If you grow too fast, you can’t keep up making sure everyone’s held accountable to what they promised to do.”

Meredith said she also hopes the next mayor doesn’t discourage charter school teachers if they want to unionize, which is allowed under state law.

“I hope he respects that process, whichever one is mayor,” she said.

Hogsett said he’s been a life-long supporter of giving workers the right to choose to collectively bargain.

“Public charter school teachers currently may unionize, and if elected mayor, I see no reason to discourage charter school teachers from having that choice,” Hogsett said in a statement.

Brewer downplayed the role of unions, saying the most important thing is for charter schools to retain their autonomy.

“The authorization of charters will continue to be evaluated on quality and results, not unionization,” Brewer said in a statement.

Keeping current charter school policies in place is going to be critical for continuing high standards, said David Harris, founder and CEO of The Mind Trust.

Innovation schools

Harris said he hopes the next mayor will embrace the concept and aggressively support the growth of innovation network schools. Innovation network schools are similar to charter schools in the operational freedoms they provide. Under the model, low-performing traditional public schools are converted into an innovation network school – but still remain under their original school district.

The schools are autonomous from central office operations, with the authority to make school-level decisions on staffing, curriculum and how to allocate their budget. They also operate outside of the district’s collective bargaining agreement, Harris said.

The set-up was approved by lawmakers in 2014. Already, The Mind Trust has partnered with IPS to open an innovation network school, and three others are in the works.

“The mayor’s support of the growth of innovation network schools within IPS we think is really critical,” he said.

Hogsett noted that IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee thinks innovation network schools represent an “important development in the long term strategy” for the district.

Brewer also expressed support.

"This concept is unique to Indiana, and people all over the country are watching our city as a model of educational innovation,” Brewer said in a statement. “Innovation schools are a unique opportunity for Indianapolis to create the kind of collaborative partnership between the city and the district that is necessary to ensure we can provide a great education for all students.”

But both candidates say more attention needs to be paid to issues beyond IPS and charter schools and at least some focus should shift to Marion County’s 10 other school districts.

Election 2015

The Star will provide extensive coverage in advance of the Nov. 3 municipal elections, focusing on key issues facing Indianapolis and the metro area.

In the coming weeks, look for stories on how the Indianapolis mayoral candidates plan to improve neighborhoods, create jobs and fight crime. We’ll also have in-depth profiles of the mayoral candidates, Republican Chuck Brewer and Democrat Joe Hogsett.

In late October, a voters’ guide will give readers throughout the region an opportunity to compare municipal candidates in contested races.