Joint Statement on IPS’ Decision to End Innovation School Agreements

Below is a joint statement from The Mind Trust and the Indiana Charter Innovation Center.

Innovation charter schools are united in keeping students in their schools and moving Indianapolis toward a more coordinated public school system

Indianapolis public education is entering a period of significant transformation. The IPS administration has recently withdrawn from Enroll Indy, the city’s unified enrollment system, and the administration has now informed innovation charter schools that IPS intends to terminate all innovation agreements with charter partners. To our knowledge, the IPS Board of School Commissioners has not yet voted to take action on any of this.

We are deeply disappointed by IPS’ recent actions. Through all of these changes, we stand united with innovation charter schools around a shared priority: students and families should experience as little disruption as possible as Indianapolis moves from one system of collaboration to whatever comes next.

While we have appreciated IPS’ collaboration with innovation charters and understand the district’s current financial challenges, IPS’ decision to terminate nearly all innovation charter agreements creates immediate uncertainty for over 11,000 students. Innovation charters, IPS, and the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation must together ensure that changes in facilities, enrollment, and services do not disrupt the quality or continuity of a child’s education. 

Based on what has been communicated to us, we understand that:

• IPS intends to terminate many, if not all, innovation agreements with charter partners located in IPS facilities.
• Most schools operating in IPS-owned buildings will be offered the opportunity to purchase those buildings for $1.
• Schools will no longer receive transportation and other services from IPS unless they are willing to enter into service contracts outside of an innovation partnership—allowing IPS to charge a much higher amount for services out of dollars meant for the classroom, even while continuing to receive property taxes for those same services.
• At this point, we have no reason to believe any innovation charter schools will close.

Innovation charter schools have different agreements, facilities, and operational needs, but they have a shared interest in creating as much stability and certainty as possible for students, families, and staff. Schools will need to evaluate the legal, financial, operational, and facility implications of IPS’ intended actions. It is clear that many innovation charter schools intend to take the district up on its offer to transfer building ownership for $1.

We look forward to supporting innovation charter schools as they advocate to IPS, IPEC and the state legislature to provide stability for the 11,000 students in these schools by ensuring that every school has the resources needed to support these abrupt facilities and transportation changes.

There are many questions still to answer and formal decisions still to be made, both by the district and individual innovation charter schools. We know innovation charter schools are committed to moving forward thoughtfully and united.