Marion County judge rules against state in schools takeover

A central Indiana judge says the State Board of Education improperly counted students at five troubled schools taken over by the state this year.

Marion Superior Court Judge Patrick McCarty's ruling says the state improperly counted about 1,500 Indianapolis Public Schools students as students at four of the schools even though they had transferred to other schools before the current school year began.

The Indianapolis Star reported that the ruling means more than $6 million in student funding transferred from IPS to the schools' private operators should not have been taken away.

Outgoing state schools chief Tony Bennett, who was defeated in November's election, pushed for the takeovers of the four Indianapolis schools and one in Gary.

Bennett spokesman Dan Baker says the agency is currently reviewing the ruling.