Brandon Brown: IPS should share funding and, in doing, reinvent itself

Imagine a world in which the state’s largest school district operates schools that enroll fewer than 40% of the students who live there but still receives virtually all local school funding. Next, imagine a student receives $8,000 less for her education just because her parents choose a public school that is not run by the district.

Finally, imagine that the majority of Black, Hispanic and low-income students attend public schools that are not run by the district, and therefore, each of them is undervalued by that same $8,000.

This thought experiment is a reality in Indianapolis, where 61% of students who attend public schools within and near Indianapolis Public Schools are enrolled in contractually autonomous public charter and innovation schools. According to rigorous external studies, those schools face some of the largest funding disparities in the nation and still produce superior academic growth.

Thankfully, the Indiana Senate recently passed a bill authored by Sen. Linda Rogers that, over time, will eliminate this disparity and fund all public school students fairly.

In Indiana, state education dollars follow public school students to the schools of their choice. Local funding, however, does not. That creates a particularly large gap for charter and innovation school students in Indianapolis, where local property taxes represent more than 40% of IPS’ total funding. SB 518 does several things to address that disparity while simultaneously ensuring a thoughtful transition for school districts and protecting taxpayers.

◗ Starting in 2028, property taxes levied for operations would begin to be proportionately shared with public charter school students. This sharing would be phased in over five years within districts like IPS where large numbers of students are choosing charter schools.

◗ Future operating, school safety and capital referendums would be proportionately shared with charters. Existing referendums are not required to be shared.

◗ Future property tax levies for debt service will also be proportionally shared with charters. Levies already obligated to pay down existing debt are not required to be shared.

◗ Several provisions protect taxpayers and institute rigorous public accountability measures for charter schools that receive property tax dollars.

This bill and other legislation have fueled a debate about the future of IPS. Unfortunately, that debate is often rife with misinformation and devoid of important context and facts.

Since 2018, enrollment in schools directly managed by IPS has declined by more than 18%, while the district’s total funding increased significantly due to three referendums and hundreds of millions in federal pandemic relief dollars.

IPS receives more than twice as much today in property taxes than it did in 2018. On a per-pupil basis, IPS collects more property taxes than any suburban district in the metro area. IPS’ total funding now exceeds $20,000 per student, rivaling the tuition for some of our state’s most expensive private schools.

Yet the district’s own calculations conclude that IPS will exhaust its rainy-day fund and run out of money sometime between 2027 and 2028 unless it secures another large referendum from taxpayers or right-sizes its operations.

IPS’ Rebuilding Stronger plan, the district’s strategy to reorganize its schools and attract students back to schools it runs directly, was supposed to help solve these issues. So far, however, it seems to have exacerbated them.

For example, IPS reopened two large shuttered high school buildings that the district chose to close in 2018 because of low enrollment. Tens of millions of dollars were poured into these buildings to turn them into middle schools. That plan resulted in a 17% decline in middle school enrollment this year alone.

Districts must evolve to succeed in a world where families vote with their feet and funding follows the child. IPS did this in the past by courageously embracing the growth of innovation schools, which increased the district’s enrollment and improved academic performance while serving as a national model for collaboration.

IPS now has a chance to reinvent itself again by driving a greater share of its funding to classrooms, rightsizing its central office and working collaboratively to increase access and efficiency for operational issues like transportation and facilities.

Ultimately, The Mind Trust wants all children to succeed. For this to happen, we must strive to keep students at the center of decision-making when determining how institutions can successfully innovate for the benefit of the students they serve. Nothing is more important to the long-term health and vibrancy of our city.•

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Brown is CEO of The Mind Trust.