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Collaboration in public education, while laudable, hinges on mutual trust and a shared reality. Recent calls for partnership from charter advocacy organizations suggest collaboration is lacking. From my vantage point as chief operations officer of Indianapolis Public Schools, I witness daily, sustained, substantive collaboration among those closest to students.
Within the IPS geography, more than 70% of families choose schools affiliated with our district. This “IPS family” includes district-managed, innovation and innovation charter schools. Operationally, the distinction between school types is often more political narrative than practical reality.
As a “family of schools,” we’ve taken measurable steps to strengthen operational performance and leverage expertise to benefit all schools.
IPS redesigned transportation through a student-centered zone model that reduced routes from more than 400 to approximately 240 while expanding access across the city. The redesign generated nearly $8 million in annual savings and positions IPS roughly $15 million below prior external projections. Today, IPS supports approximately 17,000 yellow bus riders and 3,000 students through specialized services, providing more than 70% of all student transportation in the city. The system maintains roughly 90% on-time performance within a 10-minute window while reducing accidents, driver absences and behavior incidents more than 15%.
Facilities management reflects similar discipline. More than 90% of the $400 million in community-funded construction projects remains on track to finish on time and under budget, while strategic bond management has generated more than $50 million in additional investment. IPS closed seven schools, co-located campuses and engages more than 250 organizations annually in facilities use or occupation. IPS processes more than 1,000 maintenance requests each month, with response times reduced from more than 10 days four years ago to just over one day now.
Operational efficiency extends beyond core systems. Centralized utility monitoring and energy management have generated millions in savings, while food services operates at or above national benchmarks and produces a net positive through disciplined use of federal reimbursement.
Partnership is not aspirational; it is already embedded in practice. IPS provides more than $55 million annually in infrastructure and operational support to innovation schools. These schools receive roughly 20 cents of every dollar IPS spends, covering transportation, facilities, food service and core operational systems. The frequently cited $8,000 per student funding gap ignores these shared resources.
The financial pressures facing our city’s education system are not one-sided. Declining enrollment affects both district and charter schools, particularly in charter facilities designed for larger populations. Some schools carry significant facility debt or long-term obligations while operating in spaces that far exceed their enrollment needs. In many cases, IPS has stepped in through innovation partnerships to support core programs, including athletics, when facilities or resources fall short.
Many publicly documented, though not endemic, instances of financial mismanagement in the charter sector underscore the need for consistent transparency and oversight across all schools.
To build a sustainable future, our community must confront difficult questions about resource allocation. Expanding transportation access, for example, carries real cost implications that must be understood plainly. Potential changes in state policy, including the possible elimination of the state-funded charter school grant in lieu of local property taxes, could remove tens of millions of dollars more from the system.
Ultimately, the future of public education in Indianapolis should be shaped by families and educators, not by advocacy narratives or rhetorical convenience. Collaboration already exists among those operating schools and serving students. Strengthening that collaboration requires a shared commitment to honesty, transparency, an objective accounting of systems and even deeper engagement with our families and community.•
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Murphy is the chief operations officer at Indianapolis Public Schools.
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