Board members quit after two embattled Indiana virtual schools lose charters
With the board’s dissolution, it’s unclear who remains responsible for Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy.
With the board’s dissolution, it’s unclear who remains responsible for Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy.
The missing paychecks for 38 teachers and a handful of administrators come as the state claims the schools collected $47 million more than they should have after over-reporting enrollment.
Investigators want to know who got paid with the millions of public funds that flowed to Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy.
The attorney for two scandal-plagued virtual charter schools appeared before an authorizing board Monday night and described the schools as effectively closed.
The Walton Family Foundation was created by Walmart founder Sam Walton and his wife, Helen. The group awarded more than $595 million in education-related grants in 2018 alone.
The new schools have various focuses, such as project-based learning or educating students with autism, and most are expansions of existing Indianapolis charter networks.
After years of being managed from afar by the charter network that started it, the local board that oversees Victory College Prep is betting that it can operate independently.
Marion Academy, which enrolled about 120 students in grades 6 to 12 last year, was created for students who have been in the juvenile justice system, were expelled or were at-risk of expulsion.
In attempt to recover state money that two virtual charter schools received for allegedly non-existent students, Indiana has cut off public dollars to Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy, according to letters sent Friday by the state education department.
The state education board voted unanimously to try to recover about $40 million from Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy after the state examiner found the schools inflated enrollments with inactive and out-of-state students—and, in one case, a student who had died.
Two school years after a student died, Indiana Virtual School kept him on its rolls and received state funding to educate him. And that was just one example of how the school inflated enrollment by hundreds of students, according to the findings of a state examiner’s investigation.
Among the applicants is a high school that would concentrate on workforce development for the area’s technology sector.
The tentative agreement between Indiana Virtual School, its sister school and its oversight agency comes several months after allegations emerged that the long-troubled charter network enrolled thousands of inactive students.
Prominent Indianapolis charter network Tindley Accelerated Schools will consolidate its five schools to three amid continued financial hurdles that have hindered the organization in recent years.
As the school choice debate emerges as an issue in the presidential election, Bart Peterson, an architect of Indianapolis’ charter-school movement, says the schools aren’t fighting back strongly enough against their critics.
The Indiana Charter School Board voted down two charter applicants Tuesday after raising concerns that they would not be able to attract enough students to be viable in a city where many schools are already under-enrolled.
Crossroads Education, a startup founded in 2016 that develops learning environments for K-12 schools and colleges, needs the city to rezone the property in Haughville and get approval for the height of the building.
Indianapolis Lighthouse East, which reopened four years ago, was expected to graduate only 44 percent of seniors in its first graduating class this year. It has struggled with dwindling enrollment, low test scores, and high teacher and principal turnover.
The Indianapolis Academy of Excellence has endured a tumultuous year, including the loss of its curriculum provider in June and the exodus of about 20 students this month.
Will the school district continue to embrace the changes championed by former leader Lewis Ferebee, or will a new leader slow down some school-reform efforts?