Students in Indianapolis’ largest district will likely start and end school at different times next year. But when it comes to choosing a new schedule, the district is facing tension.
Local business and community leaders have formed a political action committee, named “Vote Yes for IPS,” to support the upcoming May 8 primary referendums.
A politically influential group representing real estate agents is taking the rare step of opposing Indianapolis Public Schools’ $725 million proposal to raise property taxes to increase school funding.
District officials said they still expect to be able to give raises to teachers if the referendums pass.
The Indianapolis Public Schools board is likely consider a proposal next week that would reduce the district’s planned funding request. IPS officials have been planning to ask voters for up to $936 million over eight years.
A member of the Indiana State Board of Education said the district’s plan to ask voters this May to approve two referendums to increase funding has not been transparent. He also called the proposed tax increase way too high.
Indianapolis’ largest school district will only make a few changes to the rules that govern how much money schools get next year. But some schools, including those that serve many undocumented students, could get less money.
OneMatch is a web-based application process for IPS and 90 percent of Marion County charter schools.
The 4.5-acre parcel just east of the Monon Trail received a high bid of $2.75 million. All of the proposals would mix commercial and housing development.
In the last three years or so, development along a roughly 20-block section of East 16th Street stretching from Pennsylvania Street east past the Monon Trail has exploded.
District leaders said that in the face of declining state and federal funding, raising property taxes is the only tool IPS has to fund teacher raises, building maintenance, busing and quality special ed programs.
The district’s website says that the operating funds would be used to raise teacher pay and special needs services. The construction funds would pay to upgrade buildings and make safety improvements.
Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lewis Ferebee is getting a $4,701 raise and a bonus of $28,000.
If the school board votes to restart the two schools, the current principals and teachers would be removed, and a charter operator or nonprofit will be brought in to run them.
Raises will range from $400 per year for experienced teachers to nearly $2,400 per year for teachers in their third year.
The School of Education at IUPUI is splitting from its sibling at Indiana University in Bloomington so it can lean into conversations about race and social justice that are exploding across the country.
Innovation schools are receiving higher marks in general because Indiana lawmakers decided to judge those schools by a more generous yardstick than others. But the two-tiered system could be short-lived.
Indianapolis Public Schools went on a hiring spree Thursday, selecting principals for the four high schools that will remain open next fall and a new chief of staff.
An administrator said the move was aimed at helping teachers "find the right fit,' but a union official called it "total disruption."
Julie Bakehorn, a prize-winning principal with a record of turning around schools, was replaced as head of Arsenal Technical High School this week.
