Faced with an exodus of students to charter schools, Indianapolis鈥� biggest school district is urging the city鈥檚 mayor to be more discriminating in using the unusual authority he has to approve charter school proposals.
Mayor Bart Peterson has authorized 16 charter schools in the five years since he became the first mayor in the country with the power to do so. In that time, Indianapolis Public Schools鈥� enrollment has dropped from 41,000 to 37,000.
While charter school growth doesn鈥檛 account for all that decline, Superintendent Eugene G. White says that it鈥檚 a significant factor, and that the result is a reduction in state funding, which is based on enrollment.
鈥淲e have to have some happy medium, where we offer choice, but also enhance the traditional public school system,鈥� he said last week.
Although local news accounts said late last month that Mr. White planned to ask Mayor Peterson, a Democrat, for a moratorium on new charter schools, the superintendent said after meeting with the mayor last week he didn鈥檛 ask for one because he knows how strongly Mr. Peterson supports charters.
Instead, Mr. White said, he鈥檚 calling on the mayor and other charter authorizers in the area to give more careful scrutiny to whether the proposed schools are really needed. He also urges that charter schools be held more accountable for their students鈥� performance.
The district notes that while Indianapolis Public Schools is only one of 11 school districts in the city鈥攁lthough by far the largest鈥�13 of the charter schools approved by the mayor are within its boundaries.
Indianapolis charter schools get more public money if they鈥檙e within IPS because the district has a higher per-pupil allocation than other systems in the city鈥攁 situation district supporters hope to change with state legislation.
Justin Ohlemiller, the mayor鈥檚 press secretary, said last week that his boss is sensitive to Mr. White鈥檚 concerns, but that slowing the growth of charter schools is not something the mayor is likely to consider.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e successful in providing additional public education schooling options in our city,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd they have the capacity of building up public education across the board by infusing creative ideas.鈥�
