Okay.

Welcome everyone.

We do have a couple of people that are still trying to get into the public assembly room, so if you would be helpful in helping them find a seat, we'd like to get started because we anticipate the conversation tonight probably going a little bit longer than is normal for our alliance meetings.

Good evening to everyone.

I'm hereby calling to order the November meeting of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance.

I will remind everyone that we have held public meetings in June, in July, in August, in September, in October, and now in November.

And in each meeting, we have taken public comment.

Tonight we will begin the process of hearing from our previously announced task forces.

You will hear and see information about what they considered, and in each case, multiple models for consideration and discussion.

It is important to note that the ILEA will not be taking any votes this evening.

We will discuss models, options, upsides, downsides, and then leave the models and notes on the ILEA portal for the next two weeks to engender even further written public comment about those models and notes.

Just as a reminder, our transportation force, task force, that is, was made up of ILEA members Tina Algren, Maggie Lewis, Toby McClamrock, and Andrew Neal.

Our facilities task force was made up of ILEA members Barato Britt, Angela Smith Jones, and Bart Peterson.

One of the consistent themes you will hear as our task forces report out was the many that many questions lead each task force to a broader question of overall governance.

And while the statute that created the ILEA listed governance as an option to consider, it became clear that we did need to work on that issue.

With regard to governance, Dr.

Johnson and I have served technically as the task force.

Tonight, our work will be presented out in the same format as the other task forces.

We will have multiple models presented that provide a wide range of options.

We will discuss these among the ILEA members, but we will not take any votes tonight.

Those models will be up for public comment for the same period of time as all of the others.

Should not indicate that John Dr.

Johnson nor I favor any particular model.

As I've said, these are models that represent a wide spectrum for discussion only.

As we move through our meeting tonight, we because we got started about 30 minutes later than originally planned.

Out of respect for our ILEA members and all members of the public in attendance.

We anticipate having a full hour of public comment, but tonight will not be the public's only opportunity.

As we move forward and prior to voting on individual models, we will allow for another full hour of public comment once the ILEA chooses options.

We will make sure that these are opportunities for further comment as we move to final recommendations to the legislature.

So prior to getting started, I want to thank the ILEA members for their hard work on our task forces, and a thanks to all of you to the extent that you participated in the discussion surrounding previously the topics that we have addressed over the course of this alliance existence.

Multiple meetings were held for long hours and at various times of the day to accommodate differing work schedules.

And I deeply appreciate the work that has been done.

So Mike, with that, let's get started.

Thank you, Mayor.

I want to reiterate I said earlier that the uh there's a room across the hall that is broadcasting also.

It's room 221.

And Mayor, if I might, of a point of personal privilege before I get into presentations, touch again on some process points that you made.

As you indicated, it's not going to not be the only or last time for people to make public comment on what we will all see.

We don't have a definite date set yet, but in the first week of December, the ILEA will meet to vote on one of the models from each of the categories of transportation, facilities, and governance.

We will, as the mayor mentioned, put all this information up on the ILEA website and take public written comment right up until that next meeting date.

Then at that meeting, the ILEA will take another hour of public comment prior to voting on what options to roll out for additional public comment process.

And as I said, that meeting will take place during the first week of December.

We will then combine those models with further information and elements of what we discuss and hold a couple of listening sessions around the city for input on those models.

After those public input sessions, we will convene again on December 17th, right here in this room, and take additional public comment and then vote on a set of recommendations that the ILEA will report out to the legislature by the end of December.

So at the close of this meeting at 9 30 tonight, you will have more opportunities to be heard.

Now, as we get started, the the there has been some discussion externally about realigning the district boundaries.

So moving to the transportation task force.

This group developed a little more preliminary information before we move to modeling because the group really wanted to get a better understanding of scope of service and service and cost differentiations.

A few of the task force members were able to take a tour and write along with IPS earlier this fall.

On this model, you'll see currently today IPS serves their student enrollment is around 30,000.

Their estimated transportation users are around 16,000.

Working with the IPS folks and others, we estimate that in an expanded transportation system, we're likely to need to serve 25,000 students.

Again, I'll remind everybody in public this information will all be put up on the website.

But we we we hammered out several different cost models working with IPS on sort of the extent of their services, getting some additional information.

This this box is one set of some of those cost models.

The next is as we work with folks at IPS talking about the seven levers of transportation, the things that impact cost, whether that the chance you have to move levers up or down, safety, compliance optimization, logistics efficiency, rate of buses running, and responsiveness to students and families' needs.

So those things all impact up or down the cost of transportation services.

On the next slide, Roman, you will see cost estimates expressed as an arrow.

On the left end is sort of the lowest cost of services, and on the right is the highest cost and most flexibility of service.

Going from around 3.5 million serving only the McKinney Vento and special ed students all the way to universal choice on the far right.

The next slide is the same figures but expressed in an X and Y axis, which just follows the again the sort of low lower cost, lower service models all the way up to the top right where you see the universal choice.

And the gray area I added just as we talked about how we get the maximum number of participation of students and families, hopefully to get the lowest unit cost possible.

So as we discussed those cost options and the and the variability of service levels, the task force decided to strike a couple of options from from kids consideration of a of what transportation might look like.

So they struck just the special ed and McKinney Ventura only.

The feeling of the task force was this does not provide the level of transportation that meets the needs of our students and families.

One of the models was the Indigo Plus special ed only model.

Indigo is currently not built out to accommodate this model, but maybe an incremental part of a broader solution as we look for further flexibility.

Parents pay extracurricular, which would uh lower some of the cost, but uh the task force felt this model wasn't realistic for the families in our communities.

It would not provide equitable access to extracurricular activities.

And then universal choice at the high end after examining the final cost of transportation, this model was deemed too expensive.

So we've we've ruled those out.

So the task force actually focused on two different models.

And what we will do tonight is I'll walk through the models moderately quickly and then open it up for task force discussion, hopefully a little guidance and some thoughts from the from the transportation task force, and then some questions back and forth with ILEA members.

So transportation model one is the collaborative compact option, and that comes from and we'll we'll you'll hear that collaborative compact option more than once tonight.

Uh we're borrowing heavily from our friends in Denver.

And it is a process, it is a a transportation model that brings together users in a collaborative compact.

That is, they agree uh to sit around the table and agree on uh levels of service, agree on uh extracurricular approaches, transportation districts, walk zones, uh, all by voting members of this collaborative uh compact advisory board.

Um it would be a fee for service model to borrow a word, which is um the schools you see at the bottom, the the differentiated school models that we see present in Indianapolis would receive their tax dollars uh for transportation, and then they would enter into agreement as part of the uh collaborative compact advisory board at the level of service they think meets the needs of their schools and their children.

IPS would continue to run transportation in this model, um, and we have out to the right-hand side in that box uh assuming that they continue to contract with with vendors or a vendor for those services.

Um the question with regards to um a lot of this is how do we mandate the decisions of the the collaborative compact to be binding, may require statutory approval of something like this, but that's the discussion of of how we work together, changing less of the structures and more of built around a collaborative compact model.

Um I will go to the second model um and describe it, and then we'll open up for some discussion.

So that's the collaborative compact model.

It allows access to those operating revenues under a fee for service fee for service agreement with IPS through the collaborative compact.

Transportation Model 2 is the input independent transportation authority model.

The creation of an independent authority to receive property tax revenue, design service models with input from stakeholders, and provide transportation services, most likely with transportation consultants, transportation vendor providers also.

Um it would provide alternative sets of options.

The authority would make decisions again with input from stakeholders about district walk zones, uh service districts, extracurricular transportation, etc.

The property tax dollars for the schools included in the bottom circles would go to the transportation authority for that service.

So those are the two models.

Um ILEA members, you have those models in your in your uh uh hard copies of the PowerPoint presentation.

Um I can answer any questions about sort of how we put this together from a lot of the meetings, but would look to maybe a couple members of the uh transportation task force to discuss those.

The couple uh of important takeaways before we get to that discussion.

Um items of discussion of either of these models, the task force discussed, sometimes agreed, sometimes disagreed, but the following was mentioned as items to consider.

Some of the task force believe the schools are receiving tax dollars for transportation, or if a broader entity is created, either a collaborative model or an independent authority, participation in the transportation authority should be mandated.

Other members believe that the lack of an independent transportation authority would prevent them from supporting mandatory transportation or mandatory participation, pardon me.

Um discussion of an independent authority as we went back and forth as a task force, questions about who would be operating the transportation services of that authority, what it means if we if there is an independent transportation authority to rebuild a new transportation system, or simply transfer the current model and team to conduct that work.

And I think it was uh uh relatively consensus about transportation that the the uh group believed that the IPS transportation team is good at what they do and should be considered as a professional staff if there is a an independent entity.

A couple of other items um for discussion and consideration, guidelines and guardrails as we discussed them, but there is not full consensus around all of these requirements around participation from schools, as I said, the conversation of equity of access to transportation, the need for a systems level solution, and that is that's really where you balance the flexibility and the service uh of transportation.

Mandatory opting out requires significant sacrifice of funding.

Um we've we've talked about time time frames when if you're in, you're in for a set period of time.

Local representation, if we're if we're thinking about the collaborative compact, that the local representation for leadership of any appointments should be a combination of district district and charter representation.

We should in any period of transition minimize disruption for all students within the IPS boundary, no disruption of services for McKinney Vento uh students or those students with IEP transportation accommodations.

Question about maintaining the current assets of the system, much like I what I talked about earlier, the institutional knowledge and expertise of the people that are running the system today, the existing infrastructure that's there, and thoughts about what the build-out for a broader service model might look like.

Consideration of smaller scale transportation operators, this would be really thinking about extracurricular buses or other ways to be additive to the transportation system.

And then a time plan for implementation, adjusting the changing funding last landscape uh and the shift in property tax dollars.

And then most importantly, I think everyone was clear about this.

We value transparency, clear decision-making processes with public input and identification of potential conflicts of interest.

With that, Roman, I would toggle back to Model One and we'll go from model one and model two and and entertain discussion among the ILEA.

I'd like to uh prioritize the uh comments and the additional suggestions and observations by the uh task force members themselves uh who have worked diligently in this regard.

So I'm taking uh nothing away from the the uh perspective of the rest of the ILE members.

I just thought we ought to, given Mike's presentation, allow the task force members themselves to weigh in to begin with don't everybody jump at once.

Yeah, Tina, Maggie, Toby, or Andrew Neal Andrew.

Um I think you know, one of the key aspects of the task force discussed was a requirement or incentive to participate within any of the given structures.

Um I think it's important that we continue to have those conversations as we have listened to uh very passionate community input.

It is clear that families across our city uh view transportation as uh accessibility to various options that are needed for their families.

And so um I I think you know, even as we have engaged in this process, when we look at the different models, figuring out what that incentive lever is or the um the mandatory participation lever is is going to be incredibly important.

Um I will say, you know, in in recent days, you know, for example, uh we've had other elected officials who who have weighed into this.

Um, you know, for example, Representative Benning, who um I think it's fair to say is a uh advocate for for charter schools, uh, made this point um the other day that got quoted in in uh the mirror.

Uh he said, I don't think choice works if you don't have the ability to get there.

Um I was pleased to hear that even from a charter school advocate, there is that understanding that participation uh needs to be required uh for choice to really fulfill uh what its promise was.

Um so I think that's a valuable piece to this conversation, and um I would encourage us to continue to flesh that out in both model or option one and option two.

Any other task force members with comments and observations, Toby?

Yeah, I just want to I served on the task force, the transportation task force.

I do want to point out that there was a consensus, I think by everybody on the task force that we build a unified system, right?

And we shouldn't overlook that, that this is option one, option two will be a unified system, and what we mean by unified system is currently IPS has a transportation model.

Some of the charter schools have their own systems, some work together, some don't.

But our thought is it should be unified, and that's just an incredibly important part of this.

Because when I say I guess what I should clarify is I think most people understand is that clearly IPS is a public school, right?

But charter schools, by statutory law in the state of Indiana, are public schools.

And so when we say a unified system, we mean a unified system for all public schools inside the IPS boundaries.

I do want to say, I'm gonna make a comment about which model I prefer.

Before I do that, excuse me, I was really pleased to see uh the conclusion of the recommendation about the professional staff.

One of the things I think I can speak for everybody is how remarkably impressed we are by the management team, the transportation team at IPS, Alicia and Andrew, of course, are at the top and set the tone.

But Bill Murphy, the COO, and Dietra Taylor, who's in charge of transportation, are just incredibly impressive in the in the information they provided us.

And and quite frankly, just so I'm I I think the transportation task force would committee would agree.

Transportation is incredibly complex.

And it's just I mean, it's it's the decisions.

So what we're what Mike has presented tonight, Michael Connor, are what are the policy decisions necessary to determine what kind of what kind of transportation you should provide, which Andrew just hit on to a certain extent.

But those decisions are difficult and they have incredible an incredible impact from a fiscal standpoint.

So I I just want to say I I think I can join the rest of the task force in saying we hope that that professional team will be part of whatever this model looks like moving forward.

I do have a preference for option two.

I'll just be direct about it.

Uh I prefer option two for a number of reasons.

The primary factor is that if you on this document, when you read it, the most important word is independent.

It's an independent building authority.

It's not the option one is is one in which essentially would be I'm gonna call this status quo approach in which we have we we uh IPS continues to levy property taxes uh for transportation and facilities primarily, and then what'll happen is we'll create Mike calls it a compact.

I call it I think of it as a committee, but the point is that charter schools and IPS come together, innovation network schools and create a model for sharing transfer unified system, right?

The problem with that is I see that as a continuation of the status quote.

And the the advantage because this let's be clear, what happens in that case is IPS will be focused on what's best for IPS, charter schools will be focused on what's best for charter schools, and they'll they'll um compromise and they'll come up with a system that may make sense, right?

The taxes are levied in that case by IPS.

The the advantage of the independent system is just in a simplest form.

I think that the purpose, the vision for the building of the not the building, but the transportation authority will be what's best for the city and what's best for the students in the IPS district.

And that should be the priority.

What's best for those students and what's best for the city?

So I uh one of the things that Andrew mentioned this is the last thing I'll say, is that essentially the testimony, not essentially the direct testimony at our first meeting that the task force excuse me presented is that if option, and it wasn't in these words, but it was essentially if we adopt option one, many, if not most charter schools will not participate for different reasons, probably related to a sense of leverage.

I I don't know.

But that's a problem, right?

What we have to do is create a system where we where we incentivize all public schools to participate in the model that we're creating.

So we need to incentivize those charter schools.

It's important for us, by the way, from a transportation uh dollar per student, right?

That we have that we have the opportunity to create the efficiencies, the economies of scale, and uh quite frankly expand access so that we can serve um in focus, if you will, on the students in this IPS district instead of the district and charter schools themselves.

So I favor option two.

Tina or Maggie comments, observations.

So I also want to articulate that there are other items like outside of what is discussed here that also become important as we move forward to the legislature.

And so while there's not a lot of consensus around these items, I think they're important to speak to in this moment.

Um when we talk about trying to plan this sort of large-scale unified system with the idea of equity of access, it's going to take as we said, time to implement.

Uh adjust and ramp up.

In my personal opinion, model one allows it a more smooth transition to slowly ramp up over time, whereas model two is a little more with there have to be transportation contractors don't do um a you know a few schools and then a few more schools, right?

Um it would have to be a more instantaneous start.

Um, but regardless of which model is chosen, when we're trying to plan a large-scale solution, um, it's my personal belief that there's a huge value in pausing temporarily the addition of new schools to this problem, right?

If we haven't had our facilities trans uh conversation yet, but if there's an acknowledgement that we already have too many open seats, that we already are struggling with too many facilities, we're trying to scale uh, as Toby said, is a very large-scale complex problem with many moving parts and pieces.

There's no reason to complicate that by adding more pieces to the puzzle midstream.

Um as one of the few educators up here, I can tell you that there are many times of year as an educator where I happily welcome new students into my classroom, and I'm so excited to see them.

But there are days when it is just really bad timing for a new student to walk into your door when you are trying to plan a large-scale project when it's testing day and the tickets are already printed and everything is ready to go.

There are days you just can't do it.

And I empathize with the folks who have great ideas for new schools, and I encourage them to please please look at the communities just outside of IPS boundaries, which are in great need of good schools, and I also encourage them to look into existing programs and where they can partner to bring their expertise, and I also look forward to their potential bringing those new ideas once things have settled, once the dust has settled.

But I think it's important to acknowledge that we can't solve this if the target is always moving with regards to transportation.

We had a discussion in the transportation committee about the potential of freezing routes after three weeks because current constantly adding new students to a route makes things complex and expensive.

So why would we add new schools into the problem solving along the way?

Again, not that that's not an eventual thing, but while we're transitioning, while the dust is settling, I think that's an important part of the conversation as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Yeah.

Thank you, Mr.

Mir.

I don't want to repeat everything that uh Mr.

Toby just uh stated, but I do want to go back to uh the topic of transportation.

I do believe that option two is probably the best option presented this evening.

Oftentimes we are really good at working in silos or schools, they all do their things separately.

I think this options forces us to make the main theme the main thing, it's our kiddos and ensuring that all of them have access to transportation.

So again, I do believe option two is probably the best option presented this evening.

Thank you.

Any other comments from uh task force members or other members of the uh uh alliance, Dr.

Johnson?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I just wanted to make a couple of responses to what my colleagues have shared.

Thank you all for sharing.

Um, first I want to uh just uh note that I don't think that IPS's transportation is status quo in any way.

I believe we're probably the only district in the state of Indiana who actually works collaboratively with our charter school partners to provide transportation.

Most school districts only provide transportation for their specific school districts, but because of the um innovation partnerships we have and our family of schools model, we provide transportation for a number of our partners, and I think that's very far from the status quo.

Um the second thing I would just note is that 72% of students within the boundary who receive and take public uh public school transportation do so through IPS.

So nearly three-fourths of the students who are currently receiving transportation get that transportation through Indianapolis public schools.

I also think it seems a little bit at odds to say that charters wouldn't participate if IPS was the provider.

One, because many already do that today, and we gladly serve them and do that in the same way that we do our other schools.

A child at GPA or a child at Anna Brockhouse and 88 or a child at Edison School of the Arts all needed to need to be transported to school safely.

So we are not going to make a distinguish between uh how we treat one school to another because they're all children, they all need to get to school safely.

Um, if my understanding is correct, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but in option two, as the independent authority, it is independent, but in this model, there isn't this isn't an incentivizing mechanism.

Schools are required to have their dollars go to that authority.

So you add an incentivize anyone, we've require participation, which I do think is very important.

So I do think everyone should be required to participate.

I think if you receive property tax dollars and you don't want to participate, that can be your choice, but then you do not receive those funds, would be my stand on that.

Um, and then finally, I would note that if we believe the independent authority is the way to go.

I I do not, you could probably tell by my comments.

Um, I would hope that the authority would actually be informed by actual operators of schools.

So to suggest independent means not informed by schools, and and maybe that's not the suggestion.

I think that authority still needs to be responsive to the actual school leaders who are operating schools every day, and especially if we believe our staff should should actually execute the work, and I agree we have a phenomenal team of people.

It just makes sense to me to do option one, in which case we can keep the consistency and stability, which I believe should be our North Star, stability for families, stability for our community with the service provider, which right now is IPS, who's doing it for 75% approximately of our students, create the advisory board so that schools who we don't partner with now can help to inform and shape what's to come, but we're not gonna recreate something for a hundred percent of the people when 75% 75% of them are already a part of a system that is actually working on the comments or observations by uh ILEA members who weren't on the task force.

Thank you, superintendent, for your perspective.

Yeah, Bart.

Yeah, I'd I would like to try to understand option one a little bit better, seeing these seeing these two options for the first time tonight.

Um the collaborative compact is the entity that tries to bring some coherence to all of this to try to have a single system, I gather.

So tell me if I'm saying anything wrong that that that is the purpose of it.

That IPS is the entity that does contracting on behalf of the collaborative, the collaborations.

So whoever's participating in that, let's just say all the charter schools and IPS are participating in this collaborative agreement.

IPS enters into contracts with providers.

And then where does the where do the property tax dollars flow?

We're going to start to see property taxes go to charter schools.

So do they then do they then turn those property tax dollars over to IPS to be part of paying for the system?

Um do they uh do they put them in some other charter school only group that then is part of the collaborative, and you've got two sides working together?

I'm not sure I understand what this means.

I might take a swipe and then let other task force members, as I understood it, Mayor, and and th those are sort of getting into further details, but the the collaborative would set sort of the guidelines and the rules.

IPS would be the service provider or the contractor with the transportation company.

They would be sort of taking the the information about how much where choice fits transportation or everything and price that model out.

Um the the conversation you heard um from from Andrew in particular was this this as we have it and thought about it, it is a fee for service model, but the debate is really is it a fee for service model, or if we have the mandatory, if we have the collaborative, right now the collaborative is if you're part of the collaborative, your property taxes go mostly fee for mostly thought about as a fee for service model to the to the pool.

Um but if we have a collaborative compact and it and and it's binding, then you know, which means statutory action taken for that.

The the question I think Andrew's talking about is do we further detail that one you have to be uh your property tax dollars have to be committed to that transportation?

So, and that's one of the unresolved questions is whether it is whether charter schools would have to participate or not, whether it would be mandatory that they participate in the collaborative.

Correct.

So does as a practical matter, does this boil down to whether an independent to be created authority runs the combined transportation system since you all agree that it's a that the ideal is a combined transportation, a unified system, which I agree with?

Uh is it does it really come down to whether a independent entity runs that or IPS runs that?

Is that is it really kind of boil down to that?

I would defer to the task force members for that question.

A lot of nods.

Toby?

It also comes down to that.

But also who receives the property tax funds?

Who who I'm sorry, who lobbies the taxes and receives the taxes?

That's probably the biggest most significant change.

Well, and I I would I would I would answer or elaborate, Mayor, to more to your question in this case, because I Toby's pointing out that in that case IPS would levy the taxes.

Yeah.

And I would set that, you know, if one option had a mandatory participation requirement in it, and another option did not, that might also be a factor in the different committee members' decisions.

And and then could I, Mayor, could I ask one more uh unrelated question?

Um as a task force, you you had this what I thought was very helpful um this particular chart that shows the um cost versus flexibility, and then you excised four of the options, and that left another five or six.

Um did you have any discussion as a task force about um like what would drive the decision about these look like different options?

So is it a matter of how much the legislature how much between the between between the the system and the amount of money it has available to it and how efficient we can be, does that just drive which of these alternatives we go toward?

Is it's is this purely a matter of how much money we have, which one of these things we select, or do we actually have some ability to drive toward a particular choice among these?

A more desirable option.

Again, technically wrong, but it's my understanding that the idea is that it would be up to those the collaborative compact or the independent entity to look at the needs of the schools that are participating to decide which of those models would potentially be the best.

Um anybody believe that differently.

Um last note on anything that is optional.

So if we do if we decide not to make something mandatory, does that give IPS the option to opt out?

They say we we are assuming that IPS will participate.

But if opt-out is an option, then what sort of equity do we have if IPS doesn't opt in?

Mr.

Mayor.

I also want to come back to like what is the problem that we're actually trying to solve because it leads you to different conclusions.

So I believe, and we should state explicitly that the problem we're trying to solve is ensuring every school offers transportation.

Now that's different than every student gets to go to wherever they want.

We've already said that feels cost prohibitive, but that every school offers transportation, which both option one and option two could do, but if participation is optional, one that we've not actually solved the problem, which we said is every school providing transportation because they're in the receipt of property tax dollars.

I think secondly, if schools are given the option not to participate, then you and enough schools don't, then you don't have a system anymore.

So it seems to me either schools have to participate, because in fact we are trying to maximize the impact of the resources we have, or we have to say we're actually not trying to solve a problem of all schools having transportation and maximizing our resources.

Because we can't do that if we don't have participation.

Mayor, thank you.

Um Mayor, I appreciate all of your questions because you it is almost like you were reading my notes.

I because I was a little confused.

He said he was.

So for me, I I think the most important thing is um it has to be mandatory.

I'm just thinking through the lens of the legislature, and it's gonna make a lot more sense for the legislature if this is to me mandatory, because then it's really solving the problem.

All schools are actually getting the exact same thing.

It seems fair and equitable.

I also think stability when you think about kiddos, those of you who are parents or are not, but just imagine how a parent would imagine getting their child to school.

The more consistent and stable it is, the better for all involved.

I think it's easier to select an option, and that kind of takes me back to what Tina had said.

We have to have a pause because you cannot continue to have just a rolling wheel of change.

To me, that feels unstable.

Um, and so all of those things matter.

One of the questions I did have, um, Mike, but I don't think we're answering that today.

We're not answering that question on cost and flexibility that will be left to the final authority.

Is that right?

That is correct.

I mean, that's a that's a discussion with all the you know, we put up the uh note with all the levers and service levels.

So you we did kind of rule out some options, but and and remind everybody we kind of think the strike zone is in that gray area on that X and Y axis.

Yeah.

Okay, thank you.

So those are my thoughts.

I I'm still like processing because like Mayor Um Peterson, this is my first time seeing this model, but those are the things that are important to me.

Thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, Maggie.

Oh, Barato, I'm sorry.

No, I um I appreciate the uh conversation.

I know uh if it was anything like the facilities task force work, it has been very robust, and I am seeing some through lines that we also have have dealt with, which kind of speak to a question of stewardship versus ownership.

And even though I I appreciate that we're all talking about the importance of a unified system, a unified system assumes equity, meaning that all things have to be as fairly considered as possible.

And so that makes it very hard for me to think about something that does not that requires well that participation there may be a loophole for a lack of participation when we all agree that access to wherever schools uh well lack of transportation cannot be a uh a hindrance in terms of access to the schools that parents believe best.

So I don't I I don't think I can get to a situation where we're looking at some type of loopholes for schools for whatever reason, agnostic of the motivations or whatever, to be in a position where they can have public schools where transportation is optional.

So uh I do want to know those, because there is some uh a lot of alignment toward at least that premise and that fact, if we are not going so robustly or concretely as saying it is a mandate, what uh remind us what kind of stipulations or other controls will be in place to make it so painful that a school will have to reconsider trying to limit access to transportation for state.

The answer is is similar, right?

You're there there's a lot of there was a lot of bleed over in between facilities and transportation on this, and that is if you're in, you're in for a set period of time, and then you have to give a set period of time before you're allowed to exit.

Sort of if you're in your and and I'm gonna say num ne or years, but we didn't agree upon a set of years.

But this this conversation, if you're in, you're locked in for three years.

If you're gonna exit, you have to give a two-year notice to exit.

Those kind of conversations.

Angie?

So for me, like taking into account what you were saying, so and what Barato said, so if you're if it's not mandatory, you're in for a certain amount of time, then you would also have to give a certain amount of years of notice.

That also to me would mean that you would relinquish receiving any dollars as well.

Is that that makes sense to me if you're not all the way in?

So I'm just asking if I would I would say that's been discussed, but it wasn't there's not consensus around that, but it's been discussed been discussed.

So it's a lot of these things went back and forth and similar to the facilities conversation.

It's it's sort of how how do you how do you manage a system with potential potential of individuals or organizations moving out in and out frequently?

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, that would be that would be un that would create instability to me.

Okay, thank you.

Any other comments or questions from the ILEA about this task force um option recommendation?

In the interest of time, then Mike, why don't we close out our conversation regarding uh transportation and move to um report out our facilities task force uh report?

Thank you, Mayor.

Um before I read what the slides in front of you, I will say, and you'll see this repeated on models.

That the again, this conversation on facilities almost always we we would have a conversation on facilities and different models, and we almost always then stumbled into the question of governance.

So you're gonna see that repeated a lot.

There were also a lot of questions that quite frankly, if you read House Enrolled Act 1515, we didn't we didn't get guidance from the legislature, so I'll read what's up there.

While House Enrolled Act 1515 charges the ILAA with recommendations regarding facilities, there's no guidance on how to deal with many details like bonded indebtedness, bondholder rights, independent charter owned facilities, and many others.

So as we discussed the options, you're gonna see, and I will say the facilities task force got to options pretty quickly.

But as you as we talk about those, many of those details will need to be uh resolved by the legislature through statute.

So with that, we'll go to facilities model one.

And as I said, you're gonna you're gonna it's gonna sound familiar a little bit to you.

Facilities model one is the collaborative compact option.

Um the the collaborative compact again would be uh uh organization made up of uh voluntary participation, some some appointments, etc.

The collaborative uh uh compact which set guidelines um and metrics for shared for openings and closings of schools, accountability and performance standards set as policy by voting members of the compact.

Money goes to the school and the fee for services is paid, statutory created so that the compact decisions are binding.

Questions remain about how charter schools would have access access to debt absent a governance discussion or a governance solution.

So that's model one.

Model two discussed by the facilities task force is again an independent buildings authority model.

Um the independent building authority uh would be staffed with facilities experts, professional staff.

It would be the recipient of the property tax dollars, in this case the facilities, property tax dollars.

It would make this is another area where absent a policy discussion.

We really focused on the building authority would make quantitative decisions, leaving the qualitative decisions uh out there for discussion.

And and the charter schools would have the independent facilities authority responsible for operation and maintenance of their buildings.

One of the questions that's come up through learning as we have in this whole process is currently IT services, and Andrew, you can tell me if I'm saying this the right way.

Currently, most of the IT services for schools are funded through the uh operating revenues.

And so we we didn't get into is the is the independent facilities authority going to be responsible for IT operations also as it's currently funded, or do we have to figure out a way working with the legislature to separate that funding out?

I think Dr.

Johnson, you mentioned a model of where Broad Ripple had a had a pipe issue and there were was cleanup necessary and it knocked the Wi-Fi out in the building and and sort of all those things come from.

I was I was not aware that the that the IT is funded through those dollars.

Model three is a service provider model.

IPS is a facility service provider.

It's not unlike IPS as the transportation service provider.

Under this model, you can see the same four school models are repeated all the way through this process, but under this model, property taxes would go to the schools.

They would pay IPS for the services they are provided, not unlike the what the uh innovation network charter schools do today.

Questions remain about chartering authority, accountability standards where policy decision making resides, schools opening and closing.

How do we do that absent to governance decision?

So as we as we discuss facilities, where does policy plug in on those type of questions?

The the decision about an independent facility is the building safe.

That's a that's an easy decision to make, but how is it utilize those sort of questions?

Under this case, IPS would be making those decisions.

And I would say I think safely that model four was the least discussed and perhaps a least supportive model option, but we we all recognize that there is an Indianapolis-Marion County building authority that exists today that owns and operates the buildings where government is operated.

And so this would shift ownership or operations of facilities to that existing entity, but it doesn't again answer the questions needed for governance or policy clarity.

But it would be the entity that owns, operates, has debt issuance and and uh tax collection or tax levies setting uh abilities.

So those are the four.

As I said, the the facilities task force had a lot of discussion and then got pretty straight to to models.

Sort of what do we think the range from from A to D in this case is for us to consider as a model.

Um and Mayor, I wouldn't want to interrupt you, but I would look to the same thing.

We have some of the task force facilities folks kind of introduced the further discussion.

Yeah, I'm in fact uh but before we do that, and uh obviously as I indicated earlier, the um the ILEA members who participated on our facilities task force uh included Barato Britt, uh Angela Smith Jones and Bart Peterson, and before I obviously encourage them to offer their perspectives and my observations, uh I probably was remiss in not giving the ILEA the opportunity after the options have been presented by uh Mike O'Connor to ask Mike O'Connor questions uh if you uh if there's something that Mike said that you didn't fully appreciate or understand.

Are you willing to accept that?

Yes, sir.

I would also uh point out that you and the superintendent were also uh members of each of these uh task forces, so you got to you got double duty to attend a bunch of meetings.

So I'd uh be remiss if I didn't mention that.

Questions of Mike O'Connor on the options, the four options presented for facilities.

Okay, Barato, Angela, and uh Bart uh observations and uh offerings okay.

I'll I'll go first, Mayor.

Maybe we can just go that way.

Okay.

Um so some things for me while we were discussing this is um, and I do keep hearing Superintendent Johnson saying, like, for which problem are we solving?

Um some things for me while we were discussing the multiple models is um how do we create safety um within the facilities for our students um stability and you know maintaining the space where they um are attending their classes for them and their families.

I do feel like this also like the we discussed with transportation, it has to be mandatory because then we're not creating a unified system, and I think that we're not really answering what the legislature wants us to do if it's not mandatory.

Um again, we keep talking about student population and numbers, so I think that we're going to have to look at the numbers of students, the facilities that exist, and we're gonna have to put a pause on creating additional charter schools at the moment, because that to me creates instability and more confusion.

Um then we also talked about we have to keep in mind that debt service model.

So we have to be very careful in which one we utilize because the bondholders and those obligations, that's something that's really real.

Um, and then we I don't know if anyone said this yet recently, but we've got to look at um repealing the one dollar rule because then I feel like we're putting all of the schools on a level playing field, we're looking at equity and fairness when we're doing it as a mandatory way.

So I don't have an answer, but these are things that while we were discussing this that were going through my mind as we were trying to see what options even existed that we could look at to bring before the full task force to discuss.

So hopefully that helps.

Thank you, Mayor.

Barthes, yeah, just to kind of kind of illustrate what Mike said about the challenge of talking about facilities without talking about governance at the same time, you know, you have if if if we think about having as there's been uh discussion of a unified performance management system, how do you how does that coexist with a with decisions around buildings?

If one says that uh uh if if if the governing entity, whatever that is, if it's a unified system says you can't have a building if you're not performing up to a certain standard, then you're you're you're bleeding over between the uh the decision making of of whoever the facilities decision maker is versus whoever the sort of uh education performance standards decision maker is.

Um and let's just take the case of uh of a charter school that owns a building and has debt on that building and is paying it, and it's been told by a governing entity that it is got to close because it's not performing, then you know it it now has no money to pay the debt on its building.

And so how that that those two things have to be kind of coordinated or or you end up with a bit of a mess.

So I think I think that I just want to re-emphasize Mike's point about that.

Um and then I think another uh point I wanted to make if you look at model two of the independent building authority model.

How does we we know how IPS schools are controlled, and that's complicated enough, as the superintendent has said on a number of occasions.

There are lots of different arrangements for different buildings uh within the IPS system.

Within the charter school system, if you have let's just say 50 charter schools, you've got you know 50 different arrangements for their facility and each of their facilities, and how do you gain control over all those facilities?

Does the authority, which would be the recipient of the tax dollars in this case, purchase those buildings from whoever owns them with uh the charter school buildings that I'm talking about, whether it's the charter school itself or some third party that the school leases from?

Uh more likely does it somehow gain control of and how how are property rights exercised by an independent authority uh over buildings that are owned in lots of different ways by lots of different entities.

So just more complications.

We were looking at how do we really view these things from the most uh uh equitable argument, all things being uh equal, how can the facilities at at a uh high level North Star make sure how can we make sure that facilities are well equipped with everything that is necessary to ensure all the public school school students that we serve um uh have access, right?

So if you're dealing with it from that, if you're looking at it from that view, then invariably you have to look at equitable systems that require or compel at the very least all different school types to participate in something that will allow for the type of resource provision, the type of evaluation, the type of um scrutiny that uh um that uh that I think uh all of our students and our families deserve.

I have to say that I I also tried to approach things from a unique uh aspect as uh member of a charter board that if those things were equal and if we were looking at things like an authority where responsibility was relinquished um and assets were relinquished, um, you know, how would how would we perceive that, right?

I can tell you that I am but one member of a charter board board that I know will have diverse opinions on that relinquishment, the theoretical relinquishment of that of that asset, um no different than we uh observed in in committee.

But I guess my question to them as as I've had to grapple with myself is if we're compelling our our traditional district uh to do so, how can we not do the same, right?

So I mean it it's it's that kind of vein that we're trying to look at, you know, uh a solution, which is also why options like us authority or something more centralized that can allow for that type of equitable evaluations uh uh is something that I find to be particularly compelling.

Uh one other piece that I would say is even though it didn't speak separately or didn't speak specifically to the solution, one of the things that we had addressed is the acknowledgement that from a community perspective there is an opportunity, whether you whether you agree or disagree that we have too many facilities, too many students or whatever, there is a need to really reassess how we're thinking future resour reuse of uh facilities in our city.

As a neighborhood that's experienced the turmoil and the transitions of both traditional public and charter schools and have seen blight and other things as a result of lack of real authentic community input, you know, this is an opportunity for us to solve for a number of things that'll make sure that communities do feel that there's that there is true collective ownership in terms of how the schools and the facilities that from an ownership question I would argue is all of ours, you know, um how we consider that.

So I appreciated that being named, and I would I would anticipate that how we consider facility usage further, in addition to all the evaluative tools for school development, we're thinking about community context as well.

So uh those are just some of my takeaways.

Mayor, if I might, I might add one point to Parado's discussion.

So one of the overarching, it was it was early and and came up a few times one of the overarching components of the discussion of the facilities task force was we are getting ready to enter into a very revenue-constrained environment, and that as we look at buildings and students and openings and closings, that we have to be very, very careful to make sure we're you we're maximizing the resources available to us in buildings and making sure that that we are spending, particularly on the facility side, dollars very carefully.

And so that's an overarching issue as we think about this facilities task force.

Mayor, you're the one who reiterated that number of times.

Do you wish to elaborate on that at all?

Maggie.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Is there one model that the facilities uh uh task force like recommended?

I didn't I don't want to speak on behalf of my colleagues to my right, but again, I'm just trying to get an understanding if there was one model that you all felt like is the one that we really should consider.

And if uh very candidly, I'm not there.

I uh I I do appreciate though that we did not allow some really challenging political realities, stifle our ability to look at what we may believe is the absolute best option.

I think there was definitely acknowledgement, just like with transportation, that there is a strong foundation there that has to be considered, and that is the work that the district has done, both from a facility standpoint and in collaboration with uh with charters as an innovation concept.

So it would be a folly for us not to look at that as something that should that can potentially be built around, right?

Yeah.

On the other side, you know, we did look at um, you know, there was the opposite end of that, which may create a different level of buying and may ultimately get to the solution.

I'm thinking that it's somewhere in between, but I'm just not personally not locked in on a certain so then my my question is again, I know we'll all take a deep dive into the the different options.

Again, I did not have the opportunity opportunity to serve on this task force, but which are the models, if either one of you could answer, and if not, I can I know we'll do a deep dive later.

Which one actually leaves room for uh the opportunity for us to shift based on enrollment?

Um which one of the options, if you will, allow for the opportunity to create create guidelines that speaks to opening and closing of uh the schools, the co-locations, which one of these options or models allow for those types of conversation and and things to be put in place.

So I'll I'll defer to the other members on that, but one of the things that we were trying to be careful of, Doan was not imposing additional powers that may not be in the proper purview of that particular authority.

For example, we didn't talk about having the responsibility or the ability to open or close schools, but certainly recognizing that just like transportation, there is a level of institutional models and expertise to make sure that the facilities are utilized effectively.

That's where governance always continues.

Overlap into the got it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Other questions or comments from uh ILEA members.

Mr.

Mayor.

Yes, thank you, superintendent.

Thank you.

Um thank you, Angie, for saying because what I keep coming back to again is like what is the problem we're trying to solve, and we haven't clearly articulated that.

I think one problem we all agreed on is that we have excess space, we have more seats, more capacity than what we need, and we need to make some right sit right sizing decisions.

Our our board has said that.

I have said that.

We know that needs to happen.

We have 103 schools serving about 40,000 students in that peak IPS enrollment when we had about 1009,000 students.

We had 110 schools.

So we have nearly the same number of schools serving less than half the number of students.

So there are some hard decisions that do need to get made.

And I think from my purview, I want to be sure that there is collective decision making, cross-sector decision making.

Um that happens so that IPS alone isn't a part of uh bearing that burden that we need to look really critically across all of our schools of all types and make decisions about um how our resources get best used so that we can cultivate as much stability for our families as well.

So I don't want to lose sight of the fact that we have to in this process be sure we are cultivating stability.

So I think when I think about facilities, what I really see it coming down to, and what a lot of our conversations was about is who gets to decide.

That's really sort of what we are saying is we need to make a recommendation about who we feel is best equipped to decide how to make those very hard choices.

And so I think that is at the crux of what we are thinking about, talking about, um, and I think our community has elected people who they trust to decide.

Andrew Mayor, I think um I think one of the problems that we are trying to solve here, and that we must come to terms with is that we have a fragmented education system, and what we have been given the opportunity to do is to unite that education system.

And I think the people of Indianapolis deserve a united education system.

And so when we talk about uh facilities and transportation, you know, the reality is you you can loop performance into that conversation.

I I would I would loop discipline policy into that conversation as well, but those all go hand in hand.

And so as I look at these various options, I I think we're starting to get some coalescence around some different models.

Um it sounds like the facilities task force, there wasn't a lot of interest in recommending model four.

So maybe we're getting closer to a point where we can take that off the table.

I would personally say I I don't think model three uh meets the moment for uniting these fragmented systems.

Uh and I think we've got perhaps two congruent models uh that are in sync between transportations and facilities, but uh to tackle those, and and I imagine we're gonna get to this, but to tackle those without talking about overarching governance um is not realistic.

Mayor?

Yes, Bart.

I I think Henry, you just nailed it.

I I truly think that we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that we really are united, I believe, around the idea of a unified system.

One system, because we are fragmented.

We're fragmented that that's why we're sitting here right now, is because we're so fragmented.

And to unfragment ourselves is gonna mean everybody's gonna have to sacrifice something.

You can't you can't change the status quo without everybody giving something up.

And so uh I I want to make sure that we uh uh celebrate a little bit the fact that we have come far enough to say to to know that we're gonna tell the legislature, I believe, we want a unified system.

Now I realize that that there's still some big bridges to cross and some very significant points, and uh the superintendent may have articulated it most uh simply and best by saying who gets to decide.

And so I think that's kind of where we are.

But we are we do have a unified system uh agreement, both in transportation, it sounds like in facilities.

We recognize that we're not gonna save money, we're not gonna deliver a better product uh for the students and the families that we're serving if we don't come together.

Uh and I I'm really pleased that we are at this point right now.

Recognizing that we have probably one really big decision yet to make additional observations or questions or comments from the ILEA membership, alliance membership.

Okay, seeing none, then again, in the interest of time, um we should proceed to the next order of business on our uh agenda tonight, and that is the governance models uh report uh out, and I'll hand it back to Michael Connor to provide background and um and commentary.

Thank you, Mayor.

As we've seen, sort of each of these discussions, whether it be transportation or facilities, all required each of the task forces to bump into this question of governance.

So what you're gonna see tonight, the various models and options that you will see represent a spectrum of options, some with minimal changes to the current practices and some with dramatic changes.

The point of this discussion is to think about where policy decisions should reside within with regards to serving multiple school models who provide education in different ways to our children all over Indianapolis.

That's the underlying framework and why we really have gone from from uh you know a a minimal change to a maximal change set of models.

So with that, um I'll I'll go into the the four models that we've laid out.

Um I would be remiss if I didn't say there is there's not consensus around one because there hasn't been an exercise to bring consensus around one.

There was an exercise to make sure we thought about the broad continuum.

So governance model option one is really the the um least change from our current approach.

Most authority resides in IPS with authority uh with authorities appeals, that is authorizing appeals.

Uh uh IPS is the authorizer if denied, those appeals would go to OEI.

Service models expanded to include all schools, but tax authority and policy decisions reside within IPS as constituted today.

You will see the again um what you've seen before and all night, the four school models differentiated here, district managed schools within IPS, innovation network schools within the ILEA, innovation charter schools between them and and IPS is their individual charter school board, independent charter schools, the same thing.

It is a it is a um structure that uh would see minimal change in governance, uh minimal change in real operations, but a a uh more broad approach and and delineating that those connections between governance and um uh day-to-day operation flow up through IPS.

So that is the least change model, um, a more uh clarified model of how authorizing decisions are made and how authorizing decisions are appealed, um, but really sort of minimal change.

Uh the second model for discussion is um again, you've seen it before, um, a collaborative compact advisory board model.

Um there are IPS appointees, mayoral appointees, and charter school appointees to the collaborative compact advisory board.

That board would be a charter authorizer.

Um it would have uh interaction with IPS, the mayor uh and the OEI, um, but it would be the holder of the policy uh uh decision making.

That question is we talked about earlier about opening and closings of schools, uh work with an independent uh or work with transportation as it's currently structured, but it would be a a not a dramatic change in structure, but a dramatic change in authority where policy resides.

As you see through this, district managed schools would report up with the IPS School Board to the Collaborative Compact Advisory Board.

Innovation network schools would be the same.

Innovation charter schools would report up to this collaborative compact policymaker, uh, as would individu independent charter schools.

The collaborative compact would be the recipient of property tax dollars for both transportation and facilities, uh, but probably run under that IPS operations model.

Um third model, and we will toggle back and forth as we discuss these because this is the first time most of you have seen this.

Third model is is a um as we're going through the continuum, sort of the more dramatic change, but less than the fourth model.

Uh this model would create within the uh uh uh a municipal corporation thought process a separate Indianapolis education authority.

Um that Indianapolis Education Authority would have a uh Secretary of Education appointed by the mayor.

Um it would have a policy making board, that is a board made up of uh five lay appointees appointed by the mayor, one of those being the chair.

It would have four appointees that serve ad hoc insofar as those four appointees would come from the ranks of the elected IPS school board.

There would still be seven elected school board members, but the mayor would choose four to serve on the education authority board uh uh by uh uh election to the IPS School Board.

The IPS uh the building and transportation staff, whether they separate they are separate entities or combined entities, would be seen as professional employees of the education authority.

Um the education authority would be the recipient of both transportation and facilities property taxes.

And as you see on the bottom of the four dots, the squares on this one, uh the district managed schools would report up through their currently elected IPS school board to the uh uh Indianapolis Education Authority relative to the policies around opening and closing the schools, perform a performance and academic standards, um, transportation models would be developed and provided by the education authority to the schools underneath this.

Again, each of the entities that have their current boards, whether they be individual charter schools or the IPS school board, those boards would remain intact.

The last model is option four, and I have to look, I don't have option four in my deck.

Probably should have checked that before I started today.

Option four is the most dramatic change to be considered.

And I reiterate again, we've we tried to cover the the spectrum here, but option four would be not changing the structures so much, but changing the way in which we choose uh the decision makers.

So the mayor would appoint all of the IPS school board.

UmEI would continue as it pardon me, I'm presenting, please.

Um the mayor would appoint all of the IPS school board.

Um the district managed schools, the innovation network schools, innovation charter schools, all would report up to that appointed board.

That board would be again the recipient of property taxes overseeing for all schools with transportation and facilities, uh would be the charter authorizer within the boundaries of Indianapolis and Marion County with appeal rights to the Indianapolis Charter Schools Board.

Um and that would, as I said, this is this represents the spectrum of potential options.

There may be more that we can discuss as a as an ILEA board, but we tried to cover things from A to Z.

Um and it would uh this would be the sort of most dramatic change but would would locate the decision making.

It would again provide as we've discussed tonight a unified system.

Provide some clarity and cohesion within the school environment in Indianapolis today.

So those are those are the spectrum.

They widely vary, and we can again, for purposes of questions and answers, toggle back and forth between them.

I would reiterate, as I said before, no one should take anything from the fact that these four are here other than they have been put up on the screen for consideration and discussion.

Questions, uh observations for Mike O'Connor.

Yes, Maggie.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Just a question of clarification on Model Three.

So there's a uh a policy board of nine, four individuals from the elected school board.

Did I hear you correctly say that the mayor would actually select the four individuals to serve on the board, not the board but select the four initiative?

Correct.

The mayor would select from the from the seven elected members of the IPS school board.

Okay.

Thank you.

I have a clarifying question on that same model.

Um for the City of Indianapolis Secretary of Education, would that be a mayoral appointee or would that be an elected position?

It would be a mayoral appointee.

The the way we view it similarly to uh separate municipal corporation, so the mayoral appointee would be designated by the mayor and approved by the Napolus Education Authority Board.

So similar to how the Secretary of Education Brendan is now appointed by the governor versus elected.

Correct.

I think they're confirmed by the education board also, but I but I can't say that specifically.

Maggie?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

So the levy, the ability to levy taxes would go to the policy making board or to the mayor of Indianapolis?

It would be to the policy making board, which serves as appointee as appointed by the mayor, but yes, it would be the policy making board.

And then last question, if you don't mind, Mr.

Mayor.

The is it one charter authorizer, multiple?

Can you talk to me a little bit more about that?

Uh under this model, we would view that as a single charter authorizer for within uh the boundaries and with it's not included in this, but but I would assume that there may be appeal rights to the Indianapolis Charter School Board also.

So who would be I'm sorry, so who's the who's the authorizer and how do we decide who that is?

Is it the cities and state?

It would be the Indianapolis Education Authority, would be the charter authorizer.

Oh, okay.

Thank you.

Andrew, uh question on option one.

In that option is does IPS become the sole authorizer with OEI serving as the an appealing body?

Yes.

Other questions, comments?

I was just curious because again, we spent a lot of time in our last meeting looking at Denver and Washington, D.C.

Would I be correct in understanding that Denver is closest to option one?

Because the as in the school district itself the authorizer.

I believe so, correct?

Pardon me.

Yes.

It is the authorizer under this case.

The the compact would be the authorizer.

And maybe D.C.

would be closest to three.

I think four.

Fourth.

Because of the biggest, I just think that's a good question.

Yeah, that's the it's a different governance model, so they have a separate board of education because they're a quasi-city state, but but I would view four as the closest to Washington, D.C., and in my perspective, two is the closest to Denver, but there's not a whole lot of differentiation if you're comparing Denver between one and two.

All right, thank you.

Yeah, Barato.

Yeah.

Mike, just for clarity, uh, options two and three from just a uh governance model don't uh don't change the governing constitutions of any of the public schools, whether it's IPS or the charters, right?

Correct.

It just adds an overarching kind of authority.

It's a it's a it's a collaborative model.

Again, we go back to this discussion.

We if we want the collaborative compact decisions to be binding, um that is you participate in the collaboration, and then we as a as a group decide something and they're binding, we probably need statutory declaration, statutory creation of that entity.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Varato?

Varato, second uh question is also safe to assume that recommendations here it essentially we're naming the fact that at most, you know, IPS, the city, we certainly believe that among additional charter authority, charter authorization should be at least relegated to a couple of bodies, meaning invariably uh into other charter authorizers will not have the ability to do so in the IPS boundary.

I don't mean to speak for members of the of the ILEA.

I sat through here and sat through multiple task force meetings and discussions with all of you individually and collectively, and the the um the the word coherence is frequently used, sort of how do we create more coherence in the education environment within Indianapolis?

So I think it leads you to that, but I I'm I don't have a vote, but I think that's a consistent part of the discussion is is whatever whatever we recommend to the legislature, we know the legislature has to approve, but we do think this this environment within which we're operating needs more coherence.

Any other questions or comments?

Uh superintendent, uh, I think uh since you and I were largely charged with the responsibility of at least putting these thoughts together, um do you have uh perspectives that uh you think would be worthy for the ILEA to consider?

I do.

Um I I just want to sort of name and it's continue to come up in our conversations around facilities and transportation, when we think about governance, it's very easy to look at these bodies as separate things on a piece of paper.

But when you operate schools every day, what's happening in your buildings, how your students get to and from school, what time school starts, what time school ends, what opportunities kids have for extracurricular activities, how many staff you need, um, all of those things, how many pre-K classrooms?

Do you have a classroom for special education students who have intense needs?

All of those things are impacted by the decisions made on facilities and transportation.

So I want us to just think very carefully about um trying to silo those items as if they are standalone because they are they are not.

They um intersect deeply with what happens in our schools every day and the experiences that our students get to have.

So when we talk about who gets to decide, they aren't just deciding about a bus in a building, they're deciding the actual academic and educational experience of our children, and so we need to be very thoughtful about who we are asking and giving that responsibility to anything else, Superintendent.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments or concerns?

I do want to reiterate, I think an observation that uh Mike made uh at the very very beginning of this presentation.

Um while Alicia and I were largely charged with the responsibility of trying to put together options uh for governance, um and I don't mean to speak for you, Alicia, but maybe I'm just speaking for myself.

I want to make it clear that uh I remain um open uh to all of these options, and I do look forward to the additional public testimony, not only tonight, but over the course of the next couple of weeks, uh, because all of these topics are incredibly important, but probably none rises to the level of how uh education governance is method in um the city of Indianapolis, and uh I'm nowhere near making any kind of final conclusion or recommendation, and again, I don't speak for Dr.

Johnson, but I would not be surprised if she feels the same way.

Mayor, if I can add, and I first I want to thank everyone who's on the platform.

I we all care deeply about our students and what happens to our children, so that is never a question in my mind.

I do think in the time that we are in when there are explicit efforts to diminish voice of community, to suppress communities and people's ability to choose, particularly people of color, as we think about these decisions.

Again, they represent more than just decisions about buses and buildings.

They represent who has power and who has voice in our community and who we believe deserves to have that voice and that power in our community.

So I think we can find coherent and cohesive solutions that serve all of our students well, but we have a process for who gets to decide, and those that's called an election, and we can't forget that Dr.

Johnson, I I agree with you on the importance of elections.

I do want to point out, though, that how our school board elections go has changed significantly over the past couple of years.

When you start instituting uh a desire to see candidates declare political parties, you you insert politics into this at a level that has not been before.

And so out of that, though, I think you have candidates who have good and fresh ideas that maybe are afraid to enter into that process, and they've been disenfranchised from even being involved in that.

And so I don't want to completely write off the option of uh of the importance of bringing other voices to the table throughout this, whatever that looks like.

I think there's some robust discussion that we'll have that we'll have on that.

But I do want to point out that it was Senate Minority Leader Yoder who said, you know, why else would we turn school board elections into party primaries to push out the independent thinker to challenge or to silence the community member who doesn't check the right partisan box but knows how to lead with expertise, experience, and integrity.

And so as much as I I agree that elections are important, I'm also seeing that there are a lot of people out there who meet that moment and who meet that definition, who will never sign up to run for office.

And how do we integrate their voices into this governance conversation as well?

Agree, agree.

Yeah, Tina.

Um a couple of pieces on that continuation of elected versus appointed.

Um, I've been open with my fellow ILI LEA members from IPS about that.

My own um opinions on the on this have changed over time.

As someone who grew up with an appointed board with a very small town with a um, well, like you know, mayor who you could easily access because of the size of the town, it worked very well.

And uh I have seen the results of that board becoming a political body, and that has not been good for the school system.

But at the same time, I also understand that that works because every single person in that city goes to the army high school basketball games.

Everybody in that city um, you know, it can see the mayor walking down the street.

Everybody in that city gets to vote for that mayor, right?

In a city with 11 school districts, we cannot hold the mayor accountable to appointed positions.

Um it it's you have 10 school districts who have no stake in what happens here in IPS at the voting booth, and that yet they are their votes still count.

And as much as you know, we I would like to believe that, like in DC, like I asked our presenters last time that education would become the forefront of elections, with all due respect, the mayor's office already oversees a significant portion of IEPS boundary education, and it has not been a core part of elections in the city.

So I have no faith that that would happen again.

The only other piece I want to lay out here with regards to the governance is that from all of the parents I talked to, which is a very large portion of parents from both traditional IPS schools, from innovation schools, from independent charters.

One consistent thing I heard was not the confusion with all the layers of governance.

And so I do want to hesitate when we continue to add layers and layers and layers above because that just seems to add confusion for our families.

Again, this is from all school types saying I don't know what to do when there's a problem in my school, and it's not getting addressed when there's layer upon layer upon layer to appeal to.

Um, and I forgot my one last piece, which is that I also detest the fact that partisan politics has inserted itself in school boards.

Um, but I will note that as someone who went to the state house to try to stop that.

I'll tell you who I saw there.

I saw me, and I saw those board members.

We tried to stop that any other observations or questions uh on the topic of governance.

Yeah, I I uh similarly to uh our our fellow members.

This is something that I've personally been pretty transparent with with some of the members about my struggle, right?

I fully firmly recognize and appreciate the fact that my very ability to be a part of this great group was because the elected members of the IPS board created a process that allows for stakeholders to be a part of process.

So I appreciate that.

I respect that very much.

My conflict also comes from the standpoint of having the privilege of serving for charter boards for 20 years, um, knowing that those boards are oriented toward trying to make sure that we as governors and managers are able to manage our organizations in a way that is consistent with the fiduciary responsibility we understand the overarching responsibility of service to our students, and recognizing that in order to govern effectively, certain elements have to be a part of every overarching government structure.

You have to have legal support, you have to have financial expertise.

You have to have folk who understand the educational environment, and you absolutely have to have individuals who understand community context when you're governing for serving students in a particular particular subset.

Do I believe that that happens, that can happen during uh in a fully elected process?

Possibly.

Right?

Do I think sometimes do I think there are opportunities where that doesn't happen?

Sure, right?

And I and it does not it it doesn't escape me either, the realities of regardless of how we got here, we are in a position uh uh situation where partisan politics some a lot of times takes away from everything that we know that we're trying to be found on, and that is being student focused first.

So, you know, again, it is with respect to the importance of you know representation.

We have to have representation and we have to have representation that really does feel a level of ownership, but we also have to have a level of expertise in individuals that we are going to empower in as nonpartisan a way as possible, in the student-focused a way as possible, to ensure that we're holding those responsible for teaching our students accountable.

So there's my conflict very good.

Toby?

Yeah.

Uh Mike.

I have a question about under governance model option three.

I just want to make sure I understand this.

So is it really policy making?

So my understanding under this model, it looks to me like IPS would continue to elect all of their current board members or seats would would continue.

Is that in an they'd be elected, is that correct?

Yes, sir.

And so and then but this would add what's called a policy making board.

Is it is it really fair to call it a policy making board?

Wouldn't policy get made on the IPS level?

Isn't this just transportation and authority?

If if we decide to go that direction on facilities and transportation, isn't this about facilities and transportation, or is it really the policymaking board?

Well, to differentiate, it's not an education policy making board.

It would be the holder of the authority where we where we set performance and accountability standards, discuss uh suspension and expulsions framework, not not limiting uh uh not limiting uh different schools' ability to handle those things differently, but making sure we're not transferring trouble students away so we create higher scores.

So the policies would be that higher level performance standard and framework uh when thinking about across the systems, but independent education authority of those what what the curriculum looks like, those sort of things, those would be decided at the school board level, the seven elected school board members.

So it's more than it's not just transportation facilities, it is decision making about who stays in a building, where where we set uh occupancy rates potentially, those sort of things.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, can I may I Matty?

Just to follow up with Toby's question.

So then what is the role of the IPS board?

What what's what's their function?

And in model three in Model 3, the IPS school board would be running the IPS district managed schools.

Okay.

Sending education policy, hiring a superintendent, running the schools on a day-to-day basis.

The schools would be operated and maintained, and uh upkeep would be responsibility of the building authority in this case.

Again, IT to be determined how we how we run those sort of things, but it would be the day-to-day operation of the schools, the school system, the education system would be of the board.

Thank you.

So from a financial standpoint, tuition support would from the state would go to IPS and the property tax dollars would go to the policy board.

Is that what this inverse?

Correct, and that's as it would be with the charter schools and the other boxes.

Yes, superintendent.

I just want to note to my colleagues again we have to be careful about pulling things apart because in the day-to-day operations of schools, they don't get pulled apart in that way.

So if a board is effectively making the decisions about how students get to and from school, where which schools they get to go to and from, the time at which they do that, and the coordination across all the schools, they are essentially setting that frame, and the the policymaking becomes much more narrow in scope.

Again, as as uh significantly as how many teachers do I need to hire, is based on the facility I am in and based on the offerings in that facility.

So it isn't as simple as just a building and a bus.

It is about the experience students are getting collectively and comprehensively.

That is how families experience schools.

They don't experience them in these different pots.

They experience them in as one integrated uh opportunity that they have every day.

Other questions or comments.

Okay.

Uh seeing none, uh I defer to you, Mike, and uh the staff in terms of opening it up for public comment.

So what I will one, as an ILEA, you have been very efficient tonight, and you've caught us up on the schedule.

But um there are uh at least as of the close of the period, there are 101 people signed up to speak this evening.

Um apparently a lot out in the hallway.

Um we will we will and Shane is going to uh begin the process of calling those folks and reading the the the procedures under which we do this.

We will, as I repeated earlier this act this evening, we will go till 9 30 tonight.

So that is 90 minutes for public comment.

We probably won't get to everyone.

Um all those other opportunities will continue to exist.

So tonight is not the last night to talk to the ILEA about the options that are out there.

Can we before uh beginning public comment?

Can we take a brief two-minute break?

Uh no.

Okay, well, I'm going I'm gonna have to excuse myself for two minutes.

So go forward with the public comment.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um so Shane if one I would ask everybody to if I could ask every as uh if we could get everybody's attention.

Shane is gonna read the Hello Folks.

We if we want to get through as many people as we can, we need to everybody to pay attention.

Well, Shane is gonna read through the the procedures for for public comment this evening.

Um we will have a timer on the screen.

Um and we will call well I'll let Shana go through it.

Shannon it's all yours.

All right.

So as in prior meetings, we are following the public comment procedure that is shared on our website.

Based on the sign-ups for this evening, each speaker was informed that they will have one minute to speak.

When your name is called, uh please come up to the podium here and speak into the microphone.

It's adjustable if you need it closer or you're tall.

Um proceed then until the timer sounds and please uh wrap up your comments.

Please be as respectful of the time limit and finish comments promptly at time to allow as many people as possible to speak tonight.

Please keep your comments centered on the work before the ILEA and note that alliance members will not answer questions or otherwise respond to comments.

Comments should address the alliance as a whole, not individual members or staff.

Disruptive or offensive comments or similar behavior may result in a five-minute recess, and if it continues, adjournment of the meeting, though we don't expect that that will happen.

Comments submitted online prior to tonight's meeting and emails directors directed to the alliance before uh between the last meeting and today were shared with alliance members and will be posted online in the days to come.

We thank everyone so far who has shared their thoughts with us.

Um I do apologize if I miss mispronounce your name.

Um I'm doing my best, and I will probably call a couple names, and I will just ask if folks could just line up right here so we can continue from comment to comment.

Uh so first we will hear from Adrian and then Courtney Hawk.

Okay.

Uh Will Bowler and Christina Smith.

And then after Christina, Janet McNeil, Alicia Osler, and Nani Beltran.

So that'll be Will Bowler, Christina Smith, Janet McNeil, Alicia Osler, and Nani Beltran.

If folks are in the other room and they come over here and we have to go a little bit out of the order I just said, we'll do that.

I understand they have to walk over.

Um so to that end, just please um could you could just state your name when you begin your comment so we know who's speaking in case there's something a little out of order.

William Bowler.

This is my first time, so he'll begin when you start speaking.

Charter schools have have not shown any necessary improvement over public education systems.

Instead, they just appear to be a vehicle to enrich private equity off the backs of impoverished black and brown students while skirting civil rights laws.

I want you to look at me and see I am not any dumber nor smarter than your private school student.

I am a person who attended IPS K through 12, graduated from Broaderville High School.

I then graduated IPR with a BSMS degree in engineering to work for four years at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh as an artificial intelligence researcher before returning to IPR for my PhD, which was sadly cut short by the IEPI divorce.

I am supposed to be a vision of public school success.

In fact, I probably know significantly more math than most people in this room.

And my understanding of math lets me see a darker world where the end goal is to treat black and brown students as financial vehicles for theft and wealth accumulation by those undeserving, those who offer little service to the communities they exploit.

I'm here to tell you that those black and brown students are not your investment vehicles.

They're not your retirement package, but they are most definitely your future.

That's why I stand here today and say that our schools, facilities, and transportation services must stay within IPS control and not sold out to the lowest bidder.

As the ILEA comes closer to making its recommendations, we, the members of the fully funded fully public campaign from the Democratic Socialist of America, will articulate our vision for a public school system that leaves no one behind.

We will do so across several speakers in a collective statement.

We hope that the ILEA adopts this vision, one that is already in line with much of the IPS school board statement.

The Parents Council and the Indianapolis Educators Association, that is the vast majority of organizations that are people rather than corporate powered.

But we aren't just here for the members of the ILEA.

We want to speak to all of the members in the audience, the families here today.

We want your children and all of the children in Indianapolis to have safe, free public education.

We don't do it because we're paid by corporate donors who want to privatize education.

We do this on our own time, on our own dime because we believe in a pup vision for public education.

Fully funded, fully public is not just a slogan.

It's a vision for a school system where you don't have to sort through six different kinds of schools or worry about busting your kids across the city or have to deal with the revolving door of charter schools opening and closing.

What we want is that all parents, not just the lucky ones, to have a voice.

Fully funded, fully public means that public education is something that you have a right to, not a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.

It means strong neighborhoods and local communities.

It means an elected school board and not one appointed by the mayor.

Good evening.

My name is Alicia Osler, and I'm the director of Invent Learning Hub.

I began my career in education in 2001, spending most of my time proudly in Indianapolis Public Schools.

After a two-year fellowship, I opened Invent Learning Hub, which is now in its seventh year.

We began with a seven-year charter with the mayor's office, and today we proudly hold a 15-year charter with education one at Trian University.

I'm here to ask an honest question.

Why should all center township charter schools be required to remain under the mayor's office?

I've tried to understand the reasoning, some point to the distance that Trine University has, but it's not limited their involvement.

The only other explanation seems political.

Placing all schools under one authorizer increases control.

But that contradicts the very foundation of a charter school.

Autonomy, choice, and meeting unique student needs.

Choosing an authorizer is a part of that autonomy.

So let me share with you the real differences I've seen backed by data.

OEI primarily monitors compliance as a small standalone school.

We benefit from a deeper oversight and true collaboration with education one.

OEI staff attended one to two board meetings a year.

Education one attends every single board meeting with a report.

In six years, OEI executive director never came to my school, and in less than one year, education one has visited six times, including three full-day instructional walkthroughs.

This is what meaningful partnership looks like.

Next will be Janet McNeil, then Nani Beltran, Claire Pope, and Toya Munro.

Thank you all for your thoughtfulness and your work doing this big job.

I am the president of Heron High School.

My name is Janet McNeil.

I have been an educator for more than 40 years.

I'm not gonna tell you how old I am.

Heron Classical Schools serves over 1,800 students in Indianapolis.

And year after year, for 20 years now, have seen our students achieve at the highest level in the city.

We currently own our buildings, offer transportation as best we can.

And our we do.

And our willing innovation partners with IPS.

I would like to urge you to not place a moratorium on starting new schools.

Currently, we have too many schools that are not serving their students.

When we take a deep dive into all of our students' data, we realize that some of the schools are not serving the Indianapolis families as they have promised.

Thank you.

Next we have Nanny Baltran, Claire Pope, Toya Monroe.

Yeah, just please say your name so we know who is going.

Yeah, please go ahead.

Hello, I ILEA members and attendees.

My name is Claire Pope, neighborhood education advocate with empowered families.

I'd like to say how many have spent extensive parents have spent extensive time searching to locate what was believed to be the right school for their students only to be informed.

Bus transportation for that location is unavailable.

With the rise of innovation and charter schools within the Indianapolis School District, IPS is no longer providing services to many students living within their boundaries.

During the past 10 years, IPS operated schools have decreased by 63%.

With the with the this has caused a shift with IPS student enrollment, moving to an increase of 132% of students enrollment going to the innovative and charter schools during 2014-15.

It has become apparent the current school system is not in position to continue managing the operation needs of the students, parents, and changing school environments.

Thank you.

Therefore, we ask that we commit recommend moving the transportation and facility management from IPS operations.

Thank you to the designated authorities services as uh serving all district schools.

Thank you for your value talk.

Alyssa M Pink, Tamiko Kendrick, Kyle Bochamp, and Hannah Marley.

Alyssa Mpink, Tomiko Kendrick, Kyle Bochamp, and Hannah Marley.

Good evening.

My name is Alyssa Mpink.

I'm an IPS parent of three uh kiddos, and I serve as our IPS School Board Commissioner for District 4.

IPS is strong, rebuilding year after year while serving some of the highest need students in the state.

IBS serves a far higher proportion of students who need transportation, special education, English language services, social emotional support, and trauma-informed care, and high needs systems require high need investments.

And IPS isn't meeting those needs every single day.

An external facilities and transportation authority is not a neutral tool.

It would separate decisions about our public assets, our buses, our buildings, our land from the subject matter experts who are currently proximate to the work, the community, the voters who invest.

If our goal is access and sustainability, efficient services for every student inside IPS boundaries, then the right answer is to resource the work that IPS is already doing at scale.

IPS is strong, and the Indianapolis Indianapolis is stronger when we protect and invest in our public schools.

Thank you.

We have to make phone calls, we have to figure out how to get those kids home.

I don't know how many times I've called an Uber for kids because they don't have it in place on the first day.

So having to go through multiple layers of boards and committees or going to an organization that's serving every single school in Indianapolis to solve the problems for my 10 kids that don't have a ride home.

I just wonder if we're talking about efficiency here, if that's the most efficient way to do that.

Um is that the end of it?

Okay.

Next is Tommy Redicks, Nicole Fama, Ayana Sanders.

Or of course, if I've already called your name and you've come over from the other room, please come up and introduce yourself.

But otherwise, Tommy Reddox, Nicole Fama, Ayana Saunders.

Thank you, members of the committee.

My name is Tommy Reddicks, and I'm here on behalf of Paramount Schools of Excellence, one of Indianapolis's most consistently high performing public charter networks.

Our academic results begin with the autonomy to do what works paired with a stable model, strong leadership, and longstanding accountability.

Paramount currently works with three Indianapolis authorizers, each of whom has monitored our performance closely and supported our commitment to quality.

These relationships are central to our success.

We strongly believe they should continue with the Education One Schools grandfathered.

Introducing new authorizing structures in Indianapolis would add disruption at a time when continuity matters most, especially for schools that have demonstrated responsible, sustainable growth.

We also provide transportation at three campuses, and we're eager to keep thinking creatively about shared roots, cost savings, and collaborative efficiencies.

When schools innovate operationally, students benefit.

And we are living proof of the dollar law, working exactly as intended.

After receiving a $1 facility in South Bend, we revitalized it and transformed it into an overflowing K through eight campus that now serves this community exceptionally well.

Our message today is simple.

Let's find efficiencies, let's think outside the box and let's maintain the stability that allows proven schools to expand and serve poor Indianapolis students.

Next will be Kai Wong, Ralph Island, and David Spencer.

And as as he's making his way down, Erica Sanders, Angela Douglas.

Good evening, ILEA committee.

Um my name's Kai, and I am here to speak tonight on the moratorium.

I do not agree with the idea of a moratorium.

Putting a moratorium in place would limit Indianapolis families' access to high quality schools.

So two things are true right now.

The city is becoming oversaturated with charter schools, and we should be investing in and growing the schools that is already serving our students.

Instead of allowing new outside organizations to enter the city, learn our culture and experiment with our children's education.

We should strengthen strengthen the schools already committed to closing opportunity gaps and improving student outcomes like iLearn and SATs.

Decisions should always serve their best interest rather than closing schools or denying existing Indianapolis schools the chance to expand.

We should continue supporting charter schools that are helping to fill those gaps and hold other schools accountable that are not doing their part.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Excuse me because I'm not going to make eye contact, so I can read my statement in 60 seconds.

Uh KIP Indy is committed to active collaboration and open communication with ILEA part ILEA partners and policymakers to ensure that equity remains at the center of decisions affecting students across all public schools.

In partnership with our families and community, we will continue to advocate for what is best for our students.

Decisions related to facilities, transportation, governance, and funding must be made through a racial, cultural, and social economic equity lens.

The lived experiences of our families must serve as a starting point and the guiding principle for all discussions and decisions.

I first became familiar with the Martindale Brightwood community 24 years ago when I met my husband.

He was raised on 25th in Oxford Street.

I joined the KIP Indy Board after spending several years on the community council and getting to know Kip Indy public schools.

And my last statement is going to be we are deeply grateful for to the IPS board and leadership for the continued partnership, but it's the same process.

We must protect and strengthen this collaboration.

Thank you.

Next, Angela Davis, Dion Miller, Cody Stipes.

Hi, I'm Angela Douglas.

I am the managing director of family and community engagement for Kidney Public Schools, where we serve 1,500 students in the Martindale Brightwood area, our community.

Hi, my name is Tiffany Norris, and I currently have a student in the first grade.

Our family has been with KIP for two years.

And when thinking about real choice, two systems that matters most to us is facilities and transportation.

Families deserve schools with high quality, safe, and maintained buildings, spaces that support learning, provide access to technology, as well as allow our children to thrive in a healthy environment.

At the same time, transportation must be reliable, accessible, and safe regardless of the income or neighborhood.

These two systems should also be removing barriers and not creating them.

Because when those pieces are in place, then every family has the choice to have a real choice and to find what schools best fit their child's needs.

Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Dion Miller, and I'm an owner of a child care center in one of the townships in Marion County.

And tonight I want to talk about something that's fundamental to education.

It's the access of uh transportation for all students.

Our children, my students deserve the best.

And by receiving the best, that means that these families need to be able to choose between the school that fits them.

And transportation actually needs to be given to them.

This is not a choice.

This is not equity.

This is not the future that our students deserve.

That is why I believe that ILEA should strongly consider recommending the great the uh creation of a separate unified transportation authority, one that does not sit under the district and does not sit under charter networks, a system designed to serve all students with neutrality, efficiency, and fairness at its core.

Families have made their expectations clear.

Choice without access is not a real choice.

Thank you.

Good evening, members of the ILEA.

My name is Javaria Strahorn.

I'm a 12th grader and student body president at Belieb Circle City High School.

I've served in several leadership roles across both our Indianapolis and St.

Louis campuses, and through that work, I've seen one major barrier that's consistently health student back, students back.

Transportation.

Believe is the only charter school in Center Township that provides its own in-house transportation.

While we're grateful for it, the cost of running buses pulls away funding from academics, annual spring class class trips, student events like homecoming, and even basic supports our students rely on.

I've had students who wanted to participate in leadership opportunities or after school events, but simply can't because they don't have transportation.

We also have families who want to enroll at Believe but live outside the 465 loop and cannot enroll because our routes are limited.

As a school with the innovative model and some of the highest SAT professional rates in the city, we should we should be investing so much more into replicating our model community service or family support programs if transportation was a consuming majority of the resources.

I'm simply asking for your support in finding sustainable transportation solutions.

Thank you.

So that you're welcome.

Thank you.

And all public schools should offer transportation.

I've been asked, I've been asked if we can accommodate some students who are here late.

If you're a student from a school within the district boundary and you've signed up for public comment, if you would like to come up sooner, I'm gonna give this piece of paper to um Roman.

If you could come write down your name, then we can work you in earlier on the list.

Otherwise, we will move on and hear from Cody Stipes, Jishnu, Guha, Majumdar, and Danelle Howard.

Good evening, members of the ILE.

My name is Cody Stipes.

I am the proud CEO of Cold Springs School.

We are a Cage Stim and Environmental Science School on the North End of Marin University's campus.

We have 39 acres of land, a beautiful forest, um spring uh little water that goes through there.

We have our two pygmy goats, Lucy and Eliza.

Um I say this all because in less than 45 seconds, I can't even begin to tell you about the great things I see happening, not only at Cold Spring, but across our network of schools.

And just one of the things I wanted to say tonight is how proud I am to be part of the IPS Innovation Network of Schools.

Um, the colleagues that we have doing great work for kids.

There is not an answer.

I think Cold Spring is not unanswered, but it is one of many answers that we have in this city.

And so I just would want to personally invite each and every one of you to please stop by Cold Spring School, come see what we're doing.

I think part of the beauty that we have in the innovation network is the diversity of the schools that we have, the different governing options that we have, the different pieces that we have that all together make a really beautiful network of schools that are doing great things for kids.

So thank you so much for your work and thank you for your time tonight.

Hi, my name is Jishina Gujama Jumdar.

Uh, I'm a community member and I'm here to speak in favor of a full vision of uh Indiana schools that's fully funded and fully public.

The first step for this is a democratically elected publicly accountable board.

Let me say, as a political science professor, elections are good.

Elections are good.

They are not mutually exclusive with expertise.

They are not uh more partisan than a mayoral driven, they are not more partisan than a mayoral-driven system.

And when the maps for governance start to look like a Jackson Pollock painting, we should maybe be suspicious of anyone that tries to deny the ability of the people of Indianapolis to elect who is accountable uh for public schools.

The people who voted for mayor did not vote for a city hall ridden with scandal where sexual misconduct runs rampant, and yet they're stuck with it.

So why would that same city hall control kids' education?

People who voted for mayor did not vote for a city hall, where developers have the inside track into sweetheart deals.

So why allow that same city hall to set to give those deals to charter schools?

Okay, we're gonna hear from Ruth Garcia Hernandez and Ashton King and Leanne Mayors.

Good evening, members of the ILEA.

My name is Ruth Garcia Hernandez, and I am a 10th grader at student at Belize Circle City High School, a charter school.

In just my second year, I believe has helped me grow in many ways than I expected.

I'm already taking college courses at Ivy Tech, an opportunity I never imagined I would have.

My experiences in high school has been a success.

Things to believe, offering multiple opportunities.

As you prepare to make your final recommendations this evening, I want to share that what students like me hope to see.

Families deserve clear, accessible information about how schools are performing, regardless of the school type.

When all schools are measured by the same standards, it promotes fairness and helps our community understand what true success looks like.

Transportation is also a major issue for many students in our city.

This year I have been provided a public school bus, but it and it has profoundly helped stabilize the challenges my family and I faced.

Having reliable transportation has made a fundamental difference in my ability to show up, stay focused, and succeed.

Okay.

Good evening.

Uh good evening, members of the ILEA.

My name is Ashley King.

I'm a senior at Believe Circle City High School.

And one thing, a couple of things that makes believe so great is that I get to take college courses at my young age and then also get opportunities for job shadowing and build my wise brand of connection and network, networking so I can be successful in the future.

And so, since we are making recommendations tonight, I want to share what matters to students like me.

We need clear and consistent expectation for all schools so families can truly understand how each school is performing.

Students shouldn't face different standards depending on where they attend.

Also, some students across Indianapolis struggle with attendance simply because of transportation.

I hope you'll understand and consider solutions that make that make safe, reliable transportation available for every student in our city.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

And your work today.

My name is Leanne Mayors, and I'm the senior at Believe Circle City High School.

I appreciate how I appreciate how intentionally believe prepare students like me for the future, do FAFSA office hours, dual enrollment courses, and certification classes that provide us with real opportunities to plan ahead.

My teachers encourage me, listen to me, and keep me focused on my goals as a senior.

That support has been essential to my confidence and success as I prepare for life after graduation.

As you make your recommended day chance tonight, I hope you'll consider how important it is for students to have reliable transportation no matter what school they attend.

I am fortunate that my school offers transportation, but many students across our city don't have that advantage.

Thank you for your time and leadership.

And thank you, IPS for partnering with us for buses.

You're welcome.

Next, we'll hear from Kalliami Hernandez Flores, Carla Hernandez, Joel.

I'm sorry I cannot read your last name.

And Ashton Wilson.

Good evening, Sir Pernat Johnson and members of the board.

My name is Caliami Hernandez Worth, and I'm here with Rice Indy.

I'm a freshman in high school.

I attend Providence Christopher, and I'm here to talk about Circa City Preparatory, which is where my younger sister goes, and that's where I went last year.

In Circa City, they don't have buses, which makes it really hard for a lot of parents, educators, and students to attend that school.

It is really hard to get uh transportation, and it is really hard, and it does.

I don't think um we talk about a lot of how this uh doesn't just affect the parents who go out of their way to change their schedule many, many times just to take their parents take their students to and from school safely, but it also affects the students as well, knowing that their parents are probably could be at work or are struggling financially, and as it is um a charter school, it is public.

Uh it's a public charter school.

It's not the fanciest, but I know their parents try a lot.

Thank you.

Uming.

My name is Carla Hernandez, and I'm here tonight with Rice Andy.

I'm in sixth grade at CCP.

I really enjoy school and I try my best every day because my parents always encourage me.

I also love playing volleyball, and I'm proud to play for my school team.

I want to ask the board to make sure me and my friends have a safe and rehable way to get to school.

It would help my parents not to worry so much, and let all of us focus on learning and after school activities.

We are here to ask for a fair and dependable transportation system that works for students, every student deserves a viable way to get to school.

Just like everyone else, we hope the ILEA committee makes sure no students is left without reliable transportation.

Thank you for your time.

Hi, I am Hoel.

I'm speaking as a high school senior.

I hope everyone will listen to what I have to say if my school type is not mentioned at all.

Students observe safety from outside uh forces, even from the government.

So I would like to thank IPS for protecting students by not allowing ICE into schools.

And that's not to say our schools shouldn't be held accountable.

There's one of the reasons we want this task for to create one clear accountability and performance framework for all schools.

Decision should be driven by politics or debates about school type.

They should be driven by data.

There's no need for this worthless battle of charter and district schools.

Our enemy is not each other, our enemy is failure.

Failure to give every child the best education possible.

In the end, we need a fairer system of equitable funding and a set of unified expectations for all schools, where students like us can get an excellent education, no matter if we go through charter or IPS traditional school.

Thank you for your time.

Next will be Ashton Ashton Wilson, Samuel Lewis, Michelle Bertane Watts, and Lorraine Singh.

Hello everyone, I'm Ashton Wilson.

I'm speaking as a junior.

This shouldn't feel like a battle.

We should learn from each other and work as one.

If you refuse to help the losing team, then we all lose.

No students should be judged or pushed down because of where they go to school.

If we go up, everyone goes up.

If we go down, everyone goes down.

Well, I won't say my school's name.

I want to highlight something that my principal reminds us about.

The school to prison pipeline.

Without a good education, kids can't get jobs, can't afford to live and end up in prison.

My education matters.

His education matters.

All students in Indy and everyone here, their education matters too.

Making sure we have good schools to attend to matters.

But whether that school is a charter school or traditional IPS school, doesn't.

This is why we need accountability for all schools, no matter the type.

Thank you.

Good evening, members of the ILEA.

My name is Samuel Lewis, and I'm speaking as a high school student.

If there is one thing I have learned throughout the formative years of my academic journey, it is the strength of democracy lies not within government buildings or corporate boardrooms, but in classrooms.

Yet classrooms continue to be treated as an afterthought.

Time after time, the city underinvests in the very people who carry our democratic future.

We often ask ourselves why Indiana has a low voter turnout.

The answer lies within our schools.

I implore this task force to direct more of our budget to the classrooms, cut unnecessary administrative costs, and pay teachers in a way that is reflective of the importance of their work.

Investing in teachers is investing in students, and ultimately you are investing in the future of America.

Thank you.

Good evening.

As you consider recommendations that will shape the future of education in Indianapolis, I urge the committee to prioritize school leaders' voices.

Those of us leading schools see firsthand the needs of students, families, and staff, and decisions made here will have a long-term effect on how we educate children in this city.

Our students deserve aligned systems, predictable structures, and policies that strengthen, not disrupt their educational experiences.

So thank you for your leadership and for your commitment in doing what is best for students across Indianapolis Public Schools.

My name is Lorraine Singh.

I am a parent at Edison School of the Arts number 47.

I have two children that attend Edison School of the Arts, and they have been there since kindergarten.

They are now in fifth and third grade.

Since I only have the 60 seconds that I was allotted, I will choose a few choice words to describe Edison School of the Arts.

It is diverse.

It is innovative.

It is caring.

It is forthcoming.

And with all those things, the administration cares a lot for the students and the parents, as I have had the opportunity to be a part of so many different events, programs, field trips.

I volunteered just now as their cheerleading captain, coach, sorry.

My children speak of this school with positivity and delight.

I am extremely proud to say that my children attend this school.

And I am a Chicago native.

Before we continue, I just want to I just want to say if there are any other students here tonight who um need to get home and get ready for school.

Um if you want to come up, we'll get you in.

You can jump the line.

Otherwise, we're gonna move on and hear from Katie Delay, Denise Hernandez, Alma Estrada, and Jonathan Coffington.

Hello, my name is Katie Dulay, and I'm the executive director of Enlasse Academy, a K-8 IPS Innovation Charter School, located in the vibrant community of Indianapolis's international marketplace district.

For the fat past 13 years, our school has served as a hub of community for our students and families.

When in LASI was founded in 2013, there were just over 200 students enrolled in IPS 108 since the first year, and Lassa has exceeded targets, now consistently enrolling more than 675 students.

And LASIE has been a proud member of the IPS family of schools since 2015 and is grateful to IPS for its partnership, which has served our students, families, and community well through resource, resource sharing, deep expertise, and joint advocacy.

As with any partnership, needs and context change over time, and as we stated in La Say's last innovation agreement and the letter we shared with the ILEA this July, we asked that the members of the ILEA consider conditions for a transfer of building ownership to long-term financially sound innovation partners.

As with any partnership, needs and context change over time, and as we stated in La's Lost Innovation Agreement and the letters we shared with the ILEA this July, we asked that the members of the ILEA consider conditions for a transfer of building ownership to long-term financially sound innovation partners as a part of their facilities recommendation, providing stability to the many families who have called in Lasse home for over a decade.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Buenas noches.

My name is Denise Hernandez, and I began as the founding business manager of Enlace Academy and now the managing director of operations.

When we first opened our doors in 2013, I stood on the doorsteps of our families' homes.

I heard their stories and their hopes.

They wanted a school where they felt welcome and where their children could simply be allowed to be themselves.

From that moment, our amazing team committed to making Enlace their second home.

Today in Laze is exactly that a place where children feel safe, supported, and inspired.

We lead with love, whether that is helping a mother who survived trafficking, find stability, whether it was providing food and health care, or offering English classes to parents who can thrive alongside their children.

One of our students said it best.

He shared that teachers might need a teacher recess because they work so hard.

Thank you.

Next, we'll hear from Gregory Masara, Jasmine Andrade, Joel Giles, and Lace Sishia Fields.

John Collins.

Oh, John, yes, please go ahead.

Good evening, and thank you, Mayor Hogsett, and members of the Alliance.

My name is Jonathan Coffington, and I serve as board chair of the Indianapolis Public Schools Foundation.

We work to secure funds for college and career readiness programs within IPS.

In just the past few years, the foundation has raised more than 50 million dollars for Indianapolis students with support from national partners and funders with multimillion dollar gifts to support students in our city.

On a per student basis, our staff have made Indianapolis the national leader among uh education funds uh among our education fund peers, excuse me.

Our funders invest because they trust IPS and IPSF.

They see stability and a clear plan, but if we are to secure still more support for our city students, it's critical that your recommendations foster the stability required for robust fundraiser fundraising across both public and charter sectors.

We need consistency, including the right number of schools and clear rules for everyone.

IPSF remains a committed partner to support our city students, but again, that investment requires stability as even as we innovate.

Thank you very much.

Hello, my name is Gregory Massara.

I'm a doctoral candidate at the University of Albany, studying educational policy and leadership.

I'm not here to advocate any one direction over another.

Instead, I'm here as an outside observer and to seek participation from the community members, you, the people behind me in my research.

My research aims to understand how to improve community participation in educational change changes in meetings like this.

And your participation would really help me to understand how to improve processes like this one right here today.

I'd be deeply grateful if you take eight minutes to complete the survey portion of my research.

I'll be outside this room afterwards with an overview of my research in a QR code linking straight to the survey.

I'll make a $15 donation on your behalf to one of four organizations as a thank you for completing the survey, which you'll select at the end.

Thank you for considering uh my research and how to improve these participatory practices.

Good evening.

My name is Jasmine Andrade.

I'm a manual graduate and currently a Crystal House parent.

I'm grateful for the innovation partnership with the district.

It is meaningful, meaningful to see the building that shape my own education continue to thrive and serve students in our community.

That partnership shows what is possible when we are willing to think differently and collaborate for the sake of kids.

Our educational landscape has transformed over the past 10 years.

Charter and innovational enrollment has grown by 123%, reflecting where families, especially families of color are choosing to send their children.

Our system has already changed.

Now our structures need to change with it.

We did an approach that reflects today's realities and supports every public school student, district innovation, and charter alike.

That is why the ILEA should consider recommendations that serve all students equally and pave the path to stability.

If we want a system that truly serves all public school students in Indianapolis, then we must be honest about the shifts that have already taken place and be bold enough to act accordingly for our for our kids deserve the best.

With that, next we will hear from Gail Cosby, Amanda Nayamatora, Adrea McCloud, and Sarah Hempstead.

My name is Amanda Niamatora, and I have been a proud IPS teacher for seven years.

I'm also a professor at Taylor University.

Imagine that your son or daughter has been just diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Thankfully, a surgery could save the child's life.

When you go to the doctor, they share with you that a board of people funded by one of the wealthiest donors will decide if the child can have a surgery.

The board shares with you that they understand the surgery because they have had previous surgeries.

The board reluctantly agrees to the surgery.

Yeah, his funding has been slashed.

The doctor spends his time advocating for the right number of people and supplies, which takes away from his time to prepare for the surgery.

Our country's most vulnerable children are currently being plagued by cancer of a system that treats their learning as expendable.

We are stripping away the staff and resources required to care for them.

And we are handing power to boards that never even worked as a public school educator.

And they do not actually know what a classroom is like.

A democratically elected board is not optional.

It is vital for the health growth and survival of our children's minds.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Adria.

Central Indiana DSA is fully funded, fully public vision states all contracts with OEI or IPS innovation schools must have a union neutrality clause.

All IPS innovation schools must have the opportunity to unionize immediately, and we must protect Indianapolis Public Schools certified staff members' right to unionize with the Indianapolis Education Association.

This will cause a major domino effect if there is a governance change.

The only reason an employer would deny us workers the right to participate in a teacher's union is to ensure they have no say, no protections, and no rights.

They are the grasshoppers and we are the ants.

We prepare the food and they eat the food.

But those of you who have seen the movie I am referencing know that it was never about the food.

It was about keeping the ants in line, because when one aunt steps out of line, they all step out of line.

Collective bargaining gives educators a voice to fight for their students.

Working conditions are learning conditions.

The strength of IEA and collaboration with IPS leadership has led to an incredible 90% retention rate among IPS educators.

We can clearly see the ways that this has also impacted student outcomes by looking at the massive gains in IRE data alone.

We reject any recommendation or proposal that seeks to dissolve Indianapolis Education Association or prohibit collective bargaining in any of our Indianapolis schools.

Good evening.

I'm an architect, I'm the CEO of Schmidt Associates, and I'm here tonight to express our firm's profound and unwavering support for IF IPS for four decades.

Schmidt Associates has been a partner working shoulder to shoulder with the district to create safe, equitable, beautiful spaces that our students deserve.

We invest every day in our students and our teachers in our communities because we know that strong schools are the foundation of thriving cities.

So, whatever model you'd recommend, I would encourage this board.

Please remember IPS students deserve the schools and the facilities that provide them with the opportunities that the other kids and the other school systems have and reflect the ambition and the potential of every single student.

Thank you.

Next, we'll hear from Remo Mazetta, Mary Kate Dugan, Ramon Morrison, Henry O'Noki.

Thank you.

Good evening, uh, members of the local education alliance.

My name is Raymond Mazetta, and I'm operations manager for Garcia Associates, a construction management and general contractor in our wonderful city.

I'm here tonight to ask for your strong, continued strong advocate support for the IPS school system.

Uh our firm Garcia Associate believes deeply in the thriving uh public school system and the raising up of leaders in our community.

For many years, we've had many projects with IPS schools collaborative, and we've seen firsthand what comes out of that is strong work, forced development, uh mentorship programs, and the opportunity for diversity with other entrepreneurs in the city.

So we we really encourage you to continue your support.

It's important for a vital city and a strong city.

Thank you.

Good evening.

And thank you to the ILEA members here tonight.

I'm an Indy resident.

I'm a parent of an IPS third grader who is hopefully in bed, unlike his mother.

Um I also am an educator.

I teach and study political science and public policy, and I care deeply about not only what public education provides to my family, to my son, but about what it provides to our community and our democracy, our broader political community.

I think we've heard excellent arguments here.

We've heard really impressive testimony from many of the students who are part of what members of the board have described as a fragmented public education system, right?

And I think we all would support the idea that every student needs access to education, every student needs transportation, and these ideas come out of a democratic commitment to providing education as a public good.

Fully public education deserves fully publicly accountable over sight for all members of the system.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor and members of the alliance.

I'm Ramon Morrison, one of the founding partners of Meticulous Design Architecture.

Uh proud IPS alum, and I stand in total support of the IPS mission.

Our firm knows that a strong public school system is essential to the neighborhood anchor as a neighborhood anchor and to a growing and competitive city, and we stand firmly with IPS.

We stand behind them.

We've enjoyed a an active partnership with the district, working closely on strategic planning, helping to develop long-term facility roadmaps that ensure every student has a has access to a modern, safe, and effective learning environment.

Please join our firm in supporting IPS and the vision.

Thank you.

Good evening, mayors and members of the IAEO.

Um I'm here to speak very, very much in support of IPS.

We have been in the community for a long time.

I'm also a fight of five, and I've I'm also my kids also graduated from public schools.

I very passionate about this.

When I had about this meeting, I said I must have to come over here and speak about my experience with IPS and what they've done to the community.

Over the years, when I travel around the coming in or the country, I find out that every strong community is a community that is founded on the foundation of the kids.

IPS has been doing this for a long time, and we have to support them wholeheartedly.

I am a very, very passionate support of IPS members.

I don't want any funding to be taken away from them because it's going to make it difficult for them to do things in the future.

We have part now with IPS in so many initiatives, including student mentoring.

We've been able to see what this can do to the kids.

Even my own kids, you know, I am graduates of the IP public school system, and we are very, very much in support of IPS.

Thank you very much.

Next, we'll hear from Brian Schubert, Marshawn Wally, David Green, and Bill Myers.

If you could make your way to the front, please.

Brian Schubert, Marshawn Wally, David Green, and Bill Myers.

Okay.

Um, Alice Watson, Bob Eckle, Chris Bricky.

Good evening.

I'm Bob Eckle with Pepper Construction.

Um, we work on IPS schools.

We also work with charter schools, um, such as KIP.

And I've been asked to speak about the impact um Indianapolis schools has on pepper and the industry.

When I think about that, I think it's I can think of two examples.

Anthony White and Luis Garcia.

Anthony is an Arsenal tech graduate who was a project manager for us and has worked on IPS for five on those projects for five years.

Anthony's passionate about working on IPS schools because that's where he's from.

He's passionate, and that's his why and why he works.

He loves to give back to the program.

Um gives back, loves to give back, he leads the Colts playground pro uh playground uh program with the IPS school.

He volunteers at his alma marsenal tech.

Luis Garcia is an IPS student at the Positive Support, um, who also interns.

And so that's the impact they have.

Your schools have on our industry.

Terry Lancer, Steve Robinson, Patricia Payne.

And then after Dr.

Payne, Jenny Gera, Jesse Brown, Dietra Vaden.

Good evening, ILEA members.

I am Dr.

Patricia Payne, a strong proponent and protector of the traditional public school, and in particular, my beloved IPS, where I have served for over 63 years as an educator, parent, community partner, and graduate of Sharpridge High School.

I stand before you in a very pivotal moment as your decisions will shape the future of schooling in Indianapolis and determine if each child, including those with greatest needs, receive an education that is transparent, stable, democratically governed, accountable to the entire community, and one that strengthens, not destabilizes existing IPS progress.

In order to achieve this, I strongly urge you to limit charter authorization and maintain an elected board.

An appointed board would not only destabilize IPS existing progress, it would also weaken democratic control over public resources.

Thank you.

Today, like many days, I received frantic messages from parents in my district worried about possible ice raids.

Well, IPS has been fighting in the trenches to fend off ice, and our own attorney general, our city's so-called leader remains silent, and the so-called alliance remains silent.

We demand leaders who will lead, who will protect our children, and who will work relentlessly for a fully funded, fully public school system that our children all deserve.

Anything less than that is a capitulation to the extremist right-wing legislators, most of whom, by the way, don't even live in or represent Indianapolis, and their conquest of Indianapolis and exploitation of our citizens.

Maggie Lewis sits on the board that honored Jake Teshka for his work on education the very same year he introduced a bill to totally dissolve IPS.

She also sat next to Bob Benning last week while he said that he would force IPS to privatize transportation, regardless of the decisions that this board makes.

Or will you continue to appease the ultra-rich right-wing donors that you share with MAGA Republicans?

Do the right thing, do not capitulate to fascists.

Thank you.

Shane, if I might for a moment, I would ask our commenters to keep to the uh task at hand tonight, the subject matter at hand when you defer from that or uh divert from that.

You may uh take place of other people who want to talk about what we're actually talking about tonight.

Thank you.

Is Dietra Dietra Vaden here?

Okay.

Then we will move on to DeAndre Brock.

I'm sorry, Kaya Minor, and Will Pritchard.

Next is Fabiana Hernandez, D'Aldry Thompson or Mariama Shaheed.

Good evening, members of the ILEA.

Um, Fabiana unfortunately couldn't make it tonight, but I want to take this moment.

Uh I RIS here showed up with students, teachers, parents, bus drivers tonight, and many of them had to leave because they have to get to school tomorrow morning.

Um, but if you are still here and you're here with RISE and you have a blue shirt, please I ask you to stand.

I was just related to the topic for discussion.

Of course.

So I really wanted to share what our shirt says.

Powered by parents focused on students.

Thank you very much for everything you all are doing.

I really appreciate the work.

Thank you for having us.

And uh yeah, you all have a good night.

Deal Drew Thompson.

Oh, hello, good evening.

I'm DeAndre Thompson.

I serve on the IPS School Board of Commissioners for the at large district.

While I can understand appointed positions can offer expertise in areas like facilities and transportation, it does not outweigh community input.

So I'm here today to stand firmly for a fully elected governing board, one that is accountable to voters and that reflects the will of the community.

I am proud to have earned 45,000 votes in my campaign, demonstrating that our constituents want their voices heard and represented.

The seven women of color elected by our communities because we are we're elected by our communities because we are qualified, capable, and prepared to do this work.

Representation does matter.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, DeAndre.

We did have a DeAldry, but that was DeAndra Thompson.

So I apologize.

We had another name that was similar.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Dr.

Mariama Shaheed, and I am the CEO of Global Preparatory Academy, a dual language innovation network charter school serving 850 pre-K through grade eight students in the district.

Since our inception 10 years ago, IPS has been a strong and reliable transportation partner for our school.

Through our innovation partnership, IPS has ensured that our students have access to high quality services from McKinney Vinto services for our homeless students to field trips with distant district supported funding to daily arrival and dismissal and even after school buses two days a week.

This partnership has directly expanded opportunities for our children and families in the community.

But in this reality, not all students in public schools in Indianapolis have the same access.

If our city is serious about providing families with real quality, high-quality school options, then transportation must be a part of the equation.

Access is an equity issue.

A school choice system cannot function if the same student, if some students have access while others do not.

As you consider a transportation authority, please consider the experience we've had with the IPS system.

Next will be Kaylin Montgomery, Michelle Long, and Lindsay Cornette.

My name is Michelle Long, and I'm a school counselor at uh Crispus Attics High School.

I've been a school counselor for over 20 years, all in public education.

Public schools are the cornerstone of our democracy and the heart of every Indiana community.

Public schools welcome every child, no matter their needs, and we're governed by elected boards who answer to voters.

Charters are now able to take our tax dollars, but they operate with far less oversight, cherry pick students, and leave public schools with the hardest to serve kids.

They are typically run by private, often handpicked and appointed executives who don't even live in the state of Indiana.

I've enrolled and withdrawn hundreds of students from both public and charter schools and have reviewed thousands of transcripts over the years, and far too many from charter schools are filled with errors.

Students getting multiple credits for one class, taking the wrong class, etc.

Let me be clear.

Public schools are not perfect and have many challenges that need to be addressed.

And I firmly believe that parents deserve school choice, but not at the expense of draining and destabilizing the public schools that educate over 90% of our children.

Thank you.

Next will be Andrea Hunley, Marissa Flick, and India Ray.

Lindsay Cornhill.

Yeah.

Good evening.

My name is Lindsay Cornett.

I'm a former public school teacher and the proud parent of students at Harshman Middle School and William McKinley School 39.

We've been a proud school 39 family since moving to Indianapolis in 2019.

Until such time as our state legislature chooses to adequately fund public education, we cannot continue to divert and divide our resources.

Toward that end, one, I agree we must stop authorizing new charter schools for the time being.

Two, the $1 law must be repealed, and I hope our city county government will put the full force of their power and influence toward that effort.

And three, we should move toward one charter school authorizer, which should be the IPS board.

And finally, the IPS board must remain an elected body.

While I have my own concerns about the influence of corporate and partisan influences in our local elections, I maintain that a nonpartisan and elected board is essential and reject the idea that mayoral appointees are necessary or helpful.

We, the people of Indianapolis demand and deserve democratically local control of our public education institutions.

And on behalf of my children, my neighbors, and my children's classmates, I thank you for your time and attention tonight.

Next will be Marissa Flick, India Ray, and Christine Jones.

Hello, thank you for hearing public comment.

My name is Marissa Flick, and I'm a licensed teacher in IPS.

After attending several of these meetings and hearing presentations from numerous charter schools from here in Indy and other states, I have yet to hear anything mentioned from the teacher's perspective.

Conveniently, teacher turnover rates were left out of the data as Denver and DC tatted the success of increasing the presence of charter schools in their cities.

I have not heard one of the 2500 IPS educators who is for the dramatic transition of our traditional public schools to a more autonomous system.

This may be because we would lose our right to union representation, or because there's been no proposed protection of teacher benefits and work hours.

Or maybe just because we believe in democratic elections to choose the power and the people in power.

Whatever the reason, I implore you to truly hear the educators who are in the classroom every day calling on you to support the continued existence of IPS's fully public and democratically elected board, along with its traditional public school model.

I'd be happy to connect you with more teachers so that you can hear their perspectives as well.

Thank you.

Do we have India Ray or Christine Jones?

Okay, then next will be Tiffany Norris, Javarius Strayhorn, and Brianna Dines.

I'm sorry, I know I got that wrong.

Tiffany Norris, Javarius Strayhorn.

Okay.

Indianapolis deserves a public school system that serves every child in a high quality, stable, fully public school system.

To do that, we must demand the legislature fix the horrendous budget bill from last session that takes from working class families to give to the rich, one that the MIME trust cheered.

We should exercise the power we have locally to redistribute wealth through our progressive tax referendum on the most wealthy, approved by the democratically elected IPS school board to invest directly in our truly public schools, reversing private outsourcing and writing long-standing historical injustices consistently done to IPS that continue to this day in new guises.

People seem to have agreed on a unified system.

Uh and uh and this exists in other townships.

It's called the public school system.

Uh it's called the public school district, the public district system with a democratic board.

And I also want to respond to the idea that this isn't political now, that somehow uh with the supermajority and for uh you know mandated partisan rate school board races, that it's only just now political.

Don't pretend the political money isn't flowing in all of this.

DSA has some of those receipts, the ones that are public anyway.

Next, we'll hear from Chris Boltman, Sasha Fletcher, and Katrina Anderson.

Hi everyone, my name's Chris Boltman.

I'm from Indiana Math and Science Academy.

Thank you all for convening to talk about these important issues.

Um IMSA has two schools.

We serve 1,400 bright and diverse scholars.

Uh, to brag on them, our 37 grads last year uh secured two million dollars of scholarships.

And IMSA West has a 92% pass rate, even with a uh on iRead, even with free and reduced lunch being at 100%.

Um I won't I'm imploring you all to keep students and families at the center of your recommendations.

School choice is critical, and and IPS is an important part of school choice as well.

True choice doesn't exist, though, without robust transportation options, and that's something our families struggle with frequently.

School autonomy is also really uh important, just as families choose schools.

Uh schools should be able to choose their authorizer, and there should be more than one authorizer.

And finally, we oppose a moratorium on new charter schools.

And in fact, uh Hallville recently welcomed our third campus with open arms and letters of support.

Thank you.

Good evening, board.

Sorry, good evening, board, superintendent.

Thank you all for staying here late.

Um I waited all this time.

The discussion that I'm gonna talk about is not one that was heavily weighted in tonight's discussion, but since I'm here, I'm gonna still say it.

I want to start by saying I completely agree with everyone who's spoken up for holding all schools within IPS boundaries to the same academic standards, because at the end of the day, every child in our city deserves the same shot at a great education, no matter what neighborhood they live in or what kind of school they attend.

Right now, though, that's not what's happening.

Different schools are being measured in different ways, and when that happens, it's hard for families to really understand how schools are doing, and even harder to make sure that every student is getting the support that they need.

That's why I'm asking the ILEA to recommend a common accountability system, one that gives us a clear picture of how every school is performing, a system that steps in to help schools that are struggling, that makes tough decisions when a school continues to fall short, and that helps great schools grow so more students can benefit.

This isn't about blame, it's about responsibility and about fairness.

Every child deserves a school that believes in them, challenges them, everyone's them for the future.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Katrina Anderson, and I am a mother and grandmother who supports school choice.

During my children's educational journey, I utilize private charter IPS innovation and township schools to provide the quality education that they deserved.

There should be high-quality academic programming across all public schools within the IPS boundaries, because all schools should be held to the same academic standard.

This means we must have an accountability system in place that clearly shows all schools are performing.

This plan should include support for underperforming schools, growth plans for high-quality schools, and guidelines on consolidating or closing underperforming or low enrollment schools.

This would give families access to solid school choices, and they would not have to go through all the school types like I did.

It is important to remember that the strength of our entire school system ultimately determines the future of our children.

We cannot let them down.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear.

Next we'll hear from Mutahear Bay, Katherine Harkov, Britt Borum.

Um Motihir Bay.

They might not be here.

Okay.

And I have something for the board.

Um there's copies if you want to share it.

Thank you.

My name is Britt Borham, and I'm an IPS parent from Eliza Blaker Butler Lab 55 Go Bolt Dogs.

I'm also a member of the IPS Parent Council, and today I'm presenting our demand letter co-signed by over 750 concerned IPS parents of children across 35 schools, both district run and innovation.

Parent voices from nearly every IPS high school, middle school, elementary school are repres represented here.

These signatures were collected in a mere 72 hours by unpaid parent volunteers like me who love our children's schools and who demand better for our children.

So this letter focuses on the issue of governance.

Who gets to decide, Dr.

Johnson says?

Well, we the people get to decide, and we do that as parents and constituents by firmly demanding that IPS remain governed by a democratic, fully elected school board that is accountable to the community, representative of that community, and responsive to the families it serves.

Further, we demand that IPS becomes the sole authorizer of all schools within the district boundaries, charter and traditional, to ensure coherent oversight, equitable resource allocation, and unified accountability.

Lastly, it should go without saying that IPS needs to be fully funded and authorized to mitigate budget shortfalls through measures like a moratorium on new schools and repealing the one-dollar law.

Speaking from my heart, I truly feel worried that we've lost in all this, how wonderful, how vital, and how necessary IPS is.

There are 150 comments from parents and IPS that must be read by all of you.

Thank you.

It is such a special and precious place to us.

Thank you.

Catherine Harkoff.

Um, as a parent and a public health nurse in our community, I'm very concerned about the stability and success of every child in our city.

I've witnessed the trauma and emotional strain and impact on students when their school is suddenly closed.

Our children deserve a sense of security in their education, and schools are not businesses.

To ensure success, we must rely on and empower the leadership closest to our students, our fully elected, experienced IPS school board.

They are accountable directly to us and are best equipped to manage our limited resources effectively for all of our schools.

Our families are asking for stability, and that means we must pause on the creation of new schools within the IPS boundary.

Our district's resources uh it it makes our difficult to manage our district's resources and makes long-term planning difficult for every family.

We must also empower IPS to responsibly manage its own assets for the sake of oversight, resource allocation, and district wide accountability.

IPS should become the sole authorizer for every school in our district, both charter and traditional.

Let's ensure every dollar and every decision is focused on the success of our students and support our democratically elected board towards a strong stable future for IPS.

Next will be Ted Collins.

Kristen Fair.

Hi, I work for IPS.

If you want autonomy, uh every Thursday there's a school board meeting.

Autonomous people go there and they go and they talk to their duly lawfully elected representatives and their lawfully appointed superintendent.

They talk to the people in charge.

They discuss.

Experts are great.

One professor said it.

Experts are great, and even greater when philosophers are kings and kings are philosophers.

Uh and on this union thing, all we the ethos in my building is this.

All we want to do is discuss, because that's what education is.

A discussion.

Thank you much.

Angela Lee.

And then after Angela, Bonnie George, Dante Dyson, and Vilma Hernandez.

Hi, my name is Angela Lee.

As a 15-year resident of Marion County, I have been encouraged when my fellow citizens have voted to increase their own tax burden for schools.

In 2018, 71% of Marion County voters approved a property tax increase for 272 million dollars for IPS schools.

In 2023, 59% voted for another property tax increase for the 410 million dollar IPS Capital Referendum.

I urge that the LEA respect the civic engagement of Marion County voters by recommending that the IPS school board remain fully democratically elected.

In addition, I urge that the ILEA give IPS and its board the full and only authority to approve charter schools in the IPS district boundary, and the only authority to manage transportation and facilities in order to save costs.

If you want us to continue to vote for tax increases for school funds, you need transparency in how those funds are spent and to give voters the ability to select those who will best manage them.

Hello, my name is Dante A.

Dyson.

Hello, I'll LEA board.

I am a proud father of four, two daughters on honorable, and two incredible children with special needs.

I am here today as a parent and advocate and a community member that believes that every child deserves access to high quality education regardless of the type of school they attend.

Too often we hear conversations around school types, creating division.

Let's be honest, this is really about black and brown students that are being impacted the most.

What really matters is that all schools, no matter their model, are being held to the same high standards and are equipped with the resources they need to serve the students and the families will.

I am in support of all schools being autonomous and reducing the number of authorizers because parents do not know where to go regardless of the issues that they're facing with their children.

For a time for a long time, it seems that people are really coming together to this table to work collectively and solve the issues, but there are still those suggesting dismantling IPS and shrinking it down to 8,000 base.

And this won't solve anything.

It is harmful to learn that IPS is thinking even about going to Center Township.

I want to be opposed to this plan, but I want us to support IPS.

And that's why I joined parents, teachers, and student push in our vision.

Thank you.

Second, no is fascil y realmente apprecio su compromiso para encontrar soluciones que funcionan para my familia.

Como madre, I visto como different scuelas operan bajo reglas distintas, ya sea sobre finances, transporte or standards academicos.

Puede ser confuso.

Por eso creo que necesitamos un solo marco de rendimiento de cuentas que superviven atlas, tanto las tradicionales como las charter publicas, para que cada studiente.

I'm gonna interpret up until where she read.

Um, good evening, Alia members.

My name is Vilban Hernandez, and I'm a mother and proud member of this community.

My children attend public schools in Indianapolis.

First, I just want to say thank you.

I'm so grateful for every ILEA member for taking the time to look closely to such a complex school system.

I know it's not easy, and I truly appreciate your commitment to finding solutions that work for families like me.

As a parent, I've seen how different schools operate under different rules.

Rather it whether it's about finances, transportation, or learning standards, it can be confusing.

That's why I believe we need one accountability framework that oversees all schools, traditional and public charters alike, so that every student and every family is held at the same expectations.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Felipe Sisternas, Kim Graham, and Anwyn.

Hello, ILA members.

My name is Felipe Cisternas, and I am an IPS father.

My two kids were recently started attending IPS school this year due to the moving to the district.

Before leaving in this district, my life, my kids attended to IPS uh New Palestine School, Tom Chip.

Uh I admit that when my kids' mother told me our kids will be attending to IPS.

I was a bit worried.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard best thing about the district yet.

I was pleasantly surprised when my kids started school, and I'm originally from Chile, and I'm very intentionally about my kids being connected to the truth and culture.

This was not easy in their past district yet, since they haven't started attending IPS, it is very diverse and rich in culture.

We are only into the second quarter, and I'm learning how to navigate how my kids are doing academically.

And I want to ask for clear Oh, all right.

Thanks.

Um please please send the rest of your comments.

Okay, all right, I will.

That goes for everybody.

Um, next, if Kim and Anne are not here, we'll move on to Danielle Cruz, Suhacha Gate, and Melissa Lavella.

Any of those folks here.

Yeah, one.

Sorry, kind of a wide room.

Hello, my name is Sujata Gate.

I am uh parent of two elementary school kids in the IPS system at a school very close to here.

Um I'm here to talk about transportation.

I do uh feel that all IPS kids need access to transportation, and I am here to urge the ILEA to reject uh a single transportation authority in favor of IPS control over transportation.

My kids use uh IPS transportation every day, and um my fear was realized two years ago when my kindergartner was lost on the bus.

Um it took about 10 minutes for IPS transportation to find out where he was and to have uh IPS transportation bring him right back to our house.

Um I know from personal experience that IPS is able to manage the complicated logistics as well as ensure a safe environment that is also um socially and emotionally appropriate for elementary school kids to be transported together.

Thank you.

Um that was our last public speaker.

Um, as a reminder, if you had additional comments, um I didn't know if the other people were here.

Sorry.

Oh, Melissa Lavella.

Oh, please go ahead.

Sorry.

Uh good evening, ILEA.

I'm Melissa Lavella, parent of two children at an IPS school.

I urge you to maintain a fully elected school board.

The vast majority that reside within the IPS boundaries do not want to see our public school system further fragmented.

Like each of you, I'm also a leader in my job.

I've learned that the best leaders empower their people and find ways to remove obstacles and barriers for their teams.

There is no lack of talent and passion within the IPS district or the IPS board.

The problems within the district are due to the siphoning of funds in a system that continues to stifle and undermine IPS, which includes multiple authorizers for charter schools.

Our school board needs op schools to be removed.

There is no one who could be appointed to the school board by you, Mayor Hogsa, or any future mayor, that will be able to fix everything because the real barriers were will still exist.

And you will ultimately be blamed for the failure of those appointees.

Please consider your legacies, all of you, and please help by removing barriers in our system and not by adding to them.

Mayor Hogsett, please side with your constituents.

We will never stop showing up for true public education.

Thanks.

That was our last public comment.

Um, again, if you have additional comments that you did not get a chance to say tonight, um, please email them to ILEA at indie.gov and we will make sure that they get to the members.

Mike.

Mayor with that.

We can give a little more detail on the next several meetings.

Exactly.

Um, as I indicated earlier in the uh evening this evening, uh, we will gather this group sometime during the first week of December, uh, take an additional hour of public comment and then winnow the options of each of the categories down to one.

We will then announce coming out of that meeting a series of listening sessions, a couple sessions around the city to take further input on that information, and then we'll be back here in this room on December 17th at 6 p.m.

Again to take a little further public testimony and to vote for final recommendations to the legislature.

Any questions of Mike before we um I entertain our motion to adjourn?

Second, uh all in favor indicate by saying aye.

We are here by adjourned.

Thank you all for your patience this evening.