Good evening.

Good evening.

I'd like to call this meeting of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance to order.

Thank you all for being here.

Tonight is our tenth public meeting of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, where we will compile our recommendations to the legislature.

What we recommend will reflect changes from what you may have seen based on the input that the alliance has received over these last several weeks.

And we will begin tonight with an additional hour of public comment.

Shana.

Good evening.

As in prior meetings, we are following the public comment procedure shared shared on our website.

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

We will end public comment after one hour.

When your name is called and the timer begins, please proceed until the timer sounds.

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

Please keep your comments centered on the work before the alliance 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 will happen.

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

We thank everyone who has shared their thoughts with us.

Okay, thank you.

My name is Keon Michael Brown.

I am a former consultant for the National Department of Homeless Education and a former teacher at Him.

I want to be very clear here.

Both proposals stated by ILIA directly strip public school systems of the democratic right of their already elected school officials.

This is the biggest problem that I believe this city's location has faced in the last decades.

What it effectively does is resolve all immediate direct parent input to how their schools function and how their schools run.

Believe me if I'm wrong, but I was raised to believe that democracy is a direct right of every single citizen, and that the parents have every single input to say what is best for their child.

What ILEA has effectively stated is that parents do not deserve the right to make decisions what is best for their children's education.

And that both of the proposals that ILEA has to uh the ILEA plans to submit to the state remove any sort of democratically public elected system school board and effectively remove them of the power.

That is not acceptable.

Thank you.

Um hello, I'm Chloe Ramsey and I attend Shorage High School.

I'm here today because I cannot stay silent weather people in ILEA recommend changes that negatively impact all students in IPS.

Some of you walk the hallways of public schools.

Yet here you are supporting decisions that could take away the opportunities that help succeed.

How can someone value education while voting to strip students of their voice, their board, and their schools?

Public schools are the backbone of our community.

Here are considering a plan that would take influence away from our elected board, leaving families without a voice in the decisions that affect their children's future.

In regards to the transportation proposal, if we want transportation for all students, we need to be transparent on the way to do so and make sure there's a smooth transition into it.

So public school transportation isn't being affected.

Public schools have given me opportunities, support in a community that helps me grow.

They give kids a chance at a future.

Something Aliyah is trying to put at risk.

So I'm asking Aliyah, do not pass harmful recommendations.

Instead, invest in public schools so more kids can attend and keep our schools fully democratic, fully funded, and fully public.

Thank you.

My name is Liam Bosnagle, and I'm a student of North Central High School.

I'm here in solidarity with my peers because public schools are not a commodity to be managed.

They are a public good that belongs to the people who depend on them.

What's happening through ILEA is not about efficiency or collaboration.

It's about power.

When authority is taken from an elected school board and concentrated into the mayor's office and unelected charter boards, working families lose their voice while private interests gain control over public dollars.

That's right.

Students, parents, and teachers did not ask for this.

Republicans at the State House asked for this, and then the only option that preserved democratic control was quietly removed while working parents were picking up their kids.

Let's be honest.

Complexity is being used as a cover.

A unified, fully public system with an elected board is simpler, more accountable, and harder to exploit.

Education should answer to the people who rely on it.

I urge ILEA to reject privatization and recommend the people's proposal for a voice in a change.

Fully funded, fully public, and fully accountable.

Thank you.

Next, we will hear from Britt Borum, Madison Whitcomb, and Maton Kaufman Nichols.

Oh, I'm yep.

Um, Britt Forum, Madison Whitcomb, and Maton Kaufman Nichols.

Okay, then Madison.

Hi.

I'm Madison Whitcomb, a concerned citizen.

Sometimes I'm labeled as a radical for my view is that everyone deserves a hot meal, a place to sleep, and a good education.

The real radicals are the members of this board with any stake in a charter school.

I want to speak frankly about what is happening here today.

An appointed board tasked with silencing the voice of the people through the forced dissolution of the IPS elected school board.

Enacted by a state government that has been taking continued, heavy-handed action to put IPS in the position we see it in today.

None of this is happening in a vacuum.

It is the continuation of centuries of institutionalized racism and the notion that people in power know what's best for the people they serve, even though when they say they listen, even though when they say they hear us, their actions speak otherwise.

This board is made up of CEOs and lawyers.

They don't know the first thing it comes the first thing it comes to crafting sustainable policies that benefit the people they serve.

They only want policies that give your child the best price to education ratio.

Thank you.

They don't want your communities.

They don't think about the communities they destroy when your kids, when they use your kids as political pawns.

They don't care if our schools succeed, if theirs turn a profit.

Any recommendation by this board that undermines elected officials should be seen as illegitimate and goes against the founding principles of the Indiana State Constitution, the U.S.

Constitution.

And what our founding fathers articulated in the Declaration of Independence.

Next.

Go ahead.

Well said, very well said.

All right.

Um, I believe that everybody on this board and in this room can agree that transportation needs to be safe and unified between all these districts.

However, out of the two options, IPS has experience in this transportation.

The tax dollars that go into transportation should also be in the hands of community members who are selected by other community members to represent the children to our community members.

I believe that all the people that many of the people on this board put our child put our children, I mean us, the children, me the children.

In danger by offering the second option of an oligarchical school board selected so see the CEOs who run these charter schools can get richer and richer.

Next, we will hear from Daniel Brunes, Latoya Tahiro and Marisella Guerra, Daniel Brunes, Latoya Tahiru, and Marisella Gera.

Hello, I'm Daniel Bruns, IPS resident.

I'm here to advocate for one of the models that is not being considered by this board today.

A governance model that unifies charter schools, innovation schools, and traditional public schools under the democratically elected public school board that we all elected.

One that we want to see empowered to make all decisions, to be the single charter authorizer, and to be accountable to all the people.

Yes.

We want to make our voice heard, and we want our voice preserved, and we don't want our tax dollars to go to some nebulous cloud of funding for charter schools as they take more and more of our money.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Latoya Tahiru and Marcella Guerra.

Um she's replacing Maria Saladera because she's out.

Um downstairs.

She's going through security.

We're gonna come back to LaToya because she's still going through security.

Um could you please uh introduce yourself so we get your name on record.

My name is Abba is Celinda Lemus, soy madre de those hijos, Christian yescarlett.

Mis assisting a Edison School Art of Artes.

Tomo demasiado tempo para que mis ego receivieran el apoyo que necessitan for su discapacidad de apprendizage.

Two mosques lo más cercano, no lo mejor para nuestros hijos.

La brecha de opportunidades are durado demasiado tempo, and los niños haitianos y Latinos no están mejorando el rhythm they merecing.

Las familias seguimos enfrentando fallas in those in the basico.

For eso necessitamos una authoridad independiente de transporte.

In edificios que realmente appoying el apprendizage.

In English, uh, my name is Celinda Lemas.

I'm a mom of two Christian and Scarlet, and my children attend Edison School of the Arts.

It took too long for my son to receive support for his learning disability, and now that my daughter has started kindergarten, I worry she will face the same challenges.

Like many families, we depend on school buses.

Without reliable transportation, we had to choose what was closest, not what was best.

The opportunity gap has gone on for far too long, and black and brown children are not improving at the pace they deserve.

While adults debate school types, families are left dealing with broken basics.

That's why we need an independent transportation and building authority so students can get to school safely and learn in buildings that truly support learning.

Thank you.

Next will be Melissa La Vella, Leslie Schulte, and Costale Martin.

La Toya's coming up right now.

Okay, Latoya's here, so we're gonna go with Latoya.

If people could please make their way to the podium, that would just help things keep moving.

Thank you.

My name is Latoya Tahiru.

I'm a mom of three, and I've been advocating for great schools for over 10 years.

My oldest was 10 when I started, and she's now 21, and yet the opportunity gap is still here 10 years later.

We barely move the needle.

Right now, only 5.2% of black students in IPS direct run schools are on grade level, while white students are testing five times better.

That is not just a that is not just a statistic.

That's kids being left behind, kids with dreams, kids who deserve better.

I've had children in charter schools, IPS schools, and innovation schools.

The school type never mattered.

What mattered was whether the school helped them thrive.

But politics keeps getting in the way, and if kids can't even get there because of transportation, um, then the school choice is a myth.

Here's what I'm asking.

An independent authority, one that works with both IPS and charter schools, shares power, and uses data to grow great schools and close failings.

IPS board stays, democracy stays, but this authority will oversee buildings and transportation, so decisions are based on what's best for kids, not politics.

And please note I didn't want a single individual to own the authority.

I want the authority to work together and be as unbiased as possible for the first time in here.

Thank you.

Good evening, ILDA members.

My name is Costa Martin, and I'm a proud Haitian immigrant.

When I came to the United States, I intended high school here.

Everything felt harder.

The language, the system, the expectations.

I know isolation school can feel for Haitian children and for black and brown students whose families are trying to navigate in system that doesn't always see them.

For decades, our community has been told to be patient.

Well, the opportunity gap stays the same.

Today, only seven percent of black and brown children are passing the island math and reading exam.

The number is heartbreaking.

We have children in middle school.

We cannot who cannot read, write, or do basic math.

And that is not because the I would capable.

It's because the system is failing them.

Families want better for their children, but access is limited.

There is no clear plan to go to schools that are working or make sure families can actually with them.

Thank you.

Okay, then we are going to move on to just quickly.

Sir, I'm gonna need you to wait.

We're gonna we're gonna go through the list of people who signed up, please.

Yeah, I was.

Okay, when I get to your name, um, I'll call you up.

Melissa Leslie.

Yeah.

Derek.

You said your name was.

Yeah, I got my many names.

I mean, just in the interest of time, a couple things.

Okay.

One, uh, public education, as we know it today, is the outcome of the rad the radical reconstruction period after the civil war.

Right.

Uh two, Mayor Joe Hogsett.

Uh, I don't want people like in his crew like Thomas Cook in charge of education.

Um, three.

Why is it that a charter school can buy a public school for a dollar, but a homeless person can't buy a vacant property for a dollar?

Yes, right.

Three, we all need transportation.

Students, youth, young people, I need transportation.

Right?

These are issues that we could easily address if we didn't give all the money to the cops and the IMPD and the sheriffs, and we gave it to the people and their needs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We're gonna move on to Sheba Clemens, Felicia Wilson, and Christina Smith, Sheba Clemens, Felicia Wilson, and Christina Smith.

Could you introduce yourself?

Yes, absolutely.

Okay.

Um good evening, Alliance members.

My name is Melissa Lavella.

I'm a parent of two children at an IPS school in zone two.

Um, I heard it mentioned a couple times at the listening session last week that the state won't accept that we think it's the state won't accept a model with a fully elected school board.

I reject this as a reason to not recommend what is in the best interest of the families and citizens within the IPS district.

I would love to see our alliance members who are community leaders and elected officials advocate on behalf of the communities that they serve.

I also heard at the listening session last week, and I read it in the news recently that the charter schools are accountable to their authorizers.

This seems really strange to me.

I think that charter schools should be accountable to their students, families, and community in the area that they serve.

With the increase of public funds that they will receive, where is the discussion uh or recommendations around accountability for these schools that the additional funds will actually go to the students and not to the charter um entities or board members?

Thank you.

My name is Christina Smith.

I was able to cast a ballot and choose my school board member.

I know that if she doesn't meet my expectations, then I can support and campaign for someone else.

I know every month that they're going to be there, they're going to be in session, and that's more than I can say for my child's charter school.

Voting is the voice of the people.

Now a board of nine appointees seeks to take away the voice of an entire city.

The voices that elected a board of seven black women whose credentials and education experience far outweigh all of yours.

Don't silence our voices or the voices of our elected board.

Hello, my name is Sheba Clemens, and I'm a grandmother of students at a public charter innovational school here in Indianapolis.

I am proud of my grandchildren and grateful for the school.

Still transportation remains a daily struggle for our family.

Getting to and from school takes planning and sacrifice.

Access to after-school programs, tutoring, sports, and enrichment activities off often feels out of reach.

These expectations matter because they support the whole child and not only academics.

A share provider creates fairness, efficiency, and stability for families.

IPS and schools.

Our children deserve systems built to support them fully.

They're not trained professionals.

Not just to get to and from school, but also to and from extracurricular activities is important as well.

If a child's family doesn't have transportation, they shouldn't be left out of those opportunities due to that.

Our children's education is extremely important, but making sure the children in our community have the opportunity to be included in and after school activities and quality education through reliable transportation is how we set them up for success for their future.

Thank you.

That was Felicia Wilson.

Next, we'll hear from Chelsea English, Addison Hunley, and Wayne Moore.

And just because it's taking you know different amounts of time to get up here, if you could just make sure you say your name when you begin your comment, so we all know who you are.

That would be helpful.

Next, we'll hear from Chelsea English, Addison Hunley, and Wayne Moore.

Chelsea.

Good evening.

My name is Chelsea English.

I am a school social worker here in IPS.

I'm also a community member.

I live just a few minutes from where I work.

One of the things I love about this work is that the students and families I work with are my neighbors.

We have an investment in our school and community.

My concern is when outside influences get involved.

Entities who can make a profit off of our students' facilities and resources.

There are many people in this room who chose to live outside of our community and send their children to private schools.

I believe our community deserves to use our voice to make choices in our schools, and our school board should remain fully democratically elected, undiluted, and our schools should be fully funded and fully public.

Thank you.

Thank you, members of the board.

My name is Addison, and I've been a lifetime IPS student.

I've sacrificed many things to attend these ILA meetings and listing sessions because the future of Indianapolis students depends on the decisions made here tonight.

I realize this isn't about separation and dividing public and charter.

This is about how we all come together to better the lives of Indianapolis students.

While listening and collaborating with students who attended traditional public schools, innovation schools, and charter schools, I realized that we all wanted similar things.

Equity and sustainability.

We want schools, affiliate communities.

Communities that are supported, funded, and accessible.

To have accessible schools, they all need transportation.

Schools shouldn't be able to pick and choose their students based on who can afford or get a right there.

Access to transportation is what gives families the choice of schooling in Indianapolis.

Every school should be required to have transportation.

This is the only way they will properly serve students fairly across the city.

The people who should make these decisions on transportation are those who are democratically elected by the people and trained professionals.

By this by this community, by a community that wants to see Indianapolis and its schools thrive.

As you make your decision tonight, choose options that support sustainable schools, accountability, and equitable access for all the students, no matter the school or the time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Wayne.

Wayne is going to yield his time to Dr.

Posey for a minute.

Dr.

Posley is not on the list and a couple.

Clyde Pose.

Yeah, he's going to be.

Well, he's gonna, he will take his minute.

My name's David Green.

I'm gonna give my minute to uh Mr.

Dr.

Posey and Rim Alexander will give his minute to Dr.

Pose.

Waiting's name and go now.

Dr.

Every speaker will have one minute to speak.

Dr.

Posley.

No.

Just yielded our meetings.

Maybe we need to talk to the chairman about that.

Chairman.

Point order.

Public meeting.

Yeah.

This is our meeting.

You guys speak.

We yielded our we're attempting to keep on the schedule so we can get as many people speaking as possible.

We've allowed folks to go ahead, Dr.

You got four minutes.

Political overreach.

Political overreach has become a dangerous tool of oppression in American politics today.

Please don't.

This overreach is not only egregious and threatening to our babies at large, but in urban areas where educational problem solving efforts seeking to rescue predominantly black and brown students and families from destructive clutches of poor access to the best educational opportunities.

Mr.

Mayor and members of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, the clergy, and various members of the faith-based community standing in solidarity with me today are here to say that we believe that your handling thus far of ILEA, the process amounts to heavy-handed public overreach.

This overreach has quietly manifested itself here in the Circle City, politically, procedurally, and immorally amid public sentiment, which vigorously clearly disagrees with this proposed efforts and underlying agenda.

As it relates to your proposed leadership of ILEA, we stand together to lift our voices by saying to remove the voices of elected board if officials and replace them with other overt or private agendas which do not benefit our children in the short nor long term, but only invite scavengers and investors to pillage off the plight of a broken school system is not only wrong, it is vicious toward the well-being of our children and their futures.

An already destabilized conglomerate of educational approaches, such as we have in Indianapolis needs expertise at the helm of a true effort to unify IPS, innovation, and charter schools, which we believe give our children the best hope to unlock the innate potential in them despite the manifold hardships that many of them burst through the womb, needing to overcome.

Not only do we need voices of experts leading such a reconstruction, we also need equal leadership from voices of those connected with the deepest vested interest uh interested parties, such as leadership in the faith-based community and pastors as well as parents.

In conclusion, the most powerful the power of collective voices, though arduous and difficult to corral, is worth the effort for our children.

Mr.

Mayor, we believe that drastic times demand drastic measures.

The greatest gift that freedom brings is the right to use our voices.

The greatest gift that access to tables gives us the power to use our voices.

The greatest expression of community involvement is to pay attention to the cry of affected voices.

We stand today as clergy in Indianapolis, using our voices demanding that you hear us about our children.

Unity, while difficult to achieve, is a drastic measure worth the effort for our children.

To reach true bipartisan governance, though in our current political landscape seems impossible.

We must roll up our sleeves while we bend our knees and ask God to help us because our children are worth the effort.

Children are our most precious commodity.

Their potential is why we're here today.

Their futures are why we're here today.

Our hope is why we're here today.

What we can be, what they can be is why we're here today.

If you and Mr.

Preg, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

You hold the key to unlock either what they can be or go ahead.

Please finish your comment.

Well, you can lock out what they might be.

We say to you, keep our children first, and political expediency second.

Thank you for your time.

Next, we will hear from Lillian Barks.

Lillian Barks, Angela Lee, and Andrea Hunley.

Lillian Barks, Andrea Lee, I'm sorry, Angela Lee and Andrea Hunley.

Can you say that again?

Lillian Barks, Angela Lee, and Andrea Hunley.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Lillian Barcas.

I'm a former IPS teacher, youth advocate, and community organizer.

I began my journey in education over a decade ago at the age of 18.

In regards to transportation, IPS is contracted with Miller Transport, and any teacher here can tell you how that is going.

Buses are habitually late, subpar training for monitors, and no accountability or investment in the culture and community of IPS.

Merrill appointment of the superintendent, Governor Holcomb did this with the state superintendent of the IDOE.

You can't put lipstick on an elephant and try to pass it off as a donkey.

Limiting the people's voice is not it.

All means all.

My last year in IPS, I only had 22 students in my class and at the beginning and the end of the year.

Eleven extra students came without funding and without supplies.

I argue that the students moving in the middle of the school year are the most valuable socially, academically, oftentimes economically and linguistically.

Data shows that students need more and more support, but all of this seems like asking IPS to do more with less.

So I ask you to reconsider.

Thank you.

Good evening, Andrea Hunley.

My opinions are in my Indy Star op ed.

I commend it to you.

Today I have questions, which I know you can't answer, but I'll pose them for the record anyway.

I would like to know what additional options were discussed and rejected.

Did you consider a model with mayoral appointments to the current IPS school board instead of creating a whole new layer of bureaucracy?

Did you discuss having the city secretary of education position elected, just as our state used to do with the state secretary of ed?

Will the Secretary of Ed position have expanded oversight and coordinate with all public school districts?

Because IPS is one of 11 school districts in Indianapolis.

Who will fund this position?

What will be the increased cost to taxpayers for an additional layer of government?

What will be the administrative cost?

Will there be board payment?

Will this board have the ability to issue debt?

What happens to the current debt and bonds?

Can the board levy taxes and put a referendum on the ballot?

What is the proposed timeline for standing up such a complex structure?

And wouldn't it be more efficient, faster, cheaper, and give more power to parents to expand the oversight and authority of the community-elected public school board.

Next will be Ash Sally, Jordan Knight, and Sarah Clark.

Ash Sally, Jordan Knight, and Sarah Clark.

Repeat the name, written.

I'm sorry.

Ash Sally, Jordan Knight, and Sarah Clark.

Good evening.

My name is Sarah Clark, and I'm a proud principal at Butler Lab School 55 in Indianapolis Public Schools.

I stand here today with many principals who are working on standing up behind me to ask the following.

That we protect the stability of public education in our city.

Across Indianapolis, IPS provides essential services like no other entity is legally required or structurally set up to deliver.

Essential services are connected, and the more layers we add, the harder and more expensive it will be to support kids.

For example, I had a special education student that required specific accommodations through transportation and in our building due to his disability.

We had to put in requests for harnesses on buses and items like soap dispensers, door handles, and towel holders to be moved to for him to access his environment.

If we add another layer or fragment these services, it will create a huge operational risk.

Without coordination, the services our families rely on daily face disruption or collapse.

Thank you.

Next will be Daria Parham, Jer Jeremy Bao, and Caitlin Montgomery.

Good evening.

My name is Daria Parham.

I am a former principal in IPS, and I currently serve as one of the executive directors of school.

I am also a proud graduate of Brook High School.

Um, and I just have to say that IPS is not just my employer.

It is my home, my life's work, it is my foundation.

Principal Clark outlined the outlined the complex daily operational realities of supporting every student.

The operational risk we face is a direct threat to student safety and educational equity.

When we operate in silos, essential services like special education and ELL support are starved of resources.

Protecting our schools requires real partnership, beginning with clarity and non-negotiable commitments to systemic stability.

The city needs a unified structure to deliver essential services equitably and effect and efficiently.

Our students deserve district wide consistency and accountability and nothing less.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Jeremy Baugh, and I proudly serve as the principal at Broad Ripple Middle School.

To move forward as a truly unified community that prioritizes all students, we must secure three specific commitments from the ILEA.

One, preserve the authority of the elected IPS board.

The citizens of Indianapolis elect the IPS board to be accountable for the entire system.

Oversight should not be fragmented.

We must remain accountable to families through the vote and through one consistent governance structure.

Two, protect system-wide essential services.

Every school operating within IPS boundaries, regardless of model, must equitably contribute to and participate in shared services, especially transportation and special education.

These systems are critical to fairness and stability for all students.

Three, full funding for vulnerable students goal.

The state must fully fund services for our most vulnerable students.

Indiana must close long-standing funding gaps for special education, English learners and students experiencing homelessness so schools can meet students' needs without cutting other essential services.

IPS principals stand ready to collaborate, but will also speak clearly and unapologetically about what is fundamentally required to protect our students and honor the will of the families we serve.

Thank you.

Next will be Caitlin.

Caitlin here.

Good evening.

My name is Kaelin Montgomery.

I rise here in support of a vision of fully funded, fully public education, as it has been appalling to watch as leaders believe they are avoid of account being held accountable.

To say that a governments model that establishes a profit-driven oligarchy on education is a complete betrayal to ignore to ignore the voice of our community.

The people of Indy do not vote for this, including the out of district, out of the IPS district who vote for the mayor as well.

When they show up to the polls to vote for mayor, they do it believing they have a vote that also extends to the IPS school board, and that they will have a voice in the school board.

Not that the mayor is going to consolidate all the powers under him and establish an oligarchic grip on IPS of him and his bureaucrats and use it as a green light to favor us out of state donors who only stand a profit.

I ask that you support a people's proposal to support our communities so that they have the power and right to a quality of education that funds our institutions to provide that education and quick and listens to their voice.

Your job as elected officials is to represent the people of this community, not call surprise meetings behind the backs of parents while they're picking our kids up from schools that say we're going to cut those parents' voice out of all education decisions.

Thank you.

Next will be Marie Hitsey, Kaja Gladney, and Swantella Nelson.

My name is Marie Hitsey.

I'm not anti charter, and I know that IPS is facing challenges.

However, I am against charters receiving or abusing public dollars, which we continue to see happen.

The lack of accountability or the standards, both of the proposals that are being considered are unacceptable.

They take away the power from the parents, they remove elected positions, lack accountability, and give power to the mayor.

The same mayor I can't trust with women in his office.

But you expect me to trust you with my daughter's education and future.

This should be a ballot referendum.

The only recommendation to be made is to put all of the options to the people to vote on.

That is right.

Thank you.

Good evening.

I'm Keya Gladney, a student at Shoridge High School that actively relies on public transportation.

Many students, such as myself, have experienced issues with time and inconsistency to and from school with indigo buses, which her students' attendance and also the safety and health of these students in these harsh weather conditions.

I know some of your parents, and I imagine you wouldn't want your child exposed to drinking and smoking and other things while traveling to and from school.

But unfortunately, this is a reality for many students due to inconsistent bus monitors.

We should prioritize making our city buses safer so that all students can have transportation without taking away public school resources.

I know you can't run the indigo, but I asked the ILA to use your influence and voice to urge coordination between schools and public transportation for a more student-friendly environment.

Because for me and many others, this isn't a city issue but an education issue.

So I ask you to not recommend these policies that disrupt the trajectory of our public schools, but to recommend better ones to protect the students.

Thank you.

My name is Swantella Nelson, and I am a mom.

My children have experienced every kind of school, homeschool, charter school, traditional innovation.

And I'm here tonight for one reason.

All of our schools must be accountable, transparent, and held to the same high standards.

Too often schools are grown by enrollment instead of student achievement.

Too many schools fail our children year after year with no consequences.

That must stop.

Sadly, that's often not the case.

Label shouldn't matter.

Charter traditional innovation.

What should matter is the quality for every child.

This is why I support the idea of an independent authority to oversee buildings and transportation.

This structure makes all of these different school types work together to act as one system focused, focus on student success.

Plus, it responsibly cuts the number of authorizers down to just two, making the entire system much clearer and easier to manage.

This is how we ensure every child, regardless of their address, is guaranteed high quality education.

Next we'll hear from next will be Dante Dyson, Bonnie George, and Crystal Ratcliffe.

Okay.

Good evening.

My name is Laberta Jenkins.

I'm co-chair of the education committee with the NAACP.

I am substituting for President Crystal Radcliffe this evening.

The Greater Indianapolis NAACP branch 3053 strongly opposes any move to weaken or replace the democratically elected Indianapolis Public Schools Board of Commissioners.

Elected school boards answer to the public.

Appointed boards reduce transparency, weaken community participation, and erodes trust and decisions that affect every neighborhood in Indianapolis, particularly historically marginalized communities.

A fully empowered elected board is essential in ensuring equitable resources across all schools.

That's right and preventing fragmented governance.

The greater Indianapolis NAACP branch 3053 stands against any appointed or hybrid governors governance model.

Public should be should remain governed by leaders chosen by voters.

Thank you.

Hello and good evening, members of the ILEA.

My name is Samuel Lewis, and I'm speaking on behalf of Dantea Dyson.

My name is Dantea Dyson, and I am a proud fat proud IPS father.

First off, thank you, because right now things are chaotic.

I know your job hasn't been easy, but I appreciate you all coming together to come up with solutions.

We've got different school types, different authorizers, and parents don't know who to call when buses don't show up or buildings fall apart.

That's why I believe ILEA should be involved and why I fully support an independent transportation and building authority.

We need one group, not IPS board members, not authorizers, but a neutral and independent authority that holds every school to the same standard.

One that focuses on buildings, safe and accessible buses, and real accountability.

Because what what we've got now, it's not working.

For years I've advocated for schools that close our opportunity gap.

That's not happening, and we need change.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

I am Boni George, a Haitian immigrant, a father and a teacher here in IPS.

So let's be honest.

The politics around school type are hurting our kids.

When we focus on labels like charter or traditional, we stop working together and students lose out.

We should have one accountability system that focuses on data to determine how schools are performing and use that data to investigate why some schools are performing better so we can improve the other schools.

A recent study here in Indianapolis shows that 58% of people agrees with this.

So families have a true choice.

Every child deserves that chance to succeed.

I've shared before how hard it was to navigate this system when I first came here in Indiana.

After speaking with immigrant families in my community, I'm hearing some of the same concern.

They don't understand the system.

So I want you to think about a system where every school can have a clear performance standard so all students could thrive.

Thank you.

Next will be next will be Amy Courtney, Marshawn Wally, and Jenny Gera.

Public schools funded by the people for the people with the intent of educating all, regardless of income, background, belief, nationality, race, or ability, have long been the foundation for our society and our democracy.

Our public schools have transparency and accountability built into their governance by virtue of their elected school boards, ensuring taxpayers have a seat at the table and the local community is represented.

This model ensures that students, particularly from marginalized communities, receive a high quality education in a safe, equitable environment.

As privatization increases within IPS, decision makers must ensure those communities retain their influence over their local schools.

Appointed school boards deprive the public of their voice, inviting political distractions and more bureaucracy into school governance.

Mad voters urges ILIA to preserve the voice of local communities and support a fully elected IPS school board.

Thank you.

ACI strongly supports high quality education for all students, regardless of whether their school is public charter, private, traditional public, or parochial.

We've committed millions of dollars to the Indianapolis African American Quality of Life Initiative to support young people in this community.

We're particularly focused on the importance of equitable funding for students and thoughtful oversight of our educational system.

In that context, we have concerns about the impact of multiple charter authorizers operating within the IPS district and how this structure may affect long-term stability and outcomes.

While we note that charters have played a meaningful role for many families, the number of charter school closures over time is concerning.

While some have called school closures the ultimate accountability, thank you.

We see this as traumatic experience for families.

At the end of the day, uh we support fewer authorizers.

At the moment, there wasn't any transportation available.

So I have to drive across the city about 30 minutes back and forth in the morning and then in the afternoon to pick him up.

As a single mother, this was unsustainable.

And unfortunately, I could only do this for a year.

He's now a sophomore in high school and has recently moved with his dad due to the inability to create a space where he can drive in schools.

And add that the lack of transportation.

Thank you.

Umto rotate transportation scholar.

Good evening.

Good evening, ILEA members.

My name is Vilma Hernandez, and I'm a mother who learned the hard way, how broken our transportation system can be.

Years ago, my son was left at the wrong bus stop.

I still remember the fear not knowing where he was, who to call, or how to get help.

Now imagine living that moment as a parent who doesn't speak English.

That was my reality.

And what hurts the most is hearing that families today are still facing the same problems.

Nothing has changed.

Transportation should never be the reason a child is is unsafe or a parent is terrified.

Families shouldn't have to guess who is responsible when something goes wrong.

Right now there is no coordinated system, no single place to turn, and no clear standard across schools.

That is why I support an independent transportation building authority, one that puts safety, communication, and families first, not politics or school type.

When transportation works and accountability is clear, parents can trust the system with what matters the most, our children.

Thank you.

Next we will hear from Flor Maldonado, Brian Dwart, and Alyssa in Pink.

My number is Flor Maldonado y estoy aquí para hablar de los niños inmigrantes, niños como los de mi comadre.

Miko madre confio asusalas publicas de Indianapolis.

Anyotras annua stuvo presente, iso preguntas, tuvo la esperanza de que las causes mechoran.

Pero ano tres annuos apprendio casi nada.

El sistema no logro responder.

Mustara sus hijos de la escuela.

Muchas de nuestras familias ya enfrentan barreras de idioma.

Desafios con el transporte y acceso limitado.

La information cuando los edificios scholares no son seguros.

No receben el mantenimiento adequado.

Good evening.

My name is Flor Maldonado, and I'm here to speak on behalf of immigrant children, children like those of my comadre.

But year after year, she showed up, asked questions, and hoped things would get better.

But year after year, her child learned almost nothing.

The system failed to meet her child's needs, and eventually she felt she had no choice but to pull her children out.

For immigrant families, decisions like this are heartbreaking.

Many of our families already face language barrier, transportation challenges, and limited access to information.

When school buildings are not safe, not maintained, or when transportation is unreliable, it becomes another barrier that pushes families out instead of welcoming them in.

That is why I am here today to ask for change.

We need an independent transportation and building authority, one that is focused, transparent, and accountable, so that students can get to school safely and learn in buildings that support learning, not distracting from it.

Education cannot succeed if the basics are broken.

Our children deserve schools that work for them.

Thank you.

Immigrant families deserve a system they can trust.

Please take this step to ensure equity, dignity, and opportunity for every child.

Just introduce yourself.

Hi everyone, I'm Nicole Carey.

I'm on the school board for IPS.

I believe this moment calls for leadership, not fear, vision, not fragmentation.

And I've also heard from lots of folks that it's too little too late for IPS in the IPS board, but our system is not working, not because our board does not function, but rather we don't have appropriately funded education, which is a conversation that I have not heard.

Our focus has been on charter versus traditional public schools, but that's always been fundamentally the wrong conversation to have.

Don't make a hasty decision this evening based on an arbitrary timeline and fragment our system further, but allow IPS to lead collaboratively.

Thank you in building a forward-looking plan and advocate the legislature to fund it appropriately.

Dr.

Brian Duart, assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Purdue.

This testimony is my own, does not reflect my employer.

I live in the IPS boundary, research the effects of school choice and marginalized communities.

The ILEA has not listened to the public.

Research demonstrates that publicly elected school boards remain the preferred governance structure for public schools.

RISE Indy even paid for a study that found parents want unity.

And I've seen charter parents advocate at IPS board meetings.

And just last week, charter school students told you about the importance of a publicly elected board.

I implore you to listen.

We're going to continue our comment period with Katrina Anderson, Tanika Patton, and Kai Wong.

Good evening.

I'm Katrina Anderson.

And based on the educational journey of my children, grandchild, and myself, I support IPS.

I support charter and innovation schools, and I support townships.

I support them all because families and students need all of these education options.

Families and students also need transportation, and we need to do it in a way that is fair.

When we invest in a fair, efficient and independent transportation system, we are saying every student, no matter their school, deserves a safe and supportive path to education.

This is about building a solid citywide solution for all children.

This is why I support a transportation authority separate from IPS or the mayor's office.

When we do this, we will be putting students first through independent oversight of transportation services.

Thank you.

After Kai will be Ramel Cervantes and Claire Pope.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Kai Vong.

Um IPS and charter schools strive to provide quality education to all our kids.

And I think we must also expand that to providing reliable transportation for all our kids so they can receive their quality education.

I ask Alia to recommend a system that gives every child an equitable path to school and give every family the peace of mind they deserve when it comes to reliable transportation.

The way to do that is through a transportation body that is separate from IPS and separate from the mayor's office.

We need a shared system that is encompassed of leaders of all parties and not directly governed by either.

This decision would be putting kids first and indie families first as well.

Thank you.

Because that's how they get paid.

Hi.

Hello, everybody.

Thank you.

That's very nice.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Romel Cervantes.

I am an advocate, but before I was an advocate, I was a domestic violence survivor.

I also come with a lot of trauma from my childhood.

I also have three beautiful daughters that went through a lot with me in my journey as an adult, right?

I'm only 34, by the way.

My oldest is 14, and we and my twins are nine.

And as a domestic violent survivor and as a um mental uh health uh situationship in my house because of the trauma.

Uh, I will encourage you to also provide transportation for us because that will change the narrative of every single day in our life, as well that will give some peace of mind that would give me a probably a full-time job and a lot of opportunities.

And I know that I'm not alone alone.

I know that there is a lot of parents.

There are single parents, there is grandmas, grandpas, there are sisters and brothers, uncles, there's uh neighbors that are taking care of kids, and we are struggling right now.

Everything is super expensive right now with all the legal stuff that are happening.

I am legal in this country, and I need to be careful while driving and taking my daughters to school.

I really really ask you to just use your power as the best.

Thank you.

After Claire will be Shocklin Lacey, Deontay Grimes, and Jesse Brown.

Good evening.

Multiple authorities will offer families protection in the selection process of choice and school quality.

As it's been reported, a large majority of black and brown students continue to be enrolled within the charter and innovation schools throughout the IPS district.

Based on that, the fact that we are responsible for ensuring these learning institutions are performing well and are financially stable.

By doing so, it is imperative to have multiple authorities oversee a sustainable educational system, entities which will hold the necessary operations accountable from overpowering the successful operations of all innovative charter and IPS schools.

I want to thank you for your time.

Is Chucklin Lacey here?

Hello, good evening.

Shocklin Lacey.

Um I would like to say creating a shared uh transportation system and facility ran by neutral authorities that serves all public schools and is staffed by professionals with subject matter expertise.

Today, most public school students in IPS boundaries attend a public charter or innovation school.

My daughter is one of those students.

The students at her school and other schools deserve the same access to facilities and transportations and any other excuse me and transportation and any other student, creating a shared transportation provider will make providing transportation for those students easier and safer for all students, giving our youth an equal opportunity for education.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

I I first just want to take a second.

My name is Jesse Brown.

City County Council District 13.

I want to take a minute to address what a beautiful microcosm we have for Joe Hogs and Bart Peterson style neoliberal solutions.

Instead of everyone just voting and selecting what they want to happen with their tax dollars, we go through this whole farce where everyone gets the right to speak as long as they're willing to go through security, pay to park downtown, and get 60 seconds, which isn't enough time to actually be heard.

At the cost of 40,000 a month for Mr.

O'Connor's salary.

It's more than I make.

Well that I make it a year as well as an elected official.

I wonder where we could find someplace in Indiana where every child has perfect transportation to school, where we have specials, where we have all the uh good things in life, it's right up the road on in Hamilton County.

We just have to fully fund our public education, and we can provide what every speaker tonight has has demanded and deserves.

Charter school students do deserve transportation, but they can't take the money from public education.

IPS is already underfunded.

You know that.

You've already made your decisions.

This is a farce, but thanks for looking at me while you let me go through this game.

I am a leader.

Good evening.

My name is Deontay Grimes.

I am an IPS alum and a community advocate that deeply cares about all students, especially students that look like me to have a great opportunity.

Growing up in the IPS system, I fell between the cracks a few times, and I was just past the lawn because I was a teacher's pet.

But because I fell through those cracks, I did do some jail time and it opened up my eyes.

I was just a statistic, which is why my voice is here and why I don't want that for any child.

The education of our students should receive produce the same results regardless of price.

When I hear about the passing rate percentage of minority students, it disheartens me.

Five or two percent for black students and seven percent for Latinos.

We need an independent building of transportation authority to move past politics.

If a school is a charter or traditional school, that shouldn't matter.

The focus should be on kids, making sure that they get great opportunities that will make that we need to make sure the school or their choice should be expanding transportation.

We need to make sure that the schools that we grow up would choose should be more successful and have the ones that we need for our students.

Thank you.

Next will be Courtney Hawk, Mark Russell, and Kristen Fair.

Please don't start that clock until I've introduced myself.

My name is Mark Russell.

I'm director of advocacy for the Indianapolis Urban League.

I've been doing this type of work since 1987.

This whole process is extremely disappointing.

In the State House, when you justify, you're given three minutes.

It doesn't change because the size of your crowd.

You stay until the people have been heard.

It is anti-democratic and anathetical to democracy to try to replace an elected school board with an appointed form of governance.

We just went through this with redistricting in the State House.

And you saw how bipartisan support emerged to maintain the people's right to be heard.

Thank you.

Good evening.

You know, tonight, though I'm here really just as a parent.

Um any model that includes appointed members may satisfy the legislature, but it does not honor the voices of the families and communities we've heard from throughout this process, including the recent listening sessions.

Parents have shown up in good faith, and despite repeated requests, there is still no clear explanation of how these changes would be implemented, funded, or held accountable.

Honestly, this feels like another experiment with IPS, and that uncertainty is exhausting.

Our children deserve consistency and care, not constant upheaval.

Sadly, tonight, if you move forward with the proposed models, time will show that this body did not support public education.

No matter the outcome, parents and caregivers, this is what I need you to hear.

Parents and caregivers are organizing, and we're building momentum, and we will keep showing up and demanding the equitable, well-funded public school district.

Every child in Indianapolis deserves.

Next will be Guthrie Bayer, Sasha Fletcher, and Anwyn.

This would provide charter school parents with the transportation they justly demand.

I repeat, this would provide charter school parents with the transportation they justly demand.

The two proposals Ailea is considering share one commonality.

They constitute a form of indirect election.

The board proposes citizens shall gather not to elect the body which controls school buses and school buildings, but to elect the body which will then appoint the minority to some other board which has the real power.

This is an idea better suited to the 18th rather than 21st century.

Hello, my name is Sasha Fletcher.

I want to start with the simple fact.

Every public school student deserves equal access to transportation and facilities, no matter which public school they attend.

Today, most public school students within IPS boundaries attend charter or innovation schools.

Those students are just as public.

They deserve the same access to safe transportation and quality facilities as any other child.

Our current system wasn't built for this in reality.

Transportation and facilities are fragmented across sectors, creating inefficiencies, inequities, and unnecessary complexity for schools and families.

A shared transportation system and facility systems run by a neutral authority and staffed by professionals with subject matter expertise would solve this.

It would promote equity, reduce duplication, and make planning and operations easier for everyone, including IPS, the charter schools within its geography.

This isn't about governance or competition.

It's about building modern systems that reflect today's public education landscape and put students first.

Thank you.

Let's be short.

Number one, we need a unified, fully elected school board with a single authorizer to ensure accountability and transparency across all school types.

Second, we need to repeal the one dollar bill to ensure fairness.

Three, we need to mandate transportation for all schools.

All schools should provide transportation to students.

And four, last but not least, we need a transition period.

Um calling for a transition period of five years, in which we should have a pause on new schools, so no more new school within the district boundary.

And that will give Chata school also enough time to transfer from one authorizer that they have right now to a single authorizer during that five years period.

Thank you.

Our last speakers will be Mary Anschleger and Chris Boltman.

Vote no on both of these proposals.

I'm also here as a board member of the Indiana Coalition of Public Education to share their support for IPS and a democratically elected school board.

We believe that public schools are the heart of their communities.

And I know because many of you went to them, I think you know that too.

For too long, the legislature has allowed outside groups to treat our neighborhood public schools as entrepreneurial ventures rather than the essential common good they are.

Thank you.

True accountability comes from the local control and community voice through elected school boards, who's years recently rejected anti-democratic efforts pushed by outside interest and affirmed their belief in representation of the elections.

Now we see further anti-democratic efforts happening right here at home in IPS in our boundaries, not in our school board, in the form of weakening our school boards, focusing on IPS, and then where does it go next?

Thank you.

Even with our 20 plus contracted buses, our families still struggle with transportation.

Yesterday's joint statement from Superintendent Johnson and Mayor Hogsett offered some common ground and several great ideas from our perspective at Indiana Math and Science Academy, though.

From our perspective at Indiana Math and Science Academy, though, we hope recommendations from the ILEA create shared transportation and facilities authority.

No moratorium on new public charter schools and create a common accountability system for all public schools of all school types.

Thank you.

That ends our public comment.

That ends the public comment.

This is not the uh end uh of your opportunity for public uh involvement.

Once we compile our recommendations, we will submit them to the Indiana General Assembly with all the supporting data from the meetings that we have held over the course of the last six months.

We have held seven public meetings and two public listening sessions.

Uh all of that will be provided to the Indiana General Assembly for its consideration.

Um and we've taken 14 hours of public comment from literally hundreds of people.

So didn't hear a single word.

Now uh we will uh transform uh or transition into the presentation of ILEA's final recommendations.

I I moved to introduce final recommendations for review and discussion.

It's not a motion to approve, it's just a motion to introduce final recommendations.

Well, that's what it is.

Do I hear a second?

Obviously, mayor I'll second varato Britt, seconds.

Uh Mike, uh can you uh walk us through the presentation before we discuss it as an alliance?

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'll just start off by reminding everybody the charge to the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance by the Indiana Indiana General Assembly.

It was contained in House Enrolled Act 1515 with regards to facilities and transportation.

The charge was to develop a facilities and transportation implementation plan, including best practices for facilities management and operations, a system to track quantitative and qualitative data to gauge the success of the plan, ensures provision of uninterrupted services for homeless students or students in foster care as provided by the McKinney Vento Homeless Education Assistant Improvements Act, and then the alliance may include recommendations regarding special education policies.

Those are lifted directly from House Enroll Act 1515.

Section 4 calls uh for the alliance may include the following recommendations in the implementation plan: the governance structure for a collaborative school system, uniform school performance frameworks for all students within the collaborative school system, an approach in which schools located within the geographic boundaries of the school city will participate or opt into the participation in the implementation plan and what service level those schools may participate or opt in.

Further, the uh the statutory recommendations, statutory requirements are that not later than December 230, December 31st of this year, the land the alliance shall submit the school facilities transportation plan and recommendations to the Secretary of Education, the board, the mayor described in section two, and the legislative council.

So, as the mayor was talking about, I'll remind you all where we have been.

We've had today is our actually 10th meeting.

We've had 15 different presentations to the ILA, and we've had over 14 hours of public comment.

And literally hundreds of citizens, as the mayor said, have engaged in uh during multiple meetings of the Indianapolis local uh education alliance.

So just to remember, as the old adage says, uh, all good things must come to an end.

So here we are tonight.

Framing the issue is uh so we we have a charge from House Enrolled Act 1515.

We have a uh uh sort of underlying elements that we have to meet.

But the real question is what's why is this created?

What's the need for these discussions and these recommendations?

And that is, and that is uh folks, uh please we we've allowed additional public comment.

Now we're gonna continue to the uh conversation with the ILEA members.

Democracy is okay.

Within the IPS boundary, there's been a lack of decision-making coherence across different school types, which has led to uneven experiences and opportunities for students and families.

With the change in how local funding is distributed, we must build a more coherent system that maximizes efficient use of taxpayer dollars, respects the decision-making right of individual schools and systems, and most importantly creates the best conditions for student learnings and successes.

With that, with that said, uh, we have a recommendation for a structure that if my um scroll will work, starts at the top with the mayor uh as the chief executive of the city of the office.

I will I will stop until I can continue so everybody I can be heard as we have given.

Oh, okay.

Well, we don't really want you to continue.

Starts with the mayor as the uh executive of the city, creates an executive director of the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation.

Um there are three well, three suggested authorizers, the mayor's Office of Education Innovation, the Indiana Charter School Board, and as we heard recently, the Annapolis Public Schools Board of Directors is going to uh petition to become a charter authorizer.

It uh includes and maintains the IPS Board of School Commissioners, an elected body of seven members.

That board sets district policy and strategic direction for the IPS schools, approves an annual budget and contracts, and hires and evaluates the superintendent.

It maintains the charter school boards as they are today, not for profit organizations.

They set policy and strategic direction of the school, hires and evaluates school leader and approves the annual budget and contracts.

It creates the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation.

It is an appointed nine-member organization appointed by the mayor.

Who pays for that?

Appointed by the mayor.

There are three IPS boards.

There are three IPS board members make up of this board.

There are three charter school leaders at this board, and there are three at-large members all must reside within the IPS boundary.

I'll go a little I will go into a little more detail about the characteristics of all those appointees.

The Indianapolis Public Education Corporation has the ability to levy property taxes set and implements policy for transportation services and facilities management for all public schools within the boundary, employs staff to support operations, manage a unified enrollment system.

Establish a framework for school accountability.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, have ability to impose property tax levies.

Don't touch them.

Incapitation without representation.

Oh, they benefit the company with their property.

That all of you get money from.

How much money do you get paid from?

Public Education Corporation employs support staff for operations.

Manages a unified enrollment system, establish a framework for school accountability, and creates an advisory board to facilitate collaboration among all entities.

And the schools, again, it will continue to operate under the direction of their individual boards, whether that be the IPS board, the innovation network schools, or direct man independent charter schools.

So a little bit of the uh series of recommendations for the members.

Uh as part of that structure, and I'll go through next several pages of recommendations of the uh local education alliance.

Uh we Indianapolis we recommend the um legislature create an Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, an independent public municipal corporation known as the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, here and referred to as the corporation.

The functions and responsibility of the corporation will be as follows.

Control the management and operations of buildings serving as public schools within the boundaries of the Napolis Public Schools district.

Lead and oversee the provision of transportation of students to and from schools within the IPS district boundaries.

Levy property taxes within the IPS district boundaries.

I would note the discussion we've had is the collection and distribution of property taxes in Indiana is extremely complex.

When do we want it?

What do we want?

The people's proposal.

The recommendations include an organization that will enforce accountability standards and are applicable charter schools and traditional public schools.

It will also manage a unified enrollment district applicable to all public schools within the jurisdiction of the corporation.

Continuing the recommendations of the ILEA to the state legislature, the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation will be led by a board of directors.

There will be nine members of the board.

All nine members will be appointed by the mayor of the city of Indianapolis.

Three members must be current public charter school leaders.

Three members must be the currently serving members of the Indianapolis Public School Board of Commissioners, and the final three members should have expertise in areas such as facilities, management, capital planning, and transportation and logistics.

Or experience working with vulnerable student populations and communities.

The mayor will designate the chair of the board.

All members must reside in the IPS district.

The terms of the members of the board will be staggered with each member serving fixed terms.

Moving to accountability, the ILEA recommends a single school performance framework across all public schools in the IPS district.

The framework should set clear expectations for school performance, be based on multiple measures, including state assessment outcomes, student discipline practices, and other key measures that are relevant to student success.

And guide decisions for replication of instructional models that are achieving the best results for students, especially those who have been historically underserved throughout the system.

Implementation of the school performance framework should focus on developing measures based on both the mayor's Office of Education Innovation Performance Framework and the state's final A through F accountability rules.

A commitment across all sectors to use data from the performance framework to make decisions around closing chronically low performing schools after a transparent public process with adequate time provided for struggling schools to make improvements, developing metrics for opening and closing school facilities, i.e.

physical condition of facility, number of enrolled students, deferred maintenance, regional and community analysis of need.

No matter who owned the building.

Continuing with recommendations, the ILEA recommends a unified system.

All public schools within the IPS down boundaries will be required to provide transportation to students living within the IPS district boundaries through participation in the unified system.

For public purposes of public school building reuse, the corporation will ensure that facilities will be provided to all public charter schools, innovation network charter schools, and IPS schools on an equitable basis.

Other recommendations, we suggest schools uh remain as local education agencies.

IPS will continue to exist as an LEA, as will all public charter schools, with the exception of responsibilities assumed by the corporation for facilities, transportation, and uniform accountability standards.

The Board of School Commissioners for Indianapolis Public Schools will continue to provide direction for the operation of all direct run schools as is currently the case, and the not-for-profit boards of all charter public schools, public charter schools, pardon me, will also remain in place with the same authority as is currently the case.

The IPS Board of School Commissioners will continue in its current form under the current model of election of school board members.

A couple of additional key recommendations.

Existing charter agreements authorized through other entities may operate until the end of their current contract terms.

The IPS Board of School Commissioners may also choose to authorize schools through the application to the Indiana State Board of Education.

The Indianapolis Education Alliance asks the Indiana General Assembly for full funding.

Sorry, maybe one down.

Nope, I'm not.

I'll repeat myself.

The Indianapolis Local Education Alliance asked the Indiana General Assembly for full funding of special education within the IPS district boundaries and suggests the need for additional work to determine the best model for equitable access and service for special education needs across all public school types.

Within the district, IPS currently provides full education special education funding at a $24 million annual deficit.

As we discussed when we were rolling through the uh models as we look at facilities in particular, but there are uh discussion around facilities and transportation where we've discovered several areas that will need further legal analysis, legislative decision making, and a deeper fiscal review.

We will highlight those concerns in a separate chapter of the final report.

He wants another 40K.

Mayor, that is the end of our uh final set of recommendations.

That was terrible.

Are we uh are we ready for um discussion from alliance members?

One minute.

What do you have to talk about?

Superintendent.

One minute easy.

One minute?

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening.

So I want to start first by just acknowledging the passion that's in this room.

Um it is clear there's deep care.

Uh, and we're not going to meet everybody's expectation or everyone's desire, but I am heartened by everybody's participation.

So I want to start by thanking my colleagues on this alliance for the many discussions and debates we've had over the past several months.

Our conversations have always been grounded in a shared belief of our collective responsibility to ensure great educational experience for our students.

And while we haven't always agreed on the how, I've not doubted our shared commitment to family students and community.

I've been guided by three core priorities in this process.

First, the retention of an elected school board that directly represents our community.

Second, that the recommendations support our students continuing to have access to the opportunities they've gained through our work in rebuilding stronger, and third, that we minimize long-term disruption for all of our families.

All of them serve within this boundary, even as we navigate very real short-term challenges.

The fact that we all know is that our current system is fractured.

This fracturing began with the 1970 decision to leave schools out of UNIGOV and has accelerated over the last 20 years as state education policy has increasingly incentivized individualism and competition over community and collaboration.

The proposal tonight is an imperfect solution for a challenging set of realities.

The reality is that we have too many schools within our boundary, which strains resources and creates uneven access to opportunities.

We are inadequately funded to offer the full spectrum of services for our most vulnerable students, a need that costs our district 24 million dollars more than what we receive, particularly to serve our students with disabilities.

Furthermore, the data from our most recent state assessment is clear.

Only 21% of students across all Marion County schools, public, charter, innovation, and private, demonstrated proficiency in both ELA and math.

21.

We know that test scores are not the whole story, but that part of the story shows that immense work needs to be done, not just in IPS, not just in charter schools, but across our entire city.

And on behalf of educators everywhere, we all know that the work we do is profoundly difficult, even without the noise that surrounds us every day.

Many of the recommendations we reviewed this evening are ones I fully support and have championed.

I believe they will provide the necessary enabling conditions to gain stability in IPS and create an environment in which all schools, both public and charter, must equally share not just in the benefits of public education, but also in the challenges.

So tonight, we've created this framework for a new entity with many, many details to still be filled in.

And some are saying, might say that those thoughts aren't pessimistic but realistic given what history shows us.

However, because the details aren't filled in, I actually do, naively or not, hold some level of optimism, mostly because of what I've heard, seen, and learned from those of you who have been engaged with us through this process and even earlier on.

Your presence during this process has been necessary.

You have pushed our thinking.

You have held us to account.

You have reminded us that people are watching and deeply care.

My deep hope is that you will keep showing up and making your voices heard, because these are only recommendations.

And we need all of them to move forward, including the retention of an elected school board as this moves through the State House to achieve the necessary stability for our students.

So as we shift this conversation from this group to the State House, we must push the thinking of our state policymakers.

We need them to know that our community is watching and cares deeply.

We need to hold them to account.

And we need to speak up so that the work of this new entity is shaped in a way that is responsive, that is accessible to community, that decision making is transparent, and that there are clearly defined measures of success, and that the use of our community assets are shaped by our community.

Those things have not yet been determined, and they are key priorities I will carry forward, given how high the stakes are.

With deep reservation regarding the shift in decision making authority, but a deep belief in the remaining recommendations that I believe we need to move the system forward and to stabilize for our families, I will support the move to uh with these recommendations to the State House for further conversation and engagement.

Wow.

That's confidential.

You have just congratulated.

Any other uh alliance members' comments?

I want to be clear that I came into this process with an open mind and hopeful that we could jointly develop a plan that I would be comfortable signing my name to.

I have been grateful for the other members of this body who have earnestly worked to understand my perspective and have incorporated some of my feedback into this final recommendation.

With the short timeline, I told many of you early on that one of my biggest worries was that we get to this moment, and the plan would be generally agreeable, but too high level for me to feel comfortable with passing it off to the legislature to fill in the details as they see fit.

And while there are parts of this recommendation apologize.

Well, there are parts of this recommendation that I fundamentally disagree with.

I find my biggest reason to vote no is the level of ambiguity in the plan.

I find these recommendations falling into this bizarre zone of simultaneously feeling both too much and not enough.

Bold in some areas, but overly timid in others, with vague promises that the ecosystem will sort itself out.

I've done enough policy work with the Indiana General Assembly and the U.S.

Congress to understand the dangers of leaving important elements up to chance, or worse, a legislature which historically has not aligned with the values of this community.

There are significant elements of these recommendations that are exciting to me, and I believe will have a positive impact for the students in our city.

First and foremost, this plan will significantly increase the level of access to transportation for the students who have previously been limited.

For many years, I've argued that this is one of the biggest barriers to authentic school choice for our families.

While knowing that everyone bust anywhere is still cost prohibitive, I believe this plan makes huge strides in making sure all schools provide transportation to their students.

I also appreciate the specific focus on underserved students.

I look forward to the day when looking at these metrics will allow me to see, for example, which schools are best at engaging their multilingual families so that my school can ask questions and get ideas to improve our own practice.

I see the reduction in authorizers with a focus on local entities as a solid first step in addressing the oversaturation of schools in Center Township, a problem which feeds the scarcity mindset across the entire ecosystem.

And I appreciate the nod to the funding gap that exists for IPS with regards to special education services and the call for the legislature to help close that gap.

There seems to be an assumption that a vote against these recommendations is a vote for the status quo, but that could not be further from the truth.

There's a collective understanding that our current fractured structure is not only unsustainable but has damaging consequences for students.

Status quo has never been an option.

But I cannot live with the idea of telling already marginalized families that the only way that they can get the things they've asked for is in exchange for diminishing their power at the ballot box.

This is a false choice.

Other paths forward exist.

Other paths forward exist which do not require this trade-off.

While some people will probably speculate that my various leadership positions or career trajectory influence my decision, I want to be clear that I did my best to take primarily one role into this process, that of the parent representative to this board.

I take this role very seriously as it is the parents in this district who are desperately trying to make the difficult decisions to choose the right educational environment for their children to thrive.

And while I am technically the representative of the traditional school parents, it is not their voices that I've had echoing in my head throughout these last few weeks as I wrestle with this decision.

I hear Dante passionately fighting for increased parent involvement in decision making.

I hear Selena telling the story of trying to get the help she needed for her son, and how she, along with many other parents, want fewer layers of complication when addressing issues and not more.

I hear Ramel, which by the way I hope I get your name right because I don't know you personally, um, worried about uh she was in my listening session last week uh around transportation, and she was worried about the flow of funds and her fear that schools would still find ways to provide insufficient insufficient transportation for the students who need it most.

And I hear multiple students from KIP Legacy High School like Dazlin expressing their own demands for democratic governance in lieu of appointments.

And I hear constant barrage of questions about how IPS will navigate these changes that are coming and reminders that the financial future of the district is bleak.

But when I look at these recommendations, I don't see these things addressed, and sometimes I see elements that could move us in the wrong direction.

I see an appointed Indianapolis Public Education Corporation further distancing the parents and the students from important decisions.

It creates multiple new layers of bureaucracy for families to navigate when there's a problem, causing additional confusion.

I'm extremely concerned about the potential for lopsided representation, and more importantly, finger pointing and blame shifting when things go wrong.

And most importantly, with 11 school districts all voting for the mayor, it is impossible for voters in IPS alone to hold the mayor mayor accountable for these decisions.

The path of property tax dollars remains unclear when transparency around this money is essential to the public trust.

There is little information about how accountability will work in practice.

It seems to come down to control of facilities, but this requires cooperation and alignment from multiple authorizers.

And there's still disagreement with even within this body about the level of authority this group would actually have when it comes to forcing a school to cease operations.

And it is still unclear how this will actually help solve the financial challenges for IPS, which has been repeatedly emphasized as one of the main reasons for the creation of this body in the first place.

While mandatory participation in a unified bus system will help with both efficiency and access, and I'm grateful for that.

If there's too much variation in the levels of service or lack of cost sharing for those services, it could still negatively impact both the cost savings and equity of access.

This plan potentially does not go far enough to realize cost savings for IPS on things like special education services, McKinney Ventil transportation, etc.

Areas where the district shoulders a disproportionate share of the expenses.

And while I do not feel comfortable voting yes to these recommendations, I do look forward to continuing this work into the legislative session.

As grateful as I am to get a short break from this work for the holidays, this is not something that I get to walk away from.

I will live with the consequences of these decisions every single day as a as a mom, trying to navigate the remainder of my son's public education.

As a teacher, working directly with students who deserve abundant resources towards an excellent education, and as a longtime resident of East 10th Street who wants to see her community truly thrive.

As I advocate to the legislature and beyond over the coming months and years, I will continue to hear the voices of students, families, teachers, and community members, and try my best to help build a sustainable ecosystem of educational excellence in our city, no matter what happens tonight.

Thank you.

Do you want to defend your decision, profiteers?

Let's hear it.

Mayor I will provide comments.

You know, for me so much of this comes back to a young man that I worked with for several years when I served as a pastor at a church in the Brookside neighborhood.

And uh for these purposes, you know, I'll just say his name is Mark, and for Mark, he he struggled as he bounced between many different school types, um many different governance systems, and there were several years uh where we tried to find a good school for Mark, and we didn't know where he would land.

All I knew was that I wanted to see Mark graduate, and I wanted to see him walk across that stage, and and I wanted to be there to celebrate him.

And so when we thought we had found a school system or a school structure that would work really well for Mark, we were dismayed when we found out that they did not offer transportation.

And so we planned and we strategized and and we thought about how maybe even even us at the church, the pastoral team would get up at 6 a.m.

and we would pick Mark up and we would we would take him to school.

If that was the best option for Mark, we were gonna try to figure out a way to make it work.

So while I I absolutely echo Dr.

Johnson's comments that the this is an imperfect plan.

It is absolutely imperfect for sure, but there are two things that I want to point out, and I want to point attention to, and to call out how important that this is.

One is that we are requiring transportation for all schools, all school types, and this is because it is a significant equity issue.

And I know there are some individuals out there who fear how that will impact their schools or how that will impact their systems, but I am telling you, this is an opportunity.

Excuse me.

No, excuse me.

This is an opportunity for these students, the ones that I serve every single day, the ones that because of a fragmented system continue to fall through the cracks.

And we are on the outside trying to help them navigate these systems.

So I am proud that we are going to require all schools to participate in this unified system.

And then the second thing the second thing that I want to say, the second thing that I want to say is I am proud that we are going to request that the state house finally fully fund the special education gap that exists, the IPS continues to bear the cost for.

Those students, those students deserve to have the services that they need.

And we have heard tonight that those in the special education population, those in ELL, and those who experience housing instability deserve to have their services fully funded.

So while this is not a perfect proposal, I can tell you that I am eager to move forward with this.

And and the thing that drives me every day, the thing that drives me every day, Chrissy.

The thing that drives me every day is not the launch of a political campaign or the hope of what could be for my own career.

The thing that drives me every day is a young man named Mark.

Is he real?

And I expect to see him walk across that stage.

Thank you.

Further discussion from Alliance members.

You are corrupt.

If I may, I just uh first off, I do want to uh thank you, thank the superintendent, thank all the members of this uh alliance for really just delving into an issue that or a very critical challenge for all of us to solve for.

Um I suppose I I looked I came into this with a certain mindset, one that was based on 20 plus years of advocacy toward a certain uh position and thinking that because I had that experience, whether it was a charter board experience or just school choice advocacy that I knew intuitively where the sides were.

You deserve what having trouble hearing.

Oh, yes, sir.

Sorry.

One of the things I'm blessed that I was very blessed with this experience is that it has tested my thought processes on things that I just knew were absolutely cases related to the dynamic traditional public and uh charters.

I'm thankful that leaders with courage and experience like my colleague to my right helped me to look at perspectives that really helped inform a more holistic view than I think even the presentation tonight really suggests.

I will not vote no.

I will absolutely vote in favor of this because I believe it is a proposal that while not perfect does recommend it and don't why is everyone recommending it?

I look forward, I look forward to continuing this process, even with those who may not support or vote for this because to the earlier point, if there is one thing that I have taken away from my experiences, both good and bad in the school choice movement, it is that even the best late uh best ideas or the ideas that have the most merit now from a uh perception standpoint can be bastardized, can be exploited, can be used in ways that further cause additional problems, which is why it is so important for us to maintain a level of engagement that follows the spirit of what I know that we had engaged throughout this process.

So again, I would encourage all of us to continue to look at this proposal, scrutinize it, continue to ask questions.

If there's one thing that I have tried to do, if there is one thing that I've tried to do, for a vote, if there is one thing that I've tried to do, it is to demonstrate a level of openness, accessibility, and objectivity that I will continue that I will continue to welcome throughout this process.

So again, my gratitude is to this entire ILEA.

My resolve is to continue to work to try to create the most equitable system that all of our public school students can be served in.

So thank you all.

I am looking forward to voting in favor and in support of this process.

And I look forward to the future.

Thank you.

Any further discussion by uh alliance members?

Seeing no uh further discussion, uh, we will proceed to a vote.

Do I have a motion?

Mayor, I move to move to a vote on the final recommendations to send the state house.

Do I have a second second?

Have uh uh motion and a second.

All those in favor of moving our final recommendations regarding the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation to the Indiana General Assembly, say aye.

Aye, aye.

All those opposed say no.

No.

Shame on you.

This motion passes eight to one.

Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, share, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, share, share, shame, shame, this movie of the alliance is hereby adjourned.

Shouldn't, say, share, share, share.