I wrote a few posts last week (see here and here) about the devastation of public schools in Indianapolis by corporate reformers. Their short term goal is to close public schools and replace them with privately managed charters. In the meanwhile, they are eliminating the neighborhood high school concept and requiring students to choose a high school based on its programs, not its proximity to home. They are preparing young people to be consumers and busting up any sense of community. The long term goal is the death of public education in Indianapolis.
The major movers of corporate reform in Indianapolis are the Mind Trust, which leads the privatization movement, abetted by Stand for Children, which brings in big bucks to buy elections for the corporate reform plan.
Remember, this is Mike Pence’s state, where rightwing extremists run the state.
Now comes another addition to the reform firmament of community disruption.
“A pair of Chicagoans are moving to Indianapolis in the next few weeks, and they are bringing with them a sense of urgency that defines the best of what you can find in many schools and classrooms. It’s an urgency that is critical for so many children who face immense challenges and the risk of lost potential.
“Deeply concerned about children locked in poverty, Jacob Allen and Marie Dandie founded a nonprofit after-school program in Chicago four years ago. They built pilotED around the concepts of civic engagement and a belief in the broader benefits of helping students develop a pride and belief in themselves. They peppered the curriculum with lessons centered on the lives and neighborhoods of the students they served.”
Allen and Dandie say their hallmark is “urgency.” Apparently no teachers or principals in Indianapolis public schools have that sense of urgency that this pair will bring with them to Indianapolis.
Not surprisingly, the two are TFA alums. They were recently recognized by a Forbes on its “30 Under 30” list in education. If they are under 30, how long have they been educators? How long did they stick with the school they started in Chicago?
Disruption is the hallmark of the Mind ztrust. It just got a gift of $7 million from the Lily Endowment to keep on with its plans for more disruption and innovation. Its goal is privatization of public education in Indianapolis. The Mind Trust is an affront to democracy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We need to reach into what these “charter management organization fees” cover. Can they be justified — unlikely in my opinion. What do these management organizations provide? How are they justified? Their fees are paid with taxpayer money …. As the DeVos-fueled charter push gets put on steroids, we need to push equally hard for full financial transparency. Most of the charters won’t be able to survive that — and Wall Street backers will hate it. But the rationale for freedom of charters to experiment with new learning methods surely cannot include the freedom to not be accountable for their excessive spending. The incredible waste and inefficiency of hard-earned taxpayer dollars, which may well be revealed by audits if governments are allowed to audit, may be the only thing that sways public opinion on these truly awful charter networks.
The CMO management fees are typically 3% of all revenues from the state, but they may be higher in some states. Ka-Ching!
And what do those CMO businesses do to deserve even 1%?
The highest CMO fee currently in place in Indianapolis is with Phalen Academy, which is operating school #103. Last year they got 10% of the student’s federal/state allotment as a management fee. It will decrease by 1% each successive year until it reaches 0 or a new contract is drawn. Please note that the average student allotment for IPS is $7k. This means roughly $700 per student times their enrollment. Their enrollment last year was 448. $700×448= 313,600. This is in addition to their free building, free utilities, free transportation, and free food, cafeteria staff and custodial services that IPS is providing free of charge.
Ka-CHING!
As we have witnessed in so many cities, urban renewal is happening in Indianapolis. Gentrification and school “choice” go together like peanut butter and jelly. In Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia to name a few, we have watched how developers and schools reshape neighborhoods. The first step is to scatter the minority families to the wind so the developers can create upscale housing for yuppies. Once they have displaced the minorities with their disruptive schemes, the developers move in to reinvent the CBD.http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2016/10/23/downtown-indy-booming-but-something-holding-housing-market-back/91906210/
Nicely compared: gentrification and school choice go together like peanut butter and jelly. While so many neighborhoods in our district have been invaded, with local citizens then demanding meetings with district leaders in the effort to argue that this or that school is doing well and should be left alone, residents seldom grasp that it is the lucrative gentrification element which is driving school change decisions, not actual teacher/student performance.
“Not surprisingly, the two are TFA alums. They were recently recognized by a Forbes on its “30 Under 30” list in education. If they are under 30, how long have they been educators?”
You hit the nail on the head. The TFA people I have encountered at IPS have no clue about what entails public education. They come in with unproven methods or discredited policies that refuse to recognize poverty and lack of funding as the root of problems with urban schools. Anyone who has spent time as a teacher in public ed knows that the best way to reach children and have positive learning outcomes is to develop relationships with the student and their families. No one can have a relationship with a computer, inexperienced teachers that only stay for a semester or two, or administrators that come and go once they have padded their resume. Too young, too inexperienced and too much concern for their own future instead of the future of IPS students. TFA , as I have commented before, is a poison that is destroying our public schools and dismantling neighborhoods that create a stable community.
Why are they abandoning Chicago? Aren’t there any more kids who need their ‘urgent’ help? or is the $$$ drying up?
Hooray for Indiana!!! Along with the Trump administration debacles this country and perhaps the world – with his negative climate change – may well be doomed. George W started the job; we will NEVER be the same country again – and Trump and his “forward” thinking cohorts will very likely doom our progeny, perhaps us in the process.
The Mind Trust exports its reverence for the business of charter schools. A former TFAer recruited to raise money and mange a private education “accelerator ” in Cincinnati left for unpublicized reasons with less than a year of work her. Good riddance. He was recruited by charter-loving Bellwether Education Partners (who are also doing “independent” reviews of ESSA plans). The arrogance is breathtaking.
Unfortunately, he’s back. Patrick Herrell was hired by ed reform controlled IPS early this year–to run the IPS enrollment office. Enroll Indy, the Mindtrust’s unified enrollment not for profit start up, moved into the IPS headquarters building downtown soon thereafter, where it sits side by side in the freshly painted and logo’d office adjoining the IPS enrollment office. It was open to visitors before and after the IPS Board meeting a week ago, where the Board received the recommendations to close 3 of 7 high schools. Next year, all enrollment “matches” for both charters and IPS schools will go through unified enrollment.
MaryAnn Ruegger. Thanks for the update below. Cincinnati does not yet have a mayor in charge of public schools or the lump-all-schools-together unified enrollment system.
The purpose of the unified enrollment system is to legitimate charters. It was started by the Waltons in New Orleans as OneApp, then introduced in Newark, districts where the parents and public have n say in what happens to the schools.
“Remember, this is Mike Pence’s state, where rightwing extremists run the state.”
If I may change the thought a little:
“Remember, this is Mike Pence’s COUNTRY, where rightwing XTIAN extremists run the COUNTRY.”
Forewarned is fore armed. Donnie the Dictatorial Dilettante is just a placeholder for now until the xtian “patriots” can profitably benefit from his removal and place their god’s chosen one-Mike Pence-onto the throne.
They didn’t “stick with the school they started in Chicago” because they didn’t even start one there. Just an afterschool program for 100 students already enrolled in other charter schools. They applied to CPS in 2016 to start a charter school. But weren’t approved.
What were the results of “mind trust” in Chicago? Shouldn’t this be the discussion? And why are they leaving Chicago? Is it because it was successful in driving Black people to the burbs and catering to the middle class? Or did they run a program for randomly selected a low socio-economic group that never lost or deselected a participant and propelled their students to college .
Those of us trying to stick it out at IPS shake our heads daily at the decisions being made. We work so hard meet the needs of our students, but the state continuously cuts the budget, increases the demand on data and the people at the administrative level are not interested in the human aspect. Expectations seem impossible to meet and there is a sense of hopelessness that floats through the hallways. All any of us want to do is teach our students and make difference. It’s seems less and less likely each passing day. There’s also a definite feel that we are disposable and replaceable. The threat of becoming “innovative” or “autonomous” hangs over us if the data doesn’t meet expectations and it makes for a difficult work environment. Our state leads the nation in “reform” and trying to get into another district that pays is near impossible for anyone with advanced degrees or more than 5 years of experience. It’s all very disheartening at this point.
Large districts can easily do both – have specialized schools as well as strategically located neighborhood schools (which could also have some specialized programs). That’s how we do it in Buffalo, NY.
You don’t need to privatize education to actually educate the students (or reinvent the wheel).