Charter schools in Indiana

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

School choice in the U.S.

Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

Charter schools in Indiana are public schools operated independently of public school systems, either by nonprofit or for-profit organizations. Although they are largely publicly funded, charter schools are exempt from many of the requirements imposed by state and local boards of education regarding hiring and curriculum. As public schools, charter schools cannot charge tuition or impose special entrance requirements; students are usually admitted through a lottery process if demand exceeds the number of spaces available in a school. Charter schools generally receive a percentage of the per-pupil funds from the state and local school districts for operational costs based on enrollment. In most states, charter schools do not receive funds for facilities or start-up costs; therefore, they must rely to some extent on private donations. The federal government also provides revenues through special grants. As of March 2017, 44 states and the District of Columbia had approved legislation authorizing the creation of public charter schools. Six states had not.

HIGHLIGHTS

According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a charter school advocacy group, there were an estimated 91 total charter schools in Indiana in the 2015-2016 school year. These schools enrolled approximately 40,300 students.

Overall, charter school students accounted for 3.92 percent of total public school enrollment in Indiana in 2015.

The Indiana General Assembly approved the state's charter school law in 2001. The first 11 charter schools in the state opened in 2002.

Background

History

The Indiana General Assembly approved Indiana's charter school law in 2001.

The concept of creating public charter schools as alternatives to traditional public schools was first conceived by New England educator Ray Budde in the 1970s, and brought to public attention by Albert Shanker, former president of the American Federation for Teachers, in the 1980s. The notion gained traction in the early 1990s, and in 1991 Minnesota became the first state to pass a charter school law.

The National Conference of State Legislatures defines charter schools as follows:

“	Charter schools are publicly funded, privately managed and semi-autonomous schools of choice. They do not charge tuition. They must hold to the same academic accountability measures as traditional schools. They receive public funding similarly to traditional schools. However, they have more freedom over their budgets, staffing, curricula and other operations. In exchange for this freedom, they must deliver academic results and there must be enough community demand for them to remain open.	”
—National Conference of State Legislatures

Across the nation, charter schools have grown in number since the passage of the first public charter school law. As of March 2017, 44 states plus the District of Columbia had enacted charter school laws, and in 2013 it was estimated that 4.6 percent of all public school students attended charter schools. Performance results of charter schools nationally have been mixed, with some performing demonstrably better and others closing because they could not meet required standards.

The Indiana General Assembly passed the state's charter school law in 2001. The first 11 charter schools in the state opened in 2002. Under the legislation, four types of entities may sponsor charter schools:

1. the Indiana Charter School Board
2. a "governing body of local education agencies;" (i.e., local school district boards)
3. a "state educational institution that offers a four-year baccalaureate degree;" (i.e., the state's public universities)
4. "the executive of a consolidated city" (i.e., the mayor of Indianapolis)

Initially, the mayor of Indianapolis was permitted to sponsor five charters per year (with any unused charters rolling over to the next year). In 2003, legislation was passed that instituted new sponsorship caps for the mayor of Indianapolis and public universities (five sponsored charters per year, with unused charters not rolling over to the next year). These caps went out of effect on June 30, 2005.

Participation

According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a charter school advocacy group, there were an estimated 91 total charter schools in Indiana in the 2015-2016 school year. These schools enrolled approximately 40,300 students. Overall, charter school students accounted for 3.92 percent of total public school enrollment in Indiana in 2015.

Charter schools, 2015-2016
State	Total number of charter schools	Estimated enrollment	Percentage of total public school enrollment
Indiana	91	40,300	3.92%
Illinois	145	64,400	3.13%
Michigan	300	149,100	9.85%
Ohio	373	132,000	7.77%
United States total	6,824	2,930,600	5.85%
Note: The percentages in the column labeled "Percentage of total public school enrollment" were calculated by taking the estimated number of charter school students in a given state and dividing by the total estimated number of public school students in that state in 2015. Total public school enrollment estimates came from the National Center for Education Statistics. Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "A Closer Look at the Charter School Movement," February 3, 2016

Demographics

See also: Charter school demographics and Demographic information for all students in the United States

The table below presents information about the race/ethnicity of charter school students in Indiana in the 2013-2014 school year, as reported by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. To facilitate comparison, the same figures are also provided for all public school students.

Enrollments by ethnicity, 2013-2014 (as percentages)
Data sample	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	Other
Charter schools in Indiana	40.0%	44.0%	10.0%	1.0%	5.0%
Public schools in Indiana	70.9%	12.3%	10.2%	1.9%	4.8%
Charter schools in the U.S.	34.9%	27.1%	30.0%	4.1%	3.8%
Public schools in the U.S.	50.3%	15.6%	24.8%	4.8%	4.4%
Sources: National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 203.70. Percentage distribution of enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by race/ethnicity and state or jurisdiction: Fall 2003 and fall 2013," accessed June 7, 2016 National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "The Health of the Charter Public School Movement: A State-by-State Analysis," March 2016

State law

Authorizers

Charter school authorizers are, according to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the organizations "designated to approve, monitor, renew, and, if necessary, close charter schools." NASCA has identified six primary types of charter school authorizers:

1. Higher education institutions (HEI)
2. Independent charter boards (ICB)
3. Local education agencies (LEA)
4. Non-education government entities (NEG)
5. Not-for-profit organizations (NFP)
6. State education agencies

The table below lists charter school authorizers in Indiana as of June 2016. Click [show] to expand the table's contents.

Charter school authorizers in Indiana, June 2016
Authorizer	Authorizer type
Ball State University Office of Charter Schools	HEI
Calumet College of St. Joseph	HEI
Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation	LEA
Grace College	HEI
Indiana State Charter School Board	ICB
Indianapolis Mayor's Office	NEG
Lafayette School Corporation	LEA
Trine University	HEI
Source: National Association of Charter School Authorizers, "Number of Authorizers in Indiana," accessed June 7, 2016

Enrollment regulations

Indiana's charter school law dictates that charter schools "must be open to any student who resides in Indiana." Charter schools are not permitted to "establish admission policies or limit student admissions in any manner in which a public school is not permitted to establish admission policies or limit student admissions." A charter school is permitted to operate as a single-gender school.

Charter schools in Indiana are required to "enroll any eligible student who submits a timely application for enrollment." In the event that a charter school cannot accept all applicants, the school must give all applicants "an equal chance of admission." Charter schools may limit admissions in the following ways:

1. to "ensure that a student who attends the charter school during a school year may continue to attend the charter school in subsequent years," and
2. to "allow the siblings of a student who attends a charter school to attend the charter school.

Funding

In Indiana, charter schools receive a portion of their funding from the state.

Funding for charter schools differs from state to state, and even between districts within a state. Though all public charter schools are at least partially financed with public funds, there is disagreement as to the proper the level of public funding and the formula that ought to be used to determine how much charter schools receive. In Indiana, charter schools receive per-pupil funding in the same manner as traditional public schools. These funds, referred to as the "basic grant," are administered by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). Schools receive this funding on a fiscal year basis. In early June, schools are required to submit student enrollment estimates to IDOE. IDOE, in turn, uses these figures to estimate the amount of the basic grant for July through October. The funds are disbursed to the school in monthly installments. The basic grant amount is adjusted in September and February based on actual enrollment figures and disbursement amounts are likewise adjusted for all subsequent monthly payments.

Accountability

See also: Accountability measures for charter schools

Charter schools are required to submit annual reports to their authorizers. Charter school authorizers are required by state law to prepare and submit annual reports to the Indiana Department of Education. The state may elect not to renew a school's charter for any of the following reasons:

“

Failure to comply with the conditions established in the charter; Failure to meet educational goals established in the charter; Failure to comply with all applicable laws; Failure to meet generally accepted accounting principles; and Not meeting any of the minimum standards for renewal or the standards to avoid closure

”

In the event that a school's charter is revoked or not renewed, there is no appeals process in the charter school renewal process. Indiana does not have a minimum threshold "beneath which a school must be automatically closed."

Charter school law rankings

In January 2016, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a report ranking all of the nation's charter school laws. Indiana's law ranked first out of 43. The organization ranked each state's law by considering what it called "20 essential components of a strong charter school law." The table below compares Indiana's score with that of neighboring states. To access the full report, including methodology, click here.

Charter school law rankings, January 2016
State	2016 ranking	2015 ranking	Ranking difference	2016 score	2015 score	Score difference
Indiana	1	5	4	177	161	16
Illinois	32	29	-3	129	129	0
Michigan	21	21	0	143	141	2
Ohio	23	28	5	140	130	10
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "Measuring Up To The Model: A Ranking of State Charter School Laws," January 2016

Issues

Debate

Proponents of charter schools such as the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools argue that, due to their freedom from some state oversight and regulation, they can adopt more innovative educational approaches. This allows them to cater to their particular higher-risk school age populations, which are generally composed of more minority and poor students. In addition, advocates argue that charter schools empower parents and improve traditional public schools through competition.

Meanwhile, critics such as Diane Ravitch argue that charter schools have not been proven to produce significantly higher levels of academic achievement as promised. It is difficult to find data comparable to traditional public schools. Critics also contend that charter schools divert funds from traditional public schools, which continue to enroll significant majorities of public school students, thereby compounding problems at failing schools and generating unequal outcomes for students.

Funding inequity

In 2014, the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform released a report identifying disparities between charter school funding and traditional public school funding. Examining 31 states, the researchers considered all sources of charter school funding, including public funds, grants, and philanthropic donations. Researchers found that charter schools received on average 28.4 percent less than traditional public schools. Tennessee's funding disparity was lowest at 0.1 percent, while Louisiana's was highest at 58.4 percent. The disparity in Indiana was 34.7 percent, earning the state an F grade. Charter schools in the state received on average $4,616 less per pupil than traditional public schools.

Below is a chart that compares Indiana's grade and funding disparity with those of surrounding states. To access the full report, click here.

Charter school funding disparity by state
State	Grade	District per-pupil revenue	Charter per-pupil revenue	Disparity in dollars	Disparity in percents
Indiana	F	$13,286	$8,671	-$4,616	-34.7%
Illionois	D	$13,461	$11,408	-$2,053	-15.3%
Ohio	F	$11,764	$8,580	-$3,184	-27.1%
Michigan	F	$13,118	$9,485	-$3,633	-27.7%
Source: University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform, "Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands," accessed October 22, 2014

Charter school management organizations and other groups

See also: Charter school management organization

According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 27 percent of Indiana's charter schools were associated with a nonprofit charter management organization (CMO) in the 2010-2011 academic year, while 15 percent were associated with a for-profit educational management organization (EMO). The rest (58 percent of all charter schools) were independently managed.

The state's only charter school advocacy association, the Indiana Association of Public Charter Schools, appears to have closed in late 2013.

Innovation

See also: Charter school innovation indicators and High-performing charter schools

Charter school proponents argue that charter schools have the freedom to adopt more innovative practices, which in turn lead to improved academic performance. To get a sense of the level of innovation occurring in charter schools, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools surveyed charter schools across the country on the various innovative education practices they employed. In Indiana, an average of 30 percent of charter schools reported using innovative practices in the 2011-2012 school year. The table below displays the prevalence of a variety of innovative practices in Indiana as a percentage of all charter schools in the state. The figures are compared with those in surrounding states.

Charter schools with innovative practices, in percents (2011-2012)
State	Extended day	Extended year	Year-round calendar	Independent study	School-to-work	Higher education courses	Average
Indiana	63%	63%	5%	11%	11%	26%	30%
Illinois	74%	52%	4%	17%	13%	9%	28%
Ohio	53%	38%	13%	34%	17%	15%	28%
Michigan	55%	23%	9%	21%	5%	18%	22%
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "The Health of the Public Charter School Movement: A State-By-State Analysis," accessed October 3, 2014

Ballot measures and legislation

Ballot measures

See also: School choice on the ballot and List of Indiana ballot measures

Ballotpedia has tracked no statewide ballot measures relating to school choice in Indiana.

Legislation

The following is a list of recent charter school bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Indiana state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Indiana charter school. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Charter schools in Indiana - Google News

See also

• Charter schools
• Charter school statistics for all 50 states
• School choice
• Public education in Indiana
• School choice in Indiana
• Indiana Department of Education
• Charter school management organization

External links

• National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
• National Association of Charter School Authorizers

Footnotes

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