If there’s one thing I never would have put on my education bingo card it was seeing a charter school try to become a private school in Indianapolis. Not to say I thought it never could happen. Just to say I believed it was the kind of thing that never would happen.

But here we are, April 2024, with the Genius School receiving unanimous approval from the Indiana State Board of Education for provisional accreditation as a private school.

Why is this happening? Why is this? Why?

Notice the diminishing size of my question. Every time I consider this scenario, that’s what happens in my mind. The more elaborate the question I try to develop, the more I self-edit down to the kind of question you most often hear from a 2-year-old. Why?

In some ways, it feels like we’ve entered the education Twilight Zone.

What’s the Genius School?

Let’s start with a brief sketch of the charter school at the center of this very anomalous event: the Genius School. It started out, seemingly in another lifetime, as Ignite Achievement Academy. It launched as part of Indianapolis Public Schools’ Innovation Network and was tasked with restarting a chronically underperforming school in the Riverside neighborhood on Indy’s near west side.

I remember its launch well. The school had exciting, deeply experienced leaders and an afro-centric model focused on neuroscience and rich extracurricular offerings. By all accounts, the school’s leaders had done the legwork to engage folks in the neighborhood it aimed to serve. All signs pointed to this being another success story in the history of the Indianapolis charter school sector.

But things did not go to plan. The reasons why are well documented. IPS was correct to not renew this school’s innovation contract. That’s how charter school accountability is supposed to work. However, its authorizer gave it a lifeline, allowing it to rebrand and open elsewhere in Indianapolis as the Genius School, still under the leadership of one of its original founders.

Today, facing accountability from its authorizer, it would appear the Genius School is trying to produce another Houdini-esque escape act. As Chalkbeat Indiana noted in their excellent reporting on the story, the switch to private “will allow [the Genius School] to accept state vouchers while skirting its previous accountability standards.” In basketball terms (it’s the NBA playoffs, after all), they get to reset the game clock. And all this while they’ve scored precious few baskets for students.

I have no charitable explanation. This feels like an accountability dodge by the Genius School. I entirely oppose this sequence of events and state lawmakers should consider tightening things up to not allow for this in the future. At the same time, the story raises a series of thorny questions for the rest of us to consider.

1. Is there a chance this will allow the Genius School to serve kids more effectively?

Let’s give the leaders of the Genius School the benefit of the doubt for a moment. Let’s read this as something other than an accountability dodge. Let’s say they think this route is the best path to serving their population of students with excellence. Does making the switch to private enable that?

To answer that question, we must first consider whether its current students will even be able to continue attending. Right now, the school enrolls around 100 students in grades K-6. Reportedly, tuition will cost upwards of $9,000 per year once the Genius School goes private. The vast majority of their current students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. From there, it isn’t a stretch to assume most of these students’ families probably can’t afford private school tuition. They also likely qualify for vouchers. So will vouchers cover their tuition? Best case scenario, a student wanting to stay at the Genius School may get a voucher that covers a bit over $7,000 per year, leaving a meaningfully-sized gap for their family to cover. On cost alone, certainly a portion of their 100 current students will be ruled out from continuing to attend regardless of the school’s future quality.

Second, the Genius School is relocating to New Life Worship Center in Pike Township (they currently share space in a building with Geo Academies in Center Township). That makes it likely harder for their current students to attend from an accessibility standpoint. So two new barriers now exist for current students: cost and location.

Third, the Genius School (including during its days as Ignite Achievement Academy) has very little track record of quality academic performance and has indicated no fundamental shifts in academic programming to make me think they will suddenly get it together on behalf of kids.

The answer to this first question is no. Moving on.

2. Will Pike Township or its families oppose this “new” school?

The second question that fascinates me about this whole scenario is that the school is moving outside of Center Township (also known as Indianapolis Public Schools’ boundaries) and into Pike Township. We’ve covered in-depth the drama around Girls in Stem Academy (an independent charter school operated by Paramount Schools of Excellence) and whether or not they could rezone an old church building in order to operate in Washington Township. They faced fierce opposition from some corners of Washington Township.

So will Pike Township mobilize to oppose this “new” private school that used to be a charter school? I doubt it, even though they’d have good reason to. Certainly, I oppose what the Genius School is doing. It flies in the face of the bargain at the core of what makes a charter school a charter school: autonomy in exchange for accountability. I’m a big supporter of that bargain. I hate to see it abused.

But my bet here is no, Pike Township will not cause much hubbub over this school. (Though perhaps they don’t need to, since Pike Township is certainly providing students a much higher-quality education than what the Genius School offers.)

3. What’s up with the State Board of Education’s decision?

The only reason the Genius School could pull this transition off is because the State Board of Education voted to approve them. I don’t have historical beef with the State Board of Education. I’ve never paid much attention to the body in all honesty. But there are a few things that rub me the wrong way about their decision (beyond just the fact that I think they made the wrong one).

First, they made their decision with no discussion. I’m not saying we need to talk endlessly about every decision we make, but no discussion at all on a case that could set a concerning precedent in light of Indiana’s dramatic voucher expansion seems off. Shouldn’t a statewide governing body at least verbally consider the pros and cons of the case?

Second, while I give State Board of Education member Scott Bess credit for talking to Chalkbeat for the story, I do not give him credit for his explanation for the approval. The following is quoted from Chalkbeat’s coverage: “Scott Bess said in an interview with Chalkbeat after the vote that he was aware of the school’s history, but said state law provides a narrow set of criteria that the board can use for deciding whether to accredit a private school. He said now the school’s fate will essentially be left up to parents and the school choice market.”

I would love to know what “narrow set of criteria” the Genius School could possibly have met. And to claim “the school choice market” is the ultimate arbiter here abdicates the responsibility of a governing body like the State Board of Education. Shouldn’t they winnow out bad actors?

Now, I want to be clear. Scott Bess has a long history as an innovative education leader both in Indianapolis and statewide. His leadership in creating and expanding the network of Purdue high schools is laudable and in no way could one misstep erase a career of positive contributions to the future success of literally thousands of Hoosier students. But I think he got this one wrong and his defense is unsatisfactory.

4. Will the school survive?

As mentioned earlier, in switching to private, it’s unclear how many of its current students will be able to, or want to, continue at the school. In a remarkable display of chutzpah, the Genius School indicated plans to enroll as many as 250 students, a far cry from their current 100. I doubt 100 is sustainable, but I see no clear pathway for a low-performing school that now costs money but by all accounts will still be low-performing to expand enrollment.

Now, let me be clear again. I will never cheer for a school’s failure. Kids’ futures are on the line here. While I’m entirely against the tomfoolery the Genius School is up to, I desperately want the students who walk through their doors to get an excellent education. Every student matters and not a single kid gets a solitary minute of their school experience back.

I guess why I’m so unnerved by the whole thing is because the switch to private likely means they will be allowed to continue to serve students in a subpar way, except this time their families will pay for it financially too. Those families, and their kids, deserve a whole lot better.