A nasty breakup is looming on the far eastside between one of Indianapolis’ oldest charter schools and its operator. Founded in 2003, Andrew J. Brown Academy (AJB) serves around 600 students in grades K-8. One quirk of being over two decades old? The school, while itself a nonprofit, is operated by a national, for-profit management company called National Heritage Academies (NHA).

For-profit operators have largely gone out of style in Indianapolis (I believe NHA happens to be the last one in Center Township after CSUSA departed back in 2019), though they remain common around the country (particularly in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida). I say good riddance to them (though the following research from the Fordham Institute looking at the phenomenon in neighboring Ohio is worth a few moments; my perspective was certainly challenged in a few ways, even if it didn’t fundamentally change my mind).

In recent months, AJB’s authorizer, the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation (OEI), brought increased scrutiny to bear on NHA. That led to AJB’s board cutting ties with NHA in favor of a local, nonprofit operator moving forward (which happens to be Paramount Schools of Excellence).

But in another episode of “education is never simple,” the mess got messy very quickly. Quick orientation:

1. NHA owns the building and leases it to AJB; so while AJB is within its rights to cut ties and get a different operator, it doesn’t get to bring the building along.
2. NHA, seemingly disgruntled by getting shown the exit, is looking to launch a charter school of their own called Creek Point Academy (they currently have an application in with the Indiana Charter School Board [ICSB] pending approval) that would operate in AJB’s building (which, again, NHA owns and simply leases to AJB).
3. Facts 1 and 2 are complicated further by Fact 3, which is that AJB’s staff are NHA employees. In summary, AJB has no staff, no building. It doesn’t take a trained eye to know it’s hard to cook up what you might think of as a school without those two ingredients.
4. AJB offered to continue leasing the building from NHA. Offer declined.

Why did AJB split and what’s next for them?

This marinara sauce cannon was triggered by AJB’s board when it severed its relationship with NHA. Was that warranted? Were they getting what they paid for from their operator? Not so much, according to AJB.

First, the leasing fee. Remember, AJB doesn’t own their building. NHA does. And they were apparently charging around $800,000 per year to AJB to lease it. A story in The Washington Post from a few years ago noted how NHA commonly leases buildings to its schools at above-market rates. Seems like AJB wanted out of a bad deal. Meanwhile, OEI (AJB’s authorizer) twice put NHA on notice for deficiencies and AJB’s board chair noted concerns such as a lack of financial transparency, staff turnover, academic performance, and a lack of local control. (Sidebar: Criticism of NHA’s practices goes back a long way. See this Huffington Post article as Exhibit A. Exhibit B is this in-depth case study from a group of students at Yale.)

Interestingly, at a public hearing about the split, AJB staff seemed largely indifferent about NHA’s for-profit status. A couple of them were right to note details that more or less came down to the idea that the “for-profit” marker on its own does not necessarily indicate lesser quality or something nefarious. (Which, if you read Fordham’s research linked above, is pretty much their whole shtick too, and they had a fancy study to back it up. To which I say, still, good riddance to for-profit operators.)

It’s probable a lot of staff who teach at AJB (but, remember, are employed by NHA) have had good experiences with their employer. Technical explanations or ideological appeals may not sway them and I certainly can’t blame them if that’s the case. They have jobs. They probably want to keep said jobs.

Still, AJB is offering jobs to all classroom teachers (they have indicated they will replace current administration). And they’ve apparently secured a new facility if lease negotiations with NHA fall through. The new facility is as yet undisclosed, though apparently it’s more or less in the same neighborhood. So it’ll be interesting to see whether staff stick or twist.

Where does that leave NHA?

NHA’s application for Creek Point Academy is currently under consideration with the ICSB. Their staff is set to make a recommendation on whether or not to approve Creek Point Academy at a May 21 board meeting.

NHA hopes to receive approval and start operating this fall. Yet it’s basically unprecedented for the ICSB to approve a charter to operate in the same year they apply. Moreover, OEI sent a letter to ICSB urging the body to reject Creek Point Academy’s application.

OEI’s director Patrick McAlister is quoted in Chalkbeat’s piece on the matter as saying, “Coupled with enrollment declines and principal turnover, it’s not clear NHA’s practices prioritize local students and staff over its bottom line.” I concur. If they did prioritize kids, it seems simple enough to lease AJB the building after they found a new operator.

It’s not yet clear if 2024 rings the deathknell on for-profit operators in the Circle City. But here’s hoping.

Update on 5/23/24: Creek Point Academy withdrew its application from the ICSB after learning it would be rejected. They plan to pursue an application for the 2025-26 school year. The fate of Andrew J. Brown’s physical school building remains up in the air. Read Chalkbeat’s coverage for more.