I recently sat down for an interview with Shaina Cavazos, the new Director of the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation (OEI). OEI is Indianapolis’ biggest charter school authorizer, overseeing the academics, finances, and governance of public charter schools that collectively serve over 18,000 students across Indianapolis.

I wanted to talk about the basics. OEI’s responsibilities. How they evaluate schools. How Shaina’s background as a journalist informs her role in the Director’s chair of our city’s biggest authorizer.

But I also wanted to dig into the thornier bits of our education landscape. Like, what role are charter schools supposed to play in our city? Are they living up to that? And are there ways the wider charter school authorizing sector could be strengthened here in Indianapolis?

I think you’ll find what follows to be insightful, challenging, and laced with just the right amount of optimism about where our city’s education landscape might head in the years to come. Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Q: What does the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation do?

A: OEI is a city agency, but we are first and foremost a charter school authorizer. We hold one end of the charter contract with the schools we monitor. Broadly, what that looks like is that we ensure charter schools are fulfilling the responsibilities in their charter agreement. This includes answering questions like:

• Are you upholding state and federal law?
• Are you performing at levels that are best for serving students and families?

We also look at a variety of areas, including academics, financials, and governance (both board and school leadership).

It’s fairly unique being a mayor’s office that authorizes charter schools. We were the first in the country and still among the very few today. We have an important place in ensuring we are responsive to schools’ needs and our constituents as a whole. That dual responsibility is special.

Q: You recently became OEI’s new director. What do you most hope to accomplish in the role?

A: Taking this job after having been at OEI a little over five years, I’m familiar with all areas of our work. What I’ve been doing over the last few years is trying to make sure that the way we operate is as consistent and efficient as possible. We’ve done a lot of review of internal systems, which doesn’t sound all that glamorous, but I’m really excited to take advantage of the foundation I’ve been able to lay at OEI, and focus on how we get schools where we need them to go. I’m excited to see schools making progress and doing well coming out of the pandemic. We will continue to keep our foot on the accelerator to get performance where we know it can be.

Q: Before joining the OEI team, you were a local education journalist for a number of years. How does your journalism background inform the work you do now at OEI?

A: I’ll never be able to shake my background and training as a journalist. There are a lot of similarities between the values a journalist, a charter school authorizer, and a public servant holds. My role now is still about building relationships, working with people in the community to build trust, and holding people accountable, even if that looks different from when I was a reporter.

But as a reporter, I saw firsthand the importance of accountability and strong local government in the investigations I did of virtual charter schools. I brought that background with me to OEI, knowing why it matters to have a strong authorizer with high standards that builds trust with schools so they know we’re working together. It’s also important that there’s also someone in this seat paying attention, looking for what needs improvement, and who is there to have conversations with schools that set that high standard. I’m skeptical when I need to be skeptical, and I’m empathetic when I need to be empathetic.

Q: What role do you think charter schools are designed to play in our city?

A: Charter schools are structured to make decisions in a way that cuts through some of the red tape traditional districts face. That’s valuable because it is urgent to get things right for kids.

In the last two decades, we’ve seen what powerful forces for good charter schools can be in building community where there wasn’t one previously. Some networks have created such a strong culture around the kind of education they offer. That’s really special to have that be built from the ground up in a relatively short time.

We even have charter schools where people are teaching in the schools that they attended. It’s cool to see that history bear out. I hope charter schools remain able to be proactive when they need to be when things change. Charter schools will always have to adjust and meet the needs of their community, and they’re specially positioned to do just that.

Q: What is OEI’s approach to determining the success of a new charter school application?

A: Our landscape shifts all the time. Sometimes, a new school can meet the need that exists. Sometimes, doing more work at an existing school is needed. There’s not one answer to that question. As an authorizer, we are required to consider any application that comes to us, understand the proposal, work with the school, and handle whatever comes next.

It’s not just one decision and then a school magically opens. It’s a combination of small, medium, and large decisions that get us to a new school opening. The process takes longer than most people realize. And the decision doesn’t stop at initial charter approval. Strong authorizers know when to pump the brakes. Our landscape will shift, and it’s incumbent on us and our charter school applicants to understand the community’s needs so we can make plans that are sustainable.

Q: Are there ways you believe the wider charter school authorizing sector in Indianapolis could be strengthened?

A: I’ve joked with schools that I’m a professional wet blanket. My responsibility is to have difficult conversations when schools are missing the mark. Those are serious and difficult, yet important. That’s the bargain. All authorizers should understand that’s an important part of what we do.

There’s certainly an argument that organizations should have the capacity for authorizing. Every organization has to figure out what that looks like because not all of them are set up for authorizing. Most importantly, the mayor’s office authorizes schools within Indianapolis, where we all live and work. Having that local connection to this community and knowing that I’m making decisions that might affect everyone, even my own community—that really does matter. Local responsibility matters.  The more in authorizing that we can focus on local schools and communities, the stronger the sector is. When we have skin in the game—when we are of the place we are impacting—I think that results in stronger schools and stronger authorizing.

Q: What haven’t I asked you about that you want readers to know about OEI or your role as the new director?

A: I want people to know that OEI does not make decisions in a vacuum. We are aware we have a deep responsibility to our city and our community. The work we do with new schools and existing schools is in support of trying to get them to be the very best they can be. All schools are invested in seeing students be successful, and we have so many schools that are doing incredible work.