Note: This piece was updated on 4/10 to reflect recent changes to the amendment that ultimately led to a more supportive stance from IPS.

Back when I covered the possible impact of House Bill 1501 only for it to die in its originating chamber, I thought that was it for a bill that aimed to make sweeping changes to transportation and facilities management for some public school districts, including Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS).

But a bill is never truly dead until the corn pokes its head above the soil (read: the legislative session ends), and this one is looking to make a comeback bigger than Rocky. Rep. Bob Behning (the bill’s author) salvaged most of the original legislation as Amendment #9 to Senate Bill 373, which remains under wider consideration after passing out of the House Education committee.

The amendment, even after fundamental changes from what House Bill 1501 proposed, still initially ruffled Indianapolis Public Schools’ (IPS) feathers. So today, I’ll look at what the updated measure intends to do, whether the most recent changes to the amendment addressed IPS’ concerns, and what comes next.

What Does Amendment #9 to Senate Bill 373 Do?

The proposal would create the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance (ILEA) with two primary goals:

1. Conduct a facilities assessment of school buildings in Indianapolis (charter schools included)
2. Create a facilities and transportation plan by December 31, 2025, that makes recommendations to the legislature for managing school facilities and transportation across Indianapolis

As currently proposed, ILEA would consist of nine members:

• Mayor Joe Hogsett (who will serve as chairman of the alliance or else designate an appointee as chair)
• Four appointees of the Mayor (one of whom would represent the business community)
• IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson
• Two parents appointed by the IPS Superintendent (one with a child in a traditional IPS school and one with a child in an Innovation Network school)
• One appointee of the IPS Board President (this appointee cannot be a current IPS board member)

Beyond the two goals above, this amendment also creates an opening for IPS and other school districts to opt in to a pilot program that would place authority over facilities and transportation fully into the hands of non-elected, independent local boards. The original house bill required the establishment of those pilot programs. Now, it’s optional.

And those recommendations that’ll come down the pipe from ILEA? Technically optional as well. Though we’ll get into that next.

IPS’ Initial Position on the Amendment

I assume commissioner Allissa Impink spoke on behalf of the entire IPS Board in advocating for three main revisions to the amendment back on March 26. Those requests led to changes in the amendment’s language to where an IPS spokesperson was quoted in WFYI on April 9 saying, “These revisions reflect important progress toward a more collaborative, community-responsive model for public education governance in Indianapolis.” Let’s see how everything shook out.

1. First Request from IPS – Remove the governor’s appointments and replace them with members of the IPS Board and the Indianapolis Charter School Board. This first request largely played out in recent revisions, with the biggest change being an increased role for IPS (4 spots on the committee instead of 3) and the newly-central role for the Mayor, with all other appointed spots coming from him (a few of which I think it’s safe to assume will represent independent charter schools or organizations that support charter schools). The balance of power definitely swung toward local and IPS, which is likely why they are more supportive of the amendment at this point.
2. Second Request from IPS – Include the IPS Board and the Indianapolis Charter School Board as recipients of ILEA’s report and as required decision makers regarding the report’s recommendations. The alliance will still be preparing their recommendations for delivery to the Indiana legislature, who then have ultimate power to turn around and craft whatever legislation they see fit. But the amendment’s author, Rep. Bob Behning, has consistently reiterated that he hopes ILEA ends up catalyzing IPS and local charter schools “to figure out how to make this work internally, without the legislature having to come in and fix it.” In the absence of independent action on the back of the alliance’s recommendations, you can imagine the legislature stepping in to advance something. But IPS has enough of a presence on ILEA that whatever comes out of this alliance should, in theory, be something they are committed to and want to act on.
3. Third Request from IPS – Commit to ILEA’s role being advisory, not authoritative. ILEA does remain advisory and has now been given an expiration date of March 2026. So once ILEA’s recommendations are delivered by the end of this calendar year, the alliance will be winding up.

Will This Deepen Collaboration on Transportation and Facilities Between IPS and Charter Schools?

Impink’s original statements emphasized the sentiment that IPS needs a say in any decision that impacts them. The essence of her requests? Prioritize local control.

Recent changes to the amendment definitely seem to address that concern. IPS now has an increased presence on the alliance, not to mention that all appointees will come from either the Mayor or the IPS Board President. Not only is IPS largely in support of this latest version, Democratic Rep. Ed DeLaney offered a strong endorsement for the collaborative process created by this latest version as he helped vote it through committee.

While the legislature still holds the cards if ILEA fails to generate new collaboration between IPS and charter schools, this certainly doesn’t feel like a power grab. ILEA, in principal, is designed to get Indianapolis’ education sector in motion together to address chronic pain points in our ecosystem. Local entities, assuming they exercise their agency, are in the driver’s seat here.

But here’s the million dollar question. Will ILEA lead to substantial changes in how we handle student transportation and leverage facilities across both IPS and our local charter school sector? We’ve all seen the pattern repeat itself: identify a problem, form a committee, write a report, move on until you identify the same problem, repeat.

I’m not saying that’s the outcome here. But history does not look kindly on advisory committees. We need a step forward on school transportation and facilities across Indianapolis. This is a step. And, for me, it’s a step that has the right people at the table with the right level of buy-in to actually lead to something (pending the couple unknown appointees). So I’m optimistically hopeful. In the words of Michael Scott, “I am ready to get hurt again.” But this time, it may just be painless. And kids might just benefit on the other side.