I have three words in mind today. Competition. Partnership. Collaboration.

First up, competition. Charter schools are often said (either as a point in their favor or a point against) to be in competition with traditional public schools. And even with each other. I’m not bullish on the notion but I do think it contains an important kernel: there should be real pressure on the institutions that aim to educate kids. Lives and futures are, quite literally, on the line.

Now, partnership. In the endeavor to serve students holistically, I often see individual schools, either district or charter, tout “community partnerships” as part of what makes their student experience special. “It takes a village,” and all that. Don’t get me wrong, community partnerships are good.

But I think the way we talk about competition and partnership in education can obscure something else powerful and potentially transformative. Collaboration between schools that, on the face of it, might seem to be competitors. Perhaps even competing over securing the same set of partners.

I ultimately have collaboration on the brain today because two local charter schools just gave us a template for what it can look like. In an increasingly crowded education ecosystem, I think it’s a template more schools ought to look to if we really mean to serve all students well.

A Merger Between Charter Schools

The collaboration I’m referring to is happening now between ACE Prep Academy (a K-6 school in the Broad Ripple area) and Circle City Prep (a K-8 school on the far eastside). Both schools have been around a little under a decade, but just got the green light from the Indiana Charter School Board to merge into a single network under the Circle City Prep umbrella.

ACE Prep is smaller, with 131 students enrolled this year. Circle City Prep has over 400 students across its elementary and middle schools. The reason for the merger? It’s not that ACE Prep is failing academically. In fact, they boasted a 90.5% IREAD pass rate last year. Even acknowledging it’s a small sample size, that pass rate is much higher than the majority of schools operating within IPS boundaries (either charter or traditional public).

But they’ve always struggled with enrollment, peaking at 165 during the school year leading up to the pandemic. We’ve already seen smaller independent charter schools fold in recent years due to financial and operational pressures. ACE Prep looked set to be another, even if they limped along for another year or two before succumbing to inertia.

Meanwhile, Circle City Prep has steadily grown its enrollment since its founding to a sustainable place (a success they aim to replicate to get ACE Prep enrollment to at least 250 over the next few years). They have proven themselves to be fiscally and operationally sound, not to mention being one of the best academic options for families on the far eastside of Indianapolis.

Benefits for Both Schools (And Ultimately Kids)

For Circle City Prep, the merger further creates “both economies of scale and opportunities for cost efficiencies across the organization” while expanding their organizational footprint to include another high-quality academic option. For ACE Prep, survival is perhaps the biggest benefit. But their staff and families stand to gain a lot more than merely a continued existence. For example, this merger will lead to:

• An average salary increase for ACE Prep staff of $10,000
• Expanded extracurricular opportunities for ACE Prep students
• Additional wraparound supports for ACE Prep students through Circle City Prep’s already-establish community partnerships
• Expanded grade level options for ACE Prep families as they can send their students to Circle City Prep’s flagship campus for 7^th and 8^th grades

Charter applications do not often make thrilling reading. The merger application behind this one is no Clive Cussler. But it is worth a read because it does illuminate just how well-thought-out the transition has been on behalf of both schools.

This is not to say the merger will be disruption free. That would be impossible. But these details do not hide a devil. They display the power of pooling resources on behalf of students. For instance:

• The merger will result in a “Home Office” leadership team that oversees the network rather than each individual school needing duplicative executive-level leaders.
• ACE Prep will adopt Circle City Prep’s Associate Teacher model, which involves adding three full-time staff members. In fact, ACE Prep’s full-time teaching staff will increase from 16 to 20 because of this merger. Existing ACE Prep teachers were offered the chance to re-apply to Circle City Prep as part of the merger with an expedited process. As of when the charter application was submitted, over half of them had done so.

Less front office staff (without sacrificing operational quality), more instructional staff. Win and win.

To go back to where I started, there is a real issue I have with the competition framing. It’s this: We’re all in the same boat. No matter what school a kid goes to, they all have to survive the same ocean (re: society) someday. We should want them all to succeed since we either reap the benefits or harvest the consequences.

To continue the oceanic metaphor, I guess it’s just nice to see two schools rowing so diligently in the same direction. Putting kids’ futures above individual egos. More please.