School Daze
Friday at 10:30 a.m. the Indiana Department of Education will release the names of schools that made it off academic probation and will not be taken over by the State. I’ll have a post up tomorrow. In the meanwhile I thought it would be interesting to post some excerpts on education by the two main candidates for Indianapolis Mayor, Republican incumbent Greg Ballard and Democratic challenger Melina Kennedy. The words come from their submissions to Hoosier Ed, an education blog launched by the Center of Excellence in Leadership and Learning at the University of Indianapolis. (Full disclosure, I am on the faculty there in the Graduate School of Business). You can go there and get their words in their entirety.
Republican Greg Ballard
The city has a stellar record of overseeing charter schools. My administration has added charter schools and is increasing opportunity for the 2,000 students that were on waiting lists to attend Mayor-sponsored charter schools. In 2011, Stanford University found that charter school performance in Indianapolis outpaced the traditional public schools in learning gains. We set high standards, demand results and hold accountable schools that don’t measure up. It’s difficult to argue with the fact that 90% of graduates from Mayor-sponsored charter schools enroll in college.
We do have some outstanding public schools in our community, but we also have too many schools that are failing our children. That’s why I strongly supported the education reforms of Governor Mitch Daniels and Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett. I strongly encourage every administrator, teacher and parent to fully understand their rights under these new reforms and use them to the betterment of our children.
Unfortunately though, after six years of failing to meet the state’s minimum standards, some of our schools face the prospect of being taken over by the state. At my request, the General Assembly this year passed a law giving the Mayor the ability to ask the state to regain local oversight of state takeover schools as early as next year. Once the state determines which schools to take over, I will bring together Dr. Bennett, IPS Superintendent Dr. Eugene White, local community groups, education experts, parents and teachers to develop a local, community-based and accountable management system for each school. We will present our plan to the state next year. These would not be charter schools; however I believe we can and should build a charter-like model that incorporates local leadership, partnerships with local community groups and the flexibility to make long overdue changes.
Democrat Melina Kennedy
The evidence that we need to improve our schools surrounds us, and in the past few years we have taken steps backward, not forward, in many regards.
In May, I unveiled my five guiding principles for improving education in Indianapolis. My goals focus on advocating for better schools, focusing on early childhood education and literacy, maintaining high standards for local charter schools, attracting talent to our educational system and increasing collaboration with the city and among school districts.
Since then, I’ve met with and listened to teachers, parents, students, school administrators, community leaders and others involved in local education. Their message has been clear: We must work together to build a public education system that serves all students and makes our city a destination for innovation and job creation.
For the past four years, there has been a lack of sustained leadership on education in Indianapolis. Simply put, to learn, students have to be engaged in the classroom, and to lead, a mayor has to be engaged in education.
We can’t afford to see our community be divided and lose sight of the most important goal: making sure our schools focus first and always on the students and communities they serve. There’s no issue that touches more residents, whether they have children in the system or not, as the quality of our schools is directly tied to our property values, our crime rate, our ability to attract new employers and our faith in the future of our city.
