Is this the end of IPS?

A new bill may dismantle Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) and four other school districts. House Bill 1136 proposes that if most students in a school district are not attending that school in fall 2024, then the district should be dissolved. Then all those schools “must be transitioned to operating as charter schools,” according to the bill. I think this is what many people feared about charters all along. For the opponents of charter schools, many felt they were taking away the support that should have been going to IPS. There are also four other school districts this would affect, but the majority of the students affected live within IPS’s boundaries. In recent years, people blamed the introduction of charter schools for the lack of investment in IPS. Residents within the IPS district often shared their displeasure at the charter schools they believed were taking money away from other schools. The funding system is designed to make sure the money followed the student. This meant, the charter school only received funds based on the number of students that were enrolled, and charter schools often received less money than the district. In hindsight, I think the fears people had were steeped in...