I first reported on the proposed Indianapolis Public Education Corporation (IPEC) back in December.
Then, an “alliance” of local leaders (read: friends of the Mayor and one very concerned parent for good measure) voted 8-1 (with the parent being the sole vote against) to ask for the creation of IPEC.
Now, Peter Greene reports on the legislature following up and taking action:
The bill would establish the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, a nine-member board appointed by the mayor. The IPEC would be the super-boss-daddy of all Indianapolis schools, both public and charter. It looks a lot like the old portfolio model, which Mind Trust has been pushing and expanding in Indianapolis for years. The model is based on the idea of an investment portfolio, where you keep juggling investments in and out of the portfolio depending on how well they pay off. (Longer explanation here.)
Back in December, that lone no vote at the local level warned:
“I find my biggest reason to vote no is the level of ambiguity in the plan,” Ahlgren said. “I find these recommendations falling into this bizarre zone of simultaneously feeling both too much and not enough, bold in some areas but overly timid in others, with vague promises that the ecosystem will sort itself out.”
But, never fear, the proponents say it will all be fine - just like in New Orleans!!!
Brown opens by citing the example of post-Katrina New Orleans, which became the first major city to “restructure its school system.” Kind of like the way rockets sometimes employ “rapid unplanned disassembly.” “In the two decades since, however,” writes Brown, “no city has attempted such an ambitious structural reform.” It’s true, just as few rocket makers have deliberately pursued rapid unplanned disassembly.
But Brown is happy to announce that the Indiana General Assembly is on its way to replicating the effects of a natural disaster with the bill’s “dramatic restructuring of public education.”