Indiana's public charter schools, currently excluded from receiving local property tax revenue, may soon see a shift in funding structures if the Indiana Charter Innovation Center has its way. Representing approximately half of the state's 123 charter schools, this new advocacy group is spearheading a move to have public school districts share their property tax wealth with their charter counterparts. CEO Scott Bess, with a background in pioneering educational initiatives such as Purdue Polytechnic High School, emphasizes that charter schools have been disadvantaged in providing certain services due to their lack of access to property tax funds.
"Charter schools have always had to pay for those things out of their state funding, which means funding that's really meant for the classroom has to be diverted to pay for rent and bonds and buses, and everything else," Bess told WTHR. The nonprofit group he leads sees the upcoming legislative budget session as a critical moment to achieve funding parity, with the argument that public education dollars should rightfully follow the student.
According to a Greenfield Reporter article, Bess mentioned that while eliminating the funding gap entirety may be unattainable, narrowing it is essential. Despite the financial challenges posed by lower-than-expected tax revenues, Bess insists that the center is not advocating for a tax increase but for a fairer division of existing resources.
With more than 120 charter schools making up about 5% of Indiana's total K-12 schools, the Indiana Charter Innovation Center asserts that their member schools have long felt the absence of a central support system. The center aims to fill this gap by offering services such as webinars on state insurance plans and common school loan funds, as detailed by Vice President of Strategy Kimberly Reier. "They really wanted someone that could really help pull the charter sector together, create communities of practice, provide information to them, really provide the kind of services that they weren't getting before, and that they really had to try to find on their own," Bess explained to WFYI.
As the legislative budget session draws near, the Indiana Charter Innovation Center stands firm on its vision, backed by both grassroots support from charter schools and strategic leadership.
