In a move that has been years in the making, the Indianapolis Public Schools board voted Wednesday to hand the long-vacant Raymond Brandes building (School 65) to Dynamic Minds Academy, a charter school that focuses on serving students on the autism spectrum. The board accepted a $1 transfer under Indiana's facility-sharing statute, clearing a legal path for Dynamic Minds to pursue a second K-12 campus if it secures authorizer approval. The deal lands as the district simultaneously looks to sell another shuttered school and turn unused school land over to the parks department.
Board Signs Off On $1 Deal For Dynamic Minds
At its recent meeting, the IPS board agreed to transfer Raymond Brandes to Dynamic Minds Academy for $1. According to Chalkbeat, the vote follows a state appeals court ruling that boxed in the district's choices and opened the door for the charter to expand as demand from families grows. District leaders say the arrangement keeps the building in educational use instead of letting it sit empty.
Court Ruling Left IPS Little Wiggle Room
A 2025 Indiana Court of Appeals decision put School 65 squarely under the state's so-called $1 law, which requires districts to offer unused buildings to charter operators before putting them on the broader market. The court concluded that lawmakers' later tweaks to the statute could not be applied retroactively to block a charter from acquiring the Brandes site. That reasoning, detailed in the opinion on Justia and in coverage from WFYI, is what kept IPS from trying to sell School 65 on the open market first.
Autism-Focused Charter Looks To Grow
Dynamic Minds currently runs an autism-centered K-12 charter and partners with Hope Source clinic so students can receive applied behavioral analysis services alongside classroom instruction, the school has told reporters. The school enrolled roughly 130 to 135 students this year and has about 160 students on a wait list, according to Chalkbeat. Public records and school profiles show Dynamic Minds is seeking approval for the new campus from Education One at Trine University and is targeting fall 2027 to open the second site if its application is cleared, as outlined on Public School Review.
One School Hits The Market, Another Becomes Parkland
In a separate vote, the board agreed to put Susan Roll Leach (School 68) up for sale on the open market after no charter operator stepped forward to claim it for $1. IPS plans to bring in a broker to manage that listing. Reporting from MirrorIndy notes that School 68, built in 1938, previously received the district's lowest facility quality rating in a facilities study. The board also signed off on transferring about 18 acres of the former John Marshall campus to IndyParks; Indy Parks lists work in the area as part of the broader Grassy Creek master plan.
Why It Matters
The Brandes decision highlights the competing pressures on IPS: charter schools hunting for affordable space, a district juggling aging buildings, and lawmakers revisiting the rules that tie it all together. State legislators have weighed creating an oversight body and other changes to how school facilities and transportation are handled, according to Axios. Local advocacy groups such as The Mind Trust have pushed for quicker reuse of closed campuses. Advocates say where School 65 lands could ripple across the city by influencing where specialized programs for students with disabilities are ultimately housed.
Legal Ripples Beyond One Building
The Court of Appeals ruling also drew a bright line on how far lawmakers can go in changing the rules midstream. The opinion held that applying 2024 amendments to the facility law retroactively could not block the transfer of School 65, even while IPS remains free to consider other kinds of property deals, according to the decision on Justia and reporting from WFYI. Any future shakeup of the $1 law would require fresh legislation and could again change how IPS and other districts unload shuttered school properties.
Dynamic Minds still has to clear one more hurdle by winning an authorizer's approval before it can actually open at the Brandes site. IPS officials say they will also work with community members as they sort out the sale of School 68 and finalize the John Marshall land transfer. For more detail on the board's votes and local reaction, see coverage from WISH-TV and reporting mirrored at MirrorIndy.
