Indianapolis Public Schools parents and community members in support of traditional public schools are speaking out against proposals that would diminish the power of the district’s elected board.
At the Dec. 3, 2025, meeting of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance — a group charged by the legislature to find ways IPS and charter schools can efficiently share educational resources — proposed new governance models were presented that could heavily strip the IPS board of its powers.
Parents from the IPS Parent Council, school board members, members of the Central Indiana Democratic Socialist of America, members of the teachers’ union and members of the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis came together on Dec. 4 to speak out against those proposals.
IPS school board commissioner Gayle Cosby said that the two proposed models for governance, which would still allow for the existence of IPS’s elected school board, but could place more power with mayoral appointees and create independent boards to run the district’s buses and facilities, are just one step away from eliminating the elected board.
“If we allow appointed authorities to manage our property tax dollars, our buildings and our transportation resources, the question quickly becomes, why would we even need an elected board at all,” Cosby said.
Cosby believes that if the alliance ultimately approves these changes and it’s passed by the legislature, it would be an “assault” on the democratic process.
“The ILEA represents the tipping point, the culmination of over a decade of quiet, creeping privatization of our public education,” Cosby said.
Those speaking publicly Thursday night were also speaking in support of an alternative governance model that was drafted by the Central Indiana Democratic Socialists of America.
Their proposal would create a unified system in the IPS district, which would centralize power with the IPS school board that would make decisions on policy, transportation, and facilities. It also would serve as the authorizer for all charter schools within the district.
Adrea McCloud, an IPS teacher and co-chair of the Central Indiana Democratic Socialist of America’s “fully funded, fully public” campaign in support of traditional public schools, said that their proposal would allow true collaboration to flourish across the district’s traditional and charter schools.
“Unifying district managed schools, innovation schools and independent charter schools under one governance structure would make all schools eligible for funding from one pot of money,” McCloud said. “This will end the competition for resources between IPS and charters once and for all.”
IPS parent and organizer of the IPS Parent Council, Kristen Phair, said that parents felt that the ILEA’s Dec. 3 meeting, which was scheduled at 4 p.m. rather than its typical 6 p.m. start time, meant that many IPS parents were unable to attend due to school pick-up times conflicting with the meeting.
They also took issue with the reduced public speaking time at recent meetings, which the alliance has been shortening to 1 minute due to the high number of public speakers who show up.
“Parents and educators need a real seat at the table, not a moment at the microphone after decisions have been made,” Phair said. “ILEA’s charge should be to do what is best for the communities they serve, not what the legislature finds easiest to accept.”
Phair said that she and the 1,000 other IPS parents who had recently signed onto a letter asking the ILEA to allow IPS schools to be governed by their own elected board and retain the power to control their own resources.
She and the other members who spoke Thursday night want the ILEA to consider more governance model options that “prioritize students’ stability over structural experimentation.”
Hannah Marley, an IPS teacher speaking on behalf of the union, said that they want to expand collective bargaining rights for teachers across the district.
“Collective bargaining allows for collaborative conversations between administrators and educators to ensure the best learning conditions for all students we serve,” Marley said.
Historically, charter schools have not had collective bargaining units for teachers.
Upcoming ILEA meetings and listening sessions
The ILEA group has planned two more listening sessions in the next two weeks. One will be on Dec. 10 at KIPP Legacy High School from 6-8 p.m. and the other from 12-2 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Madam Walker Legacy Center.
The ILEA plans to take its final vote on which recommendations to send to state lawmakers at 6 p.m. Dec. 17.
Contact IndyStar K-12 education reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter (X): @CarolineB_Indy.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Groups fight ‘tipping point’ IPS school board proposals
Reporting by Caroline Beck, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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