Indianapolis charter board greenlights 2 schools

Two Indianapolis charter schools got the green light to expand during a city board meeting April 29.

Victory College Prep and Indiana Math and Science Academy both presented plans to grow their existing schools into new campuses.

They cleared their first big step this week by appearing before the Indianapolis Charter School Board to gain charters for their schools.

The board also heard from a third school: Legal Prep Charter Academy from Chicago. Its leaders are seeking to open their first school in Indiana next year.

Because Legal Prep is new to the city charter school board, it’s following a slightly different process.

Its leaders have been invited back to present in another meeting at 6 p.m. June 24 at the City-County Building. The charter board will take public comment during this meeting and vote on whether to grant a charter to Legal Prep.

The proposed expansion comes at a tense time for public schools in Indy. Debates over funding have led to calls for a pause in opening new charter schools.

And, a new education alliance will form soon to bring Indianapolis Public Schools officials and charter supporters together to discuss more efficient use of school buildings and transportation services.

In the meantime, at least two charter schools in the city are moving forward with their plans to expand after this week’s approvals.

Victory College Prep

Victory College Prep is a K-12 school, serving about 1,100 students on Indy’s southeast side. All students currently attend classes at the school’s Sloan Avenue campus.

But, Victory College Prep leaders, amid a tense transition this winter, purchased another active school building about two miles west of their current location. As part of their long-planned expansion, Victory College Prep leaders want to restructure into three distinct schools: elementary, middle and high schools.

After the transition, elementary and middle school students will stay at Sloan Avenue while high school students will move over to the new school campus at 2710 Bethel Ave. But, to do this, Victory College Prep leaders needed to seek separate charters for each school.

Indianapolis charter board members asked about the school’s enrollment targets and if it would be able to extend its transportation system to new students. With the current building “bursting at the seams,” CEO Ryan Gall said the school has created a phased approach to growing enrollment by 200 students each of the next two years to meet a 1,500-student goal.

School leaders intend to add six buses to the school’s current fleet of 18. Buses will run between the two Victory College Prep campuses to ease school drop-off and pick-up for families.

The Indy board voted 8-0 to approve the middle school’s charter and 7-1 to approve the high school’s charter. Only Shamika Anderson, who is also president of Near North Development Corporation, voted against the high school proposal.

Before the vote, she asked Victory College Prep leaders what percentage of their students went on to earn college degrees after high school. While school leaders didn’t have a number immediately available to answer the question, Principal Chelsea Easter highlighted the school’s alumni coordinator — a position that keeps up with students for two years after high school graduation.

With their charters now in place, Victory College Prep is moving forward with its expansion. They intend to renovate their new Bethel Park campus this summer and welcome high schoolers to the building this fall.

More information about their plans is available on the Victory College Prep website.

Indiana Math and Science Academy

Indiana Math and Science Academy runs a pre-K through eighth grade school on Indy’s west side and a pre-K through high school on the north side. And now its leaders are looking to open a third school near Haughville.

They’ve received a commitment to sell from the owner of a former IPS school just southwest of 16th Street and Lafayette Road. Leaders say they believe their model will meet “a critical education need” in the neighborhood.

Though, charter board members pressed Indiana Math and Science Academy leaders to think about how their potential presence would affect other charter schools on the near west side.

They asked questions about differences in academic achievement between the academy’s two campuses. Nearly 54% of students at Indiana Math and Science Academy West tested proficient on the state’s ILEARN math exam. Just shy of 10% tested proficient at the school’s north campus.

Board members also asked about the school’s former southside campus, which closed in 2017 due to academic challenges and underenrollment.

“I’m always looking at the demand side,” said board member Andrea Neely, who is also president and CEO of the Simon Youth Foundation. “Your expansion also makes me think about, ‘Is there some cross-pollination or cannibalization of what’s happening with the other charter schools?’”

School leaders said they’ve introduced successful programs this year on the north side from their partners on the west campus in hopes of improving academic performance. They also say they’ve learned important lessons from their southside school’s closure.

“We did a lot of community outreach this time around because we learned that it’s very important to be woven into the community and have their support,” said Chris Bultman, director of external affairs for the academy.

The board voted 8-0 to approve a charter for the proposed Haughville school.

Indiana Math and Science Academy leaders say they’ll spend the next year recruiting students with plans to open in fall 2026. The school would first enroll about 200 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, and scale up to offer about 500 K-12 seats by 2032.

More information about Indiana Math and Science Academy’s third campus is available in its online charter application.

Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.

Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on X @carleylanich.

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