House Bill would dissolve local school districts with low enrollment numbers

DANE FUELLING & RANDY HISNER

WZBD.com

A bill introduced in the Indiana House last week aims to dissolve several school districts in Indiana in 2028 and turn them into charter schools.

Many in education and local government fear that the implications could be much more far-reaching as the use of vouchers in Indiana continues to rise.

The bill (House Bill 1136), authored by Rep. Jake Teshka, would use data from the fall enrollment data collected by the state in 2024 and use it to draw a line in the sand between school districts who are either above or under the 50% enrollment mark of students in their districts.

Essentially, if there are more students attending other schools who live in a district than those who attend the traditional public school, that school district would be dissolved in 2028 and all schools within that district would be turned into charter schools.

Opponents argue that the expanded School Choice (voucher) program has led to many students leaving public schools, not necessarily because the local public schools are inadequate, but rather because some parents prefer a religious education for their children.

Opponents of the bill contend that the bill could unfairly target school systems that happen to be in communities with many well-established parochial schools because of the religious makeup of those communities.

Editor’s Note: When calculating the number of students living in the district, Amish students are not considered as part of the count.

How do local school districts line up against the five targeted districts in H.B. 1136?

Information from this table is taken from the Indiana DOE’s report used to determine which schools would be affected by the legislation:

The bill does not create a rolling application of the 50% mark year after year in the Hoosier State, but rather specifically uses the Fall 2024 numbers. That means the bill is specifically targeted towards five school districts in Indiana. Two are massive metropolitan districts: Indianapolis Public Schools with 50 buildings, and the Gary Community School Corporation with its nine buildings.

The bill would also apply to three of Indiana’s smallest remaining school districts, dinosaurs of a bygone era with graduating classes in the dozens.

Those three districts are:

-Union School Corporation

-Tri-Township Consolidated School Corporation

-Cannelton City Schools

Union High School has just 87 students according to IHSAA enrollment numbers, while Tri-Township is down to 107. Cannelton City High School has 57 enrolled students.

The 68 affected schools would all transition to charter schools and be eligible for a new grant from the state of $25M, called the Charter School Capital Grant.

H.B. 1136 has been referred to the Committee on Education.

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Dane Fuelling

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