The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools is looking to work with a nonprofit organization, Opportunity Education, exploring the possibility of creating the first charter school in the HSE District, with up to 500 student by 2028. The goal, according to HSE’s Director of K-12 Initiatives Steve Loser, is to create such a high school and also offer courses to students spending most of their time at HSE and Fishers High Schools.
Loser told the board this could provide career and technical education (CTE) to more students in the district. Currently only 7% of HSE students are in technical education programs.
The board unanimously approved the MOU to move forward with Opportunity Education talks.
Becky Slayton of the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA) wrote a post on Facebook critical of the HSE move to create a charter school. She writes that such a charter school “often cuts out teacher voices” and the district brought this proposal to the union “the day before going to the board for approval.”
Slayton wrote the charter/innovation school model is “about deconstructing public education hidden behind a screen of CTE.”
Wealthy businessman Joe Ricketts, also the owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, is behind the creation of Operation Education.
You can see Steve Loser’s full presentation to the board at this link.
The big question is, “Why?” What in the governance structure of HSE prevents them from doing what they need to do to establish the educational programming needed? The simple answer, “Nothing.” I am not sure the Board or superintendent can answer that question adequately, but it has to be asked over and over again. What they are doing is creating a legal entity outside the direct control of the Board and thus outside of the control of voters and taxpayers.
This is the next big step in the endgame of what these people were making big changes for. They don’t care about the kids or the teachers – they care about getting for-profit schools in place. Someone is going to be making a lot of money, and HSE schools are going to suffer.
This is a very dangerous move. Starting a charter school makes no sense. HSEis being used as a Guinea pig to insert charter schools into public schools. This is taxpayer money used with no oversight. I think we have let the fox into the hen house.
Why is HSE in the business of creating a charter school? “Nonprofit” is a word used to describe the organization as a whole, but it does not mean that wealthy businessman
Ricketts and his cronies are not going to draw some sort of salary. When you put radical right wing nuts on the school board, you get a move toward privatizing our schools to the detriment of the students. This is a garbage move!