If you have kids – Do they attend or have they graduated from IPS schools? If not, where do/did they attend?

Throughout my adult life, I have been an advocate for helping parents to choose the best school they can for educating their kids. For me, when I was growing up, that was IPS – and I attended four IPS schools for k-8 before graduating for Northwest HS. My own kids are older (the youngest is a senior in college); but when my three kids reached school age, my late wife and I considered various options and, for us, the best choice was Catholic schools. When I was an IPS student, 90 percent of families chose the district. Indeed, going back even further, the developers of my neighborhood successfully petitioned to be part of the IPS district – because it was considered the best school district in the Indianapolis area. Today, only a third of the families that live in IPS choose to attend IPS. I would like that number to be higher – and I think it can be higher by focusing on academic outcomes and workforce preparation, by learning from the schools that are outperforming them, and by being more responsive to parent needs and interests.

What prompted you to run this year?

I have lived in IPS for nearly my entire life. I attended IPS schools and graduated from Northwest HS. I have also built a career focused on improving education and workforce training, and have often had IPS as a focal point when working on such issues as school funding, testing, accountability, public charter schools and more. I do not believe that IPS has ever been at a more important crossroad. Declining enrollment. Tightening budgets. A new governance structure. Turning this ship may be the most important thing that we can do for the future of this city – a city that I have called “home” for over 60 sixty years. And I can think of no better way to use the years of knowledge, experience and networks that I have built over 40 years of working on such issues, than to helping improve the school system where all of it got started for me.

What is the most pressing student needs issue facing the district? How will you address it?

Academics will always be the most important issue for our schools – and IPS must focus there. In getting there, IPS must also be far more transparent about its progress and about its finances. It is simply not helpful to brag about small improvements when your overall performance continues to rank among the worst in the state and when schools with similar demographics are already outperforming you.

What area of academics do you think the district needs to focus on and why?

IPS is making gains in third grade reading; but they continue to perform well below the state average and are tied with one other district as the worst in Marion County. So they need to make gains, just to catch up. Beyond third grade, only one in five IPS students is meeting the state’s minimum academic standards – in any subject. Additionally, only 17 percent of IPS juniors are college ready – one of the lowest performance levels in the entire state. Meanwhile, public charter schools with similar demographics are doing better, as are other school districts with similar demographics around the country. IPS needs to learn from those models; and just as the State is focusing on reading approaches with proven track records (and getting results!), IPS needs to adopt curriculum, textbooks and instructional practices that have demonstrable results. Unfortunately, based on recent testing data, this need is across the board, across all subjects. It needs to start with reading (as has begun), then focus on ELA and Math, and then other subjects beyond that.

As Indianapolis education begins this new phase with the addition of IPEC, how should the board approach its relationship with IPEC?

IPS now serves fewer students than do public charter schools in the district; and and they serve only one in three school aged children who live in the district. Yet, as the designated public school district for the largest portion of our city, they remain the foundation for how our schools serve and provide for our community. Accordingly, they need to cooperate with IPEC to help assure that all students in the district are being served well – including the facilities, transportation and accountability issues that will be the focus of IPEC. IPEC offers a unique and important opportunity to reset how all of our schools operate to serve students and our community. But it is an opportunity, not a guarantee – and IPS, along with all other stakeholders in this new structure, need to support the effort but also be ready to address issues and concerns that do not serve their students effectively.

Do you support the IPEC referendum and the rate? Why or why not?

As a fellow homeowner, I sympathize with the families in my district who are very concerned about the taxes that our residents are facing. I also believe, due to the processes that we have in place for passing referendums, that we are quickly moving away from the protections that our recent constitutional amendments had intended. I also think that two years would have been sufficient timing for the new governance structures in IPS to begin their work and to create a new baseline for operations. For those reasons, among others, I would have preferred a shorter timeframe (two years rather than four) and a rate that is lower. Nonetheless, based on the limited options currently in front of us, I am inclined to support the current referendum, simply to avoid the chaos that is likely to result for students and teachers if the referendum fails. Going forward, my goal will be a healthy IPS that does not need any additional referendums – including an operating budget that functions within the funding levels that state and federal sources provide, as was intended when the State passed protections for property owners.

IPS recently made budget cuts and will need to make more cuts even if the referendum passes. What will be your approach to budget cut decisions? Are there other ways IPS can bring in money beyond the referendum?

Far too much of this discussion is focused on district-level cuts rather than student funding levels. IPS spends more than $22,000 per student, far more than almost any other district in the state and, until recently, about $7,000 more than public charter schools. (WFYI/Chalkbeat were unable to independently verify this data.), So we need to start by shifting that focus (from district-level funding to student-level funding) and by having a much better understanding of how the current funds are being spent. I have worked on school finance issues for over 30 years; and I have seen many years when IPS complained about “funding cuts” that were actually the result of declining enrollment. When I was an IPS student, IPS had over 110,000 students and today they have less than 20,000. So, of course, a good portion of the funding for IPS is going to shift to the schools where they are now educated. And adjusting the budget to reflect that declining enrollment is not really a “cut.” In fact, in many of the years that IPS complained about getting less money, per pupil funding actually went up – and that is part of the reason that IPS now spends more money than almost any of other district in the state. We need to be far more transparent with the public about the level of funding that IPS receives and how that money is being spent – and also focus far more on driving dollars to the classroom and to teachers.

How will you engage with the community if elected? What role will their feedback have in your decision making?

I learned a long time ago about the value of engaging parents in decision-making on school issues. That has certainly been my goal as I have worked at the State House for legislative changes. And as district leaders, the IPS trustees must also seek that type of engagement. That does not always mean that the loudest set of voices will win the day – as we saw recently in the ILEA/IPEC hearings, where it was actually the calmest voices, those who were focused on real outcomes for all children, who actually had the most sway. I will continue, as I have done throughout my work on education, to seek and engage the voices of parents and other community members. But I will also listen more to those who demonstrate, rationally and calmly, that they are representing the needs of all students in the district, not just a small subset.

Outside money to fund campaigns has been a huge factor in previous IPS school board elections. Will you accept any donations from outside special interest groups? Why or why not?

I have spent my entire life living, working and raising a family in IPS; and from that experience, I have developed a network of friends and professional colleagues that will be my primary focus during campaign fundraising. That network also includes organizations that are sometimes labeled as “outside special interest groups” but who are actually organizations that represent and engage the parents and other constituencies that are served by IPS. If my vision matches with theirs, then I will look forward to working with and receiving support from such groups.