Proposed HSE charter school facing pushback from parents

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An Indiana Department of Education push for more vocational training in public schools is facing a setback in Hamilton County, where state officials are planning a charter school focused on the trades.

Parents and education watchdogs are questioning the need for a school in the high-performing Hamilton Southeastern Schools district — even though original plans to open it have been pushed back a year.

The critics said a separate, subsidized private vocational school would divert money from the HSE, which already offers careers training. In Indiana, state education funding follows the child, so if students leave HSE for the charter school, HSE would lose money.

“This school will operate completely independently of the HSE school district, and will essentially be a third-party operated charter school established under public school funding,” said Debra Jacobs, a longtime educator and former principal of Fishers High School. who said she and other critics still favor vocational training. “This is not the original intention of our community when it wanted to increase access to professions and vocational education.”

HSE announced in August that it was exploring a partnership with Opportunity Education, a nonprofit founded by billionaire Ameritrade founder and CEO Joe Ricketts, to become the school’s operator. Founded in 2005, the organization has opened two private high schools in Nebraska and California, but does most of its work in developing countries.

Steve Loser, director of PreK-12 initiatives for HSE, said the district wants to centralize job training, which is now spread out at the J. Everett Light Career Center at North Central High School or through the Pursuit Institute of Hamilton County. For students in these programs, travel can take up a chunk of the day or be a problem to arrange.

“The question is: how can we enrich the opportunities for those students and are we doing enough?” said loser. “A partnership with an organization that specializes in charter schools is a viable solution.”

About 7% of HSE students take courses to become nurses, medical technicians and welders, but a much larger number, perhaps more than 20%-30%, cannot take the courses due to space and transportation limitations, Loser said.

How the charter school would work

Under the current agreement with Opportunity Education, the nonprofit would build the school and manage its operations, help develop the curriculum and hire teachers, but HSE could provide transportation and food for a fee. The charter would be overseen by an appointed board rather than an elected school board, and the teachers would not be members of the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association teachers union, although they might be able to form their own union.

The charter school would be a four-year school with an enrollment of 500 students that would also offer traditional academic courses. It aims to assist students who are interested in a career as an alternative to university.

HSE and OE would find property near their high schools to build the school, which the nonprofit would build and equip.

The school board approved this summer for the district to apply for a $2 million school planning grant, which would have required the school to open within thirteen months of receiving it (the 2025-2026 school year).

But Loser said the government decided not to continue the subsidy immediately, to give the community more time to weigh in, so the opening wouldn’t happen until the 2026-2027 school year at the earliest.

Some parents said they were baffled by the district’s plan, calling it unnecessary and saying the proposal fell on the community without warning. Other critics warned of a lack of accountability by an appointed board and the hiring of inferior teachers.

“I think it’s a terrible idea, when we have a budget deficit, to take money out of public schools,” said Alyssa Roberts, who has a child in an HSE elementary school. “We have drawn up programs. Why don’t we strengthen them?”

Roberts said the Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes are valuable and acknowledged that the district is having trouble fitting all the students who want to take them. She said the practical solution is for HSE to improve what it has, rather than outsourcing it.

“Let’s look for more local partnerships, like Ivy Tech for example,” she said. “There are different ways to support them.”

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Part of the charter expansion would include consolidating the type of vocational education now offered at J. Everett Light and Pursuit Institute in a separate building near the high schools.

The facility would be large enough to house an estimated 500 HSE students who are now unable to attend CTE classes due to space and travel restrictions. The academy would be an expanded version of the current program and be a kind of job incubator, with local companies offering job training, apprenticeships, internships and even employee-paid colleges, Loser said.

Push for charter schools to be part of the statewide vocational focus

The interest in the charter comes as the state ramps up job training to address companies’ concerns that there is a shortage of skilled workers.

IDOE introduced new degree requirements last summer that place a greater emphasis on work-based learning while slimming down academic requirements. After state universities complained that the new standards would leave many students ineligible for admission, the DOE reinstated some academic courses to meet college admissions standards.

Some critics said charter school advocates are using HSE as a testing laboratory to gain a foothold in high-performing, wealthy school districts and resist transferring dollars to their operations. They fear a slippery slope in which other charter schools will follow, decimating public school resources.

“Parents send their children to HSE schools because they want them to go to university,” said Stephanie Hunt, who has four children attending the school in the district. “A big question is what parents will send their children to the charter. An HSE diploma means something. Why should we be responsible for stepping in and solving the state’s problem of finding workers in these industries by sending out 500 kids?”

Hunt said with school enrollment declining and a $5 million budget deficit for 2025, sending students to a charter school will further deplete coffers and cost teaching positions.

“It’s sending money out the door,” she said. “It will undermine public education.”

An online petition on cha.org against the charter school has 493 signatures.

Loser said the credits earned at the charter will be transferable to HSE if a student decides to transfer to another academic track after a year or two, but that the charter degrees will not be the same as those from an HSE.

Part of the need for the charter school comes as college enrollment in the district has shrunk from 86% to 74% since 2012, Loser said. In addition, the number of graduates who leave state universities after one year or take more than four years to earn their degrees has increased, Loser said.

The CTE school will provide an escape for students who decide they want a career path other than college, he said. The HSE graduation rate remains at approximately 98%.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said he supports the charter school exploration, saying it could prove to be “a bridge to future jobs in our community.”

“It’s something that’s being discussed across the state and across the country,” he said. “Every day I hear from companies asking where their staff should come from. Everyone is trying to figure out how to do it.”

It’s not just traditional trades such as carpentry or plumbing that are in short supply, but also companies in high-tech areas such as cybersecurity and medical technology that are concerned about employment, Fadness said.

Fadness said he doesn’t believe the charter school will decimate public schools or discourage students from attending college.

“I would never do anything to degrade our schools, it is our city’s greatest asset,” he said. “But the fact is that a large portion of our students’ career passions lie outside of college.”

He said he realizes the issue may be politically charged, but if approached carefully, all parties will be satisfied.

“Some people say you absolutely have to study to get a job, while others say it’s a waste of time,” he said. “Both are misconceptions.”

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Email [email protected] and follow X/Tweet and Facebook.