What has gone wrong there in that effort to reshape public education, and what should change about this new entity? 

When I think about school choice, wouldn’t it be amazing if when we said school choice, the obvious choice was staying in Indianapolis? 

We have to grow our base of folks, we have to expand our population, and we’ve got to make sure that we have a talented workforce and that people want to live, work, play, and stay here. The only way we’re going to be able to do that is if we have really strong communities, and strong communities start with strong schools. So we have to make sure that we are really leveraging all of the resources that we have to make sure our schools are strong.

I did support the creation of the Local Education Alliance. What that was about is about creating an opportunity for the community to have voice, for the community to have say, and for decision-making to be local. We didn’t need the Statehouse telling us how to run education here in Indianapolis.

And yet, at the end, that’s essentially what happened with the IPEC board, the new board, that is [under] mayoral control, but still is the Statehouse saying, “This is the way you’re going to do things.” I think that what’s gone wrong is that we’ve taken control away from our community. We’ve taken control away from the voters, to really have a say in who their elected representatives are that represent them on the school board. And we will never, ever be able to have true representation if we don’t allow the people to have a vote. 

As mayor, is it something you’d be advocating for at the Statehouse to perhaps reverse this new municipal corporation? Or do you think at this point you just have to to roll with it and go with the appointees? 

I think at the end of the day, my North Star will always be what’s best for the people of Indianapolis, what is best for our city, what’s best for our community. And we’ve got to look at what’s going to get us to a strong and stable school system in Indianapolis Public Schools.

What we have to know, too, about the IPEC is that there are 11 school districts in Marion County. That IPEC board controls one of them, [IPS]. We need to make sure that in the mayor’s office, we don’t lose sight of the fact that we have public schools across the entire county that we’re responsible for. And so I think it’s going to be stepping back and taking that holistic approach of how are we serving every single kid?

Shifting gears, a big priority of the current administration has been budgeting for more than 1,700 police officers. But the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department remains hundreds short of that number. When you consider public safety, is bulking up the police force a main priority for you, or are there alternatives in which you’d look to invest more money? 

We have to make sure that we are investing in our communities. That’s the key, is making sure that there’s economic opportunity in every community, that there’s opportunity to build generational wealth, that there’s opportunity for education.

Just a dose of prevention is worth an ounce of cure. I think that believing that we’re going to police our way or enforce our way out of our challenges is a fallacy. So we have to make sure that we’re focused on prevention, but we can do both things.

We’ve got great, great groups around the city that are doing this: Our Indy Peacekeepers and VOICES, and the list goes on and on. There are great groups that are already working on that prevention side, and we need to make sure that we’re really doubling down on those efforts. We have community, our community-led task force that we have working on all of this, as well as partnerships for mental health supports. I think all of those things are really good, and we need to make sure that we’re investing in that. 

Because, I’ll tell you, the job of an officer is a challenge, and it’s no wonder that recruitment is hard. We can’t put everything on their plate. They can’t be the social workers and the pastors and the counselors. They can’t do all of those things. So we need to make sure that as a community, we’re investing in the other portion of it. 

On this issue, public safety is something that Statehouse Republicans are often targeting and criticizing Indianapolis for. You’ve been a Statehouse Democrat, seen it from the inside. How do you think that will shape the way you would lead as mayor in your interactions with the Statehouse? 

It’s been a challenge to be at the Statehouse in the minority, but it’s also been an incredible blessing because I’ve been able to form relationships with my colleagues there. I’ve been able to really understand where they’re coming from and also figure out where we have alignment.

I do think that I’ve got many folks in the Statehouse that are a phone call away who are eager to see Indianapolis thrive, who are eager to partner with a mayor to see Indianapolis thrive. Because at the end of the day, this city controls 30% of our state’s GDP. Our state thrives when Indianapolis thrives. And my colleagues, no matter what county they’re from, understand that. 

Thinking about campaign financing, how do you think you would approach raising enough money to combat some of the large corporate checks that have gone to Mayor Hogsett traditionally, or in his absence could go to Councilor Osili. What’s your approach there in campaigning?

We are running a people-powered campaign. At the end of the day, it’s a people-powered campaign. We’ve got a big goal as part of our launch to make sure that we are engaging a lot of people and also hit a single-day record for the largest number of donations. That really is about making sure that folks know that this is a partnership, that this isn’t just my race, this is our race. I want them to join me in this.

I think that that’s just a different approach. I do have partners in the business community who I expect to write checks that have commas in them, because they can. I also know that my neighbors are going to be the bulk of my donors. Those neighbors that can drop in $5 or $10 or $20 because they believe in what’s possible. I would be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t worried about dollars. Campaigns run on dollars. At the same time, I also know that campaigns run with heart and they run with a lot of volunteers as well, and we’ve got that in abundance. 

Something you’ve mentioned before is that it’s not your “why” to be the first woman mayor, the first Black mayor, but both of those things would be significant achievements that haven’t happened in Indianapolis. How do you hope that they would shape the way you led and change the perspective at the top of the city?