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Don’t tear down IPS to give charter schools more money | Opinion

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Don’t tear down IPS to give charter schools more money | Opinion



We are fighting the wrong fight if we really want to improve educational outcomes in Indianapolis.

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Each time I run into a former student, I ask them an essential question: “Did we prepare you for the life you wanted?”

For three disillusioning years, the answer was consistent: “This school didn’t prepare me for anything.”

At the time, I worked in a state takeover charter school, and I saw how poor management led to intense teacher turnover, shameful academic underperformance and even misreporting of dropouts to improve the school’s letter grade.

Certainly, there are some successful charter schools in Indianapolis, but this was not one of them and anyone who claimed charter schools were a panacea for the city’s academic underperformance hadn’t spent a day in my school.

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I moved to Indianapolis Public Schools in 2018 because I wanted a more professional working environment. I wanted to join the union and to have my contract respected and upheld, and I was drawn to IPS’ International Baccalaureate program. I received an IB Diploma in 2011, and I wanted to provide that same rigorous, internationally minded curriculum to public school students in my community.

For the five years I worked in the IB program at Shortridge High School, when I asked students the same question, the answer changed to a resounding yes. Without fail, Shortridge graduates would come back to visit, telling us how college was a breeze. IB was hard, but yes, indeed, they were ready for what came next.

This was no small feat for a district-run school with a racially and socioeconomically diverse population, and where many of the students would go on to be first-generation college graduates. Its significance was not lost on me, after serving a similar population elsewhere and witnessing the dismal quality of education available to them.

It was this stark contrast that brought me back to teach in IPS this school year after teaching abroad. I have experienced the life-changing power of an education that is focused on critical thinking, literacy skills and global mindedness. As a teacher, I choose to work in IPS because I want to provide this rigorous, high-quality education to any family who chooses it.

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Senate Bill 518 endangers this choice. By requiring the sharing of property tax funds with charter schools, it would cost the district tens of millions of dollars and lead to the closure of at least 20 schools, the elimination of hundreds of jobs and a decrease in transportation and program offerings in the district.

I have seen the ways in which IPS serves Indianapolis’ general public, including students with severe disabilities, without transportation, experiencing food insecurity, and students who are incarcerated, hospitalized or unhoused. These students’ education would be in jeopardy, all while specialized programs like IB would experience cuts.

At the same time, charter schools will gain little to make up for this devastating loss. Today, charter schools receive a $1,400 grant to offset the difference in property tax revenue they don’t receive. SB 518 takes this away and gives it back to the state. Paired with the effects of significant property tax cuts included in Gov. Mike Braun’s budget, that means most charter schools will have similar funding as before, even as IPS experiences massive cuts to its staffing and services.

At the end of the day, we are fighting the wrong fight if what we really want is to improve educational outcomes in Indianapolis. Rather than fueling an ideological war over district versus charter schools, we should be working together to call on lawmakers to increase per-pupil and complexity funding and to divert funds away from vouchers and into public schools by increasing the charter school grant.

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We don’t have to tear down IPS for charter schools to be able to get more funding. We can be true partners in ensuring students and teachers have access to high-quality options wherever they live in our city.

As a teacher, I choose IPS, and I likely wouldn’t stay in the district if it meant working for a charter school again. If the Indiana General Assembly wants to retain teachers like me, it should oppose Senate Bill 518 and protect the financial viability of IPS.

Sarah TeKolste is an IB Spanish teacher at TC Howe Middle School in Indianapolis. She was the 2022 IPS Teacher of the Year and a finalist for Indiana Teacher of the Year; she is a Teach Plus Indiana alumna.



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Indianapolis, IN

Unsettled Friday and Saturday, then summer heat returns early next week | July 10, 2026

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Unsettled Friday and Saturday, then summer heat returns early next week | July 10, 2026


TODAY

Partly sunny and warm with scattered showers and thunderstorms likely through much of the bookends of the day. Highs reach the mid 80s, with a west southwest breeze around 5 mph. It does not look like nonstop rain from start to finish, but this is the least reliable daytime period in the forecast, and any stronger storm could drop a quick heavy downpour with a gusty burst of wind. 

TONIGHT

Scattered showers and thunderstorms remain possible through the evening, then another lower-end storm chance lingers late overnight. Lows settle near the upper 60s, with light wind. The severe risk looks lower than it is Thursday night, but a few pockets of heavier rain are still possible if a boundary stalls close enough to central Indiana.  

TOMORROW

Mostly cloudy and not quite as hot, with another chance for showers and thunderstorms developing mainly after mid afternoon. Highs reach the low to mid 80s, with a light northeast breeze around 5 mph. Much of the first half of the day should be usable, but later afternoon and evening plans will still need a weather eye.  

TOMORROW NIGHT

A few showers and thunderstorms may linger early, then the trend turns quieter with mostly cloudy skies overnight. Lows fall to the upper 60s, with an east northeast breeze around 5 mph. It is a calmer setup than Friday night overall, even if an early interruption is still possible.  

SUNDAY

Mostly sunny and warmer with highs in the mid 80s. An east breeze around 5 to 10 mph keeps the day from feeling too stagnant, and this looks like one of the cleaner forecast days of the stretch. Most of central Indiana should stay dry from start to finish.

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SUNDAY NIGHT

Mostly clear and seasonably mild, with lows around the mid 60s and a light east northeast breeze. Quiet weather continues overnight with no meaningful travel concerns.  

MONDAY

Sunny and hotter, with highs climbing into the upper 80s. A light east wind around 5 mph holds through the day. After the unsettled end of the workweek, this looks like a very usable summer day with heat becoming the main story instead of storms.  

MONDAY NIGHT

Mostly clear and warm, with lows near 70 and only a light breeze. There will be little trouble overnight, and the warmer pattern settles in more firmly.  

TUESDAY

Sunny and hot again, with highs near 90. Wind stays light, becoming east southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. This is another day where the weather looks broadly quiet, with heat the main thing to plan around.  

7 DAY FORECAST

The main concern in the near term is the unsettled Friday into Saturday period, when repeated rounds of showers and thunderstorms could bring quick heavy rain, especially Friday afternoon and evening. After that, the pattern trends warmer and drier from Sunday into at least Tuesday, with highs returning to the upper 80s and lower 90s while heat index values stay more manageable than the late-June heat. By Wednesday and Thursday, isolated afternoon and evening storms begin to creep back into the forecast, with a more noticeable thunderstorm threat showing up later next week into next weekend.  

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Indianapolis, IN

Indiana Workforce Pell Grant options limited so far

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Indiana Workforce Pell Grant options limited so far


INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Education leaders on Thursday said waiting for rulemaking limited the number of programs approved for a new grant program, but they expect more approvals soon.

Created as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed last year, the Workforce Pell Grant program allows students to use Pell Grants for short-term, direct-to-workforce training programs. The program began on July 1. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana and Vincennes University, which are Indiana’s two two-year vocational and technical institutions, are the only institutions in the state authorized for the program so far, though state officials have said they’ll consider expanding it to other institutions depending on the results of the first year.

So far, state education officials have approved three programs for Workforce Pell Grants: certified clinical medical assistant programs at Ivy Tech and Vincennes, plus an electrical maintenance technician bootcamp Vincennes offers. Final approval must come from the federal government, which has not yet green-lit any of those programs.

Molly Dodge, Ivy Tech’s senior vice president for workforce and careers, said Ivy Tech leaders needed to make sure they thoroughly understood the requirements they would face. To be eligible, a program must have at least a 70% completion rate and a 70% job placement rate. It also must lead directly to a job in a high-growth, high-demand job sector. Dodge said the rules were finalized this spring. After that, she said Ivy Tech leaders began going through each of their courses to see which ones would be eligible.

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“Workforce Pell has a significant requirement related to job placement and wages, and so we need to backward design from an employer, in many cases, to make sure that we’re successful in launching these Workforce Pell programs,” she said.

Tony Hahn, Vincennes University’s vice president for government and legal affairs, said July 1 was the earliest under federal statute the program could begin. In practice, he said the rollout will take some time because programs must be offered for one year in exactly the same format before they become eligible for the Workforce Pell Grant.

“These are often programs that we have offered through Next Level Jobs programs and other Department of Workforce Development funding, but didn’t have the exact same requirements on number of classroom hours or number of total weeks offered,” he said. “And so, we made some modifications and we’ll be able to expand this list.”

Both Dodge and Hahn said leaders at their respective institutions are reviewing their course catalogs for other potentially eligible programs. They said they expect to add approved programs in the coming months.

Dodge said Workforce Pell-eligible programs are often designed with the expectation that you will go to work with a partner employer upon completion of the program, but that doesn’t mean education ends there. She said Workforce Pell Grant programs are stackable and can be pursued as part of a longer-term higher education strategy. Students can qualify for both traditional Pell Grants and Workforce Pell Grants, though not at the same time.

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Hahn said prospective students won’t be able to apply for Workforce Pell Grants until this fall or next spring. If you’re interested, he said you should fill out a federal student financial aid form. He said Vincennes University leaders expect to add information about eligible programs to their application website once approved.



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Indianapolis, IN

Man dies after car crashes into pole on near NW side

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Man dies after car crashes into pole on near NW side


INDIANAPOLIS – A man died in a crash on the near northwest side of Indianapolis.

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers were dispatched to 505 W. 16th St. around 4:15 a.m. Thursday.

A person died in a crash on West 16th Street on July 9, 2026 (WXIN/WTTV)

There, officers discovered a vehicle had crashed into a utility pole. The driver was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.

The incident remains under investigation.

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