It's not enough that former Indiana and Florida schools chief Tony Bennett raised the grade of a charter school run by a Republican donor during his time in Indiana. No, Bennett actually
closed two Indianapolis public schools rather than give them the same loophole the charter school got:
The issue was similar in both cases. Christel House had recently added ninth and 10th grades, and IPS’ Howe and Arlington had added middle school grades. The students who filled those seats posted poor enough scores to drag down the schools’ overall ratings.
In the case of Christel House, emails unearthed by The Associated Press show Bennett’s staff sprung into action in 2012 when it appeared scores from the recently added grades could sink the highly regarded school’s rating from an A to a C. Ultimately, the high school scores were excluded and the school’s grade remained an A.
But in 2011, after IPS’ then-Superintendent Eugene White demanded Bennett consider the test scores of high school students separately from those of middle school students so the high schools could avoid state takeover, Bennett was unmoved.
In corporate education policy world, public schools get the losing end of a double standard that absolves charter schools of all kinds of failure. Where it's not directly because charter schools have money and cozy relationships with politicians, as here, it's because of an ideology that says money and private profit entering the education system is good, and excluding some kids from schools is just fine.
Sign our petition demanding the Indiana attorney general investigate former Indiana schools Superintendent Tony Bennett for changing the grade of a charter school for his donors.
