When the Indiana Charter School Board recently approved two new Charter Schools USA schools to open in Indianapolis, the corporate school honeymoon was on. The East Indianapolis Charter Academy and the South Indianapolis Charter Academy, Charter Schools USA claimed, would be “feeder schools” for students to eventually enter the three other Indiana public schools the Florida for-profit company will be handed $2 million yearly to “turnaround.” “Feeder schools” is an appropriate term, for what these schools do is “feed” taxpayer’s money to Charter Schools USA (CS USA) and whatever other for-profit companies it brings to Indiana.
As I’ve noted in “Jeb Bush’s Privatization Plans for Indiana Public Schools,” thanks to Mitch Daniels and CS USA’s founder, Jonathan Hage, Indiana’s supt. of corporate education, Tony Bennett, has