Advocates testify for fair funding

On March 5, two parents and two students affiliated with Stand for Children Indiana waited at the Statehouse for over five hours to testify on Senate Bill 518. These advocates testified in favor of the bill because of their love for Indianapolis– and their strongly held belief that IPS can and must change to meet the needs and challenges of all 42,000 children within the district. Organizationally, we support this bill because we know there is a significant funding gap between school types in Indianapolis, with charters receiving an average of $7,900 less per student compared to traditional schools. When you total up this gap, it means public charter schools are receiving over $100 million less in funding compared to traditional public schools in IPS. We hope that through this bill, IPS and state leaders who are both opposed and supportive find some desperately needed common ground and a path towards ensuring our public schools are funded fairly.  

Please take a moment to watch advocate testimony on Senate Bill 518: