Ball State says its charter school track record irrelevant to Muncie school takeover plan

MUNCIE, Ind. — What does Ball State University's past performance in managing and monitoring K-12 schools say about its competence to take over governance of Muncie Community Schools — as proposed in House Bill 1315?

Maybe nothing.

Ball State runs the highly ranked K-12 Burris Laboratory School and an on-campus academy for gifted high school juniors and seniors. It also conducts oversight of more than two dozen charter schools around the state, nearly half of which are rated D or F. 

But the university says its limited role as a charter school authorizer is to "give a charter school guardrails and road signs to help it get to its destination — achieving school goals. However, we are not driving the car."

If HB 1315 is enacted, Ball State would be steering the MCS car. A House Ways and Means Committee vote on the bill is scheduled for Wednesday. A committee hearing starts at 1:30 p.m.

On its new web page devoted to HB 1315, Ball State says Burris is "not identical to Muncie Community Schools," but "the experience is comparable and we will bring that experience to bear."

Burris, managed by BSU, is higher rated than, but definitely not the twin of, MCS.

For example, 78 percent of MCS' students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Seventy-six percent of Burris' students don't qualify.

Sixty percent of MCS' students are white, 21 percent are black. Seventy-eight percent of Burris' students are white, six percent are black.

Special education students make up 22 percent of MCS'  student body and 14 percent of Burris' student body.

Enrollment at Burris is 670, compared to 5,215 at MCS. 

The state currently rates Burris as a B school and MCS as a C school.

The A-rated, Ball State-run Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities is even more of an apples-to-oranges comparison to MCS.

The academy is a two-year school for about 300 gifted and talented juniors and seniors from around the state. It has more than twice as many Asian students (13 percent) as black students (6 percent). Only 23 percent of academy students come from low-income households. The academy's special-education population is 1.2 percent.

Neither Burris nor the academy is governed by a school board. They have advisory committees that lack governance authority. Instead, the two schools report up through a superintendent who then reports to the dean of Ball State's Teachers College, who reports to the university's provost.

►Muncie school board experiences lack of control

Charter schools also are available as a measuring stick for Ball State's past performance in the K-12 arena. The non-profit news organization Chalkbeat reported last week that "the university doesn't have a stellar track record overseeing charter schools. In 2017, about half of its schools were rated D or F. Only one, the Dr. Robert H. Faulkner Academy, received an A rating in the 2016-17 school year."

Since 2011-12, according to a Star Press review, more of Ball State's charter schools' grades have gone down in the state's A-F accountability system than have improved.

Ball State officials first point out that they understand the demographic differences between MCS and Burris, because they have a long history of collaborating with MCS.

"Notably, our alliance with Longfellow Elementary School and the Whitely Community Council over the last nine years has resulted in national recognition of a model of university-school-community partnership that is having a positive impact on student learning," BSU spokesperson Kathy Wolf told The Star Press.

Longfellow is a low-income school (94 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches) with a higher-than-average population of black students (48 percent).

The Longfellow model includes an after-school and summer learning initiative to ensure grade-level literacy by third grade.

"The program, managed by Ball State and funded with grants from the Indiana Department of Education, United Way of Delaware County, and the Ball Brothers Foundation, has resulted in participating students outperforming their peers both locally and at the state level," Wolf reported.

Ball State cites Longfellow as one of many examples it can offer at a more intense level to help deficit-ridden MCS, which is losing enrollment, and thus state funding, year after year. BSU president Geoffrey S. Mearns has pledged Ball State resources to try to halt the enrollment decline and make MCS the best K-12 option for Delaware County families.

Under House Bill 1315, Ball State's board of trustees and president would appoint five of the seven members of the Muncie Community School Board, which is currently a five-member elected body. The new seven-member board would also have one appointee each from the mayor and city council.

(Ball State officials worked through the weekend to create a landing page on its website for House Bill 1315. It includes frequently asked questions and seeks community feedback).

The university's role as a charter-school authorizer is to conduct oversight of the schools it charters. 

"Ball State does not appoint the school boards of charter schools," Wolf said. " … unlike Burris and the Indiana Academy, BSU has no responsibility for the management of any charter schools. Our role as an authorizer is to determine whether or not, based on state laws, they meet minimum standards to operate …"

When people try to compare the proposal in HB 1315 to BSU's role in charter schools, "it's not a relevant comparison," Wolf said via email.

"Because charter schools were intended by the General Assembly to be experimental in nature, you would expect some charter schools will succeed and others will not," Wolf said. "Ball State is not responsible for those charter schools that don't succeed."

The university's role as a charter school authorizer includes:

• assisting with charter application questions; receiving, screening and approving applications.

• monitoring and evaluating execution of the school's operating plan. If the plan is not carried out, Ball State can revoke the charter. Ball State does not write or execute the plan.

• ensuring a school meets standards in fiscal, governance and academic performance.

Charter school employees are not employees of Ball State.

Seth Slabaugh is an education reporter at The Star Press who can be reached at (765) 213-5834 or seths@muncie.gannett.com.