Gary, IN officials want moratorium on charters to force more students into failing city schools
February 7, 2017
By Victor Skinner
GARY, Ind. – Indiana lawmakers are considering a moratorium on charger schools in Gary as part of legislation aimed at saving the chronically cash-strapped school corporation.
State Sen. Eddie Melton blamed the city’s charter schools for the bulk of the school district’s financial troubles, which involve an $8.5 million deficit for the current budget year and a total of $101 million of debt, the Northwest Indiana Times reports.
Melton told a Senate Appropriations Committee the district has lost about 5,300 students to charter schools since 2009, leaving about 5,500 students who still attend the city’s traditional public schools. Another 700 Gary students attend private schools through a state voucher program, and many more attend classes in adjacent school districts as part of the Indiana’s open enrollment system, he said.
http://eagnews.org/gary-in-officials-want-moratorium-on-charters-to-force-more-students-into-failing-city-schools/