House, Senate OK Ball State takeover of Muncie schools

Seth Slabaugh | The Star Press

MUNCIE, Ind. — The Indiana House on Monday voted 63-30 along party lines for a bill authorizing Ball State University to start governing financially distressed Muncie Community Schools starting July 1.

Several hours later, House Bill 1315 was approved 34-14 by the Senate. After it is signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb, who has said he backs it, Ball State will appoint a newly created seven-member school board to replace the current elected five-member school board.

The university's board of trustees has scheduled a special meeting for 4 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the school board selection process and next steps.

"The legislation passed by substantial margins in both chambers, and I anticipate that Gov. Holcomb will promptly sign the bill into law," BSU President Geoffrey S. Mearns informed the university community via email.

"I am grateful to Gov. Holcomb and to all of the members of the General Assembly who expressed their confidence in the collective ability of our university and our local community to overcome the challenges that are presently impeding progress at MCS.

"And I am grateful to all of the people — Muncie residents, community leaders, parents, and MCS teachers and staff, as well as our faculty, staff, students, and alumni — who expressed their support for HB 1315. Your encouragement gives me great optimism that, working together as equal partners, we will provide an exceptional educational experience for all of the children of Muncie."

Muncie and the even-more distressed Gary Community Schools can't continue to educate children "like we did in the 1940s and 1950s," said Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, author of the bill, during floor debate. "If you look at the population maps for the next 10 to 15 years, Delaware and Lake counties are expected to lose more than 10 percent of their population, so it has to be a different system … To say we are doing it the same way is just banging our head against the wall."

Both Gary and Muncie currently are controlled by state-appointed emergency managers.

► THE PROCESS: Five things to know about HB 1315

The bill did not have to be polarizing, said Rep. Melanie Wright, D-Yorktown, a school teacher. The legislation could have served as a national model of "something beneficial," but it isn't exemplary because too many constituents were left out of the conversation, she said. "I don't think this is the way to do it."

Wright echoed Rep. Sue Errington, D-Muncie, who said, "I am just concerned about the democratic processes with this body." Errington repeatedly has complained about being ignored by Brown. When she asked him to meet to consider her insights on the latest version of HB 1315, he reportedly told her, "We are taking care of it. We will let you know."

Enrollment in the Muncie school district has dropped from 11,172 in 1983-84 to 5,215 in 2017-18, and during the past 11 years, expenses have exceeded revenues by $36 million, Mearns told lawmakers recently.

In addition, the state gives the district only a C for academic performance. Sixty-nine percent of public school districts in Indiana earn A or B grades from the state, while 22 percent are C districts, 2 percent are D districts, and one is an F district.

Democratic legislators on Monday complained that Ball State will not be held accountable for operating the Muncie school district because HB 1315 exempts the district from receiving future A-F grades from the state.

Brown responded BSU would be held accountable by the state's Distressed Unit Appeal Board, the state department of education and the Legislature.

By marshaling BSU faculty, student and staff resources and mobilizing a coalition of external partners, the university can "change the trajectory" of Muncie schools, Mearns has said.

"This all started to come about because …President Mearns I think is looking at being a game-changer," Brown said of HB 1315.

Mearns "truly does want to work with the community," Errington said. "But this Indiana General Assembly is putting itself in the way of that process."

Those words echoed across the hall, where Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Merrillville, said, "This was a top down approach … If this was a grassroots conversation, I'd be 100 percent behind it."

Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, questioned the bill's co-author, Sen. Ryan Mishler, R- Bremen, about why the bill exempts Ball State from complying with so many state education laws in its governance of the Muncie district.

Those laws include non-discrimination of teachers based on marital status and leaves of absence for military service and pregnancy; compliance with disability laws; suicide prevention; collective bargaining for teachers; teacher licensing; hiring teachers convicted of crimes including rape, child exploitation, attempted murder and child solicitation, and a host of other laws.

"I have a problem with that," Taylor said.

Mishler responded that "they" wrote those laws out of HB 1315 and included others to give Ball State flexibility to innovate. Asked who "they" were, Mishler identified Brown, the state's Distressed Unit Appeal Board and Ball State.

Mishler was unable to answer why certain laws were specifically excluded from the takeover legislation, such as criminal histories and suicide prevention.

Another complaint from Democrats was the law allows Ball State to name up to three non-residents of the Muncie school district to the new school board.

What's wrong with that? Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said it would only require the three non-resident school board members to team up with just one of the other four board members to control the district, including the budget and the tax levy.

"That seems like taxation without representation to me," Lanane said.

He also questioned why the bill excluded an amendment he offered requiring the new school board to reflect the socioeconomic and geographic makeup of the district.

Earlier, Brown said, "Yes, it won't have all necessarily members from Delaware County. The majority will be from the Muncie school boundaries, but it could add expertise from somewhere else. Maybe we could have a specialist from education that … maybe could come out of Indianapolis, somebody who has dealt with a turnaround school and innovation going forward, maybe somebody from the Mind Trust could be on the school board, something like that. So it adds a breadth of expertise."