Perry Township, located on the south side of the city – including Southport – enrolled nearly 15,000 students in 2015 in its two high schools, two middle schools, two sixth grade academies and 11 elementary schools. The new law makes it possible for more schools throughout the state to do what Forest Glen Elementary in Lawrence has done for two decades now. Legislators passed Senate Bill 267 in 2015, which Gov. Lawrence Township is a model for Spanish language immersion, which the state wants to see more of.
Wayne township schools free#
More than 60 percent of Lawrence students received free or reduced-price meals. In 2015, nearly 43 percent of its students were black, 29 percent were white and 20 percent were Hispanic. The district has 16 schools including two high schools - Lawrence Central and Lawrence North. It’s state grade improved to an “A” in for the 2013-14 school year from the equivalent of a “D” in 2009-10.
The district has seen its test scores improve in recent years. Lawrence Township, which is located on the northeast side of Marion County in and around the city of Lawrence, enrolled just more than 15,000 students in 2015, making it one of the largest school districts in Indianapolis. Franklin reinstated bus service in 2012 after just one year without it. But the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that school districts do not have to provide bus service to students. When Franklin brought in an outside company to provide busing at a charge to families, some parents filed a lawsuit asking for reimbursements. The district has nine schools.įranklin, the city’s wealthiest township district, saw an increase in state funding in 2015, while IPS, the city’s poorest, saw a decrease. The district also received a $100,000 increase in federal poverty aid while other Indianapolis districts took a cut.īut the district was under fire for financial decisions as recently as 2011 whenn it cut busing because of financial struggles, requiring students to find their own rides to school. Fewer than 40 percent of its students received free or reduced-price meals. Of its 8,700 students, 78 percent were white, seven percent were Hispanic and six percent were black in 2015. The district touted a 97 percent graduation rate that year, which is higher than any other district in the city. Both have now closed.įranklin Township, located in the southeast corner of Marion County just east of Southport, is the highest performing township school district, having received an “A” letter grade from the state for five straight years as of for the 2013-14 school year – something no other township has accomplished. Decatur was one of two local districts who established Challenger centers.
Wayne township schools for free#
About 66 percent of its students come from families that are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price meals.ĭecatur made news when the Challenger Learning Center, a program designed to help kids be inspired to learn science by simulating space missions for Indianapolis children, closed for good in 2015. The district has a small percentage of minority students: about 75 percent of its students are white. The district’s state letter grade moved up to a “C” in for the 2013-14 school year after receiving the equivalent of a “D” four years in a row.
Here’s some background on the township school districts:ĭecatur Township is located in the southwest corner of Marion County, near the Indianapolis International Airport, and is the city’s smallest school district with about 6,000 students. But all together, the eight townships enroll more than four times as many students as IPS. The smallest township district is Decatur, with about 6,000 students in 2015. The largest township school district, Wayne, has about half the number of students as IPS at 16,000 as of 2015. But most township schools face the same sorts of problems that plague IPS: lots of students from poor families, kids who move frequently, students who are learning English as a new language and a high percentage of children in special education. The city’s townships tend to score better and have higher A-to-F grades than IPS, which is by far the city’s largest school district. So the city has 11 school districts in all. Besides IPS and the eight townships - Decatur, Franklin, Lawrence, Perry, Pike, Warren, Washington and Wayne - the city is also home to two smaller “town” school districts - Beech Grove and Speedway. While all of Marion County’s municipalities are now part of the city of Indianapolis, separate school districts remained so.
It’s an unusual and sometimes confusing situation that resulted from a merger of city and county governments in the 1980s. Most of the attention on education in Indianapolis is focused on Indianapolis Public Schools, but far more of the city’s children attend one of eight township school districts. For a list of the issues and links to the other stories in the series, go here.
Wayne township schools series#
(This story is one in a series exploring the basics of key issues in education in Indiana.