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Shawanda Tyson loves the Paramount charter schools in Indianapolis where she sends her young son.

There鈥檚 just one big drawback for Tyson in this city, where more than half of students attend聽charters聽 鈥� transportation.

Tyson usually drops her son, who is 9, off with an aunt early each morning. The aunt then brings him and other kids to Paramount. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a major issue,鈥� said Tyson. 鈥淧arents like me have to reach out to other parents to get help.鈥�

Like most other states, Indiana doesn鈥檛 require or pay for buses to bring charter students to classes, which advocates are pushing for as Indiana continues its aggressive support of charter and private schools. 

Republican legislators, who want an overhaul of school transportation, are considering two bills that would help charter and private schools with transportation.

One bill would combine busing for district, charter and private school students into a single system in Indianapolis and four other cities. The other bill gives charters more money, which could then be used for busing.

The lack of busing is such a hot-button issue that one Indiana charter network advertises on billboards that they offer students transportation. And one Indianapolis charter school director called the lack of busing 鈥渁n equity issue.鈥�

Some charter schools in Indianapolis 鈥斅爐he city most affected by the bills 鈥� dig into their budgets to pay as much as $1 million a year for buses. Most, like Paramount, don鈥檛 want to sacrifice academics for transportation. That leaves parents like Tyson to fend for themselves, often making logistically complicated arrangements, such as carpooling with other families or relatives. It also means long lines of cars jamming streets around schools as parents line up to drop students off and pick them up.

Tyson and her aunt have developed 鈥渁 system鈥� to get their kids to school. 鈥淪ome days I’m off work and I do the pickup, but it gets hard,鈥� she said.

Transportation has long been a pressure point in Indiana and nationally for charter and voucher schools, with backers arguing students have to be able to get to a school for it to be a real choice. 

School districts often balk at paying to take students to schools they view as competition. Practically, district and charter school schedules don鈥檛 always align, creating conflicts around drop off and pickup times.

The education pro-charter advocacy group ExcelInEd rates Indiana as one of 20 states with 鈥渓imited鈥� transportation for charter and private school students. Neighboring states such as Illinois and Ohio, are rated as 鈥渇air鈥� to charter students by offering similar busing as district students.

The busing bill has been put on hold, however, while the state is embroiled in a battle over the broader issue of how it pays for charter schools. Senate Bill 518, would shift some local property taxes from school districts to charters. It passed the Senate last month after heated debate.

The Indianapolis school board has pushed back, calling for a moratorium on adding new charter schools and maintaining local control. Board members and residents object to state plans to take money from the district and give it to charters, saying it would force them to close 20 schools.

Backers say sharing taxes is needed to close a funding gap between districts and charter schools 鈥� a gap of $8,000 in Indianapolis with the district spending $18,500 and charters $10,600. Critics say districts will have to close schools and cut programs if they lose money.

If passed, the tax-sharing bill could give charters enough money to afford buses for students. That’s one reason parents like Ada Remus, whose son attends Edison School of the Arts, an unusual independent school in Indianapolis, supports the tax-sharing, even as the Indianapolis Public Schools district opposes it.

鈥淓ven when great schools exist, they often lack transportation, leaving families like mine on the far east side without access,鈥� Remus told the Indianapolis Public Schools board last week. 鈥淚f funding were more equitable, more families, including mine, would have access to better schools without worrying about how to get there.鈥� 

Other Indianapolis parents and teachers blasted state officials for threatening to take money away from the district and raised concerns over what might be cut.

鈥淓veryone in this room, commissioners or not, must realize that for the foreseeable future, the state will be run by rural and suburban Republicans with neither interest in nor affection for the city of Indianapolis,鈥� city resident Guthrie Beyer told the board.

Alecia Ostler, executive director of the Invent Learning Hub charter school, said she decided to pay for buses when the school launched six years ago to make sure transportation didn鈥檛 prevent families from enrolling. She now pays nearly $200,000 a year for three buses that transport 60 percent of her students. 

鈥淭his is inner-city, so quite honestly, there are just some situations where families are like, ‘I don’t feel comfortable with my child having to walk there,’鈥� Ostler said. 鈥淏ut then we have some families that don’t have transportation, so they really lean on that bus. They’re not going to be able to get them here without that.鈥�

鈥淭ransportation is an equity issue,鈥� she added. 鈥淭here needs to be consideration given to the needs of families.鈥�

A small group of charter or independent schools avoid those expenses by partnering with the Indianapolis Public Schools as part of its unique Innovation Schools network 鈥� in which the district shares a mix of busing, school buildings and technology support with 30 schools that would typically be shunned as competitors.

District officials estimate they spend about $12 million a year to provide transportation for 17 of the 30 Innovation Schools. Those include KIPP Indy charter schools that boast of having 鈥淭ransportation Available鈥� on billboards promoting them.

鈥淚t’s core and essential to our model,鈥� said Andy Seibert, KIPP Indy鈥檚 executive director.

Advocates are still holding out hope for a common transportation system that would drastically change school busing in the city. State Rep. Bob Behning, chairman of the House education committee, has proposed creating a central authority to oversee transportation for students of district, charter and private schools. 

Indianapolis Public Schools officials object to how Behning鈥檚 proposal would put busing under a new panel mostly appointed by state officials. District officials oppose the state鈥檚 Republican supermajority picking a panel overseeing the city鈥檚 largely minority and Democratic residents.

鈥淭he question really needs to be debated by the community instead of as a piece of legislation that comes down the pipeline,鈥� said IPS Deputy Superintendent Andrew Strope. 鈥淚t kind of takes away the power of the people through an elected board.鈥�

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