Charter school tries to stop move of South Bend district offices. It's a first in Indiana.

SOUTH BEND — A charter school is trying to use a controversial state law to stop plans by the South Bend school district to moves its offices from the downtown administration building.

The Indiana Attorney General's office recently backed multiple complaints from the charter school and found the district had violated state law. The complaints center over two buildings where the South Bend district plans to move, including the Brown Community Learning Center, after selling the downtown headquarters to the city.

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The clash in South Bend could set a precedent in Indiana for disputes over some buildings owned by public school districts.

Last week, the South Bend Common Council directed $7.8 million in local tax money to buy and renovate the downtown school headquarters. City leaders have said they can save $270,000 in annual operating costs by moving out of the County-City Building.

South Bend school leaders have said the district can save $400,000 annually in operating expenses by selling the administration building. The city has offered $2.8 million for the building, with plans to take ownership this summer. The school district planned to move to the Brown Community Learning Center building after a $2.1 million renovation.

School administrators now, however, are preparing a response after the Attorney General's office substantiated the complaints from leaders of a rival charter school. The school, South Bend's Career and Success Academy, also has interest in the Brown building.

This is the first time in Indiana that a school district has been found in violation of a state law on "unused" school buildings. So there are plenty of questions about the steps to resolve the dispute and whether the South Bend school district's ownership of two of its buildings, including Brown, could be affected.

Though a sale of the downtown administration building has not yet been finalized, a spokesman for the city told The Tribune that South Bend still hopes to proceed with the deal.

In a statement, the schools superintendent, Todd Cummings, said, "We’re in the process of preparing and submitting a response disputing the findings."

The district plans to respond by the end of March.

When asked about whether the district was considering contingencies for its plans to move offices to Brown, John Anella, president of the South Bend school board, said he expects an update from administrators during the board's next executive session meeting.

Larry Garatoni, president of the Career Academy board, said the dispute started over his failed attempt to partner with the school district and use one of the buildings for a new middle school.

"When it became obvious that South Bend wasn't even going to speak with me, I said, 'I can't work with these folks,'" Garatoni told The Tribune. "I wanted to work with them and they wouldn't even respond, so that's when I filed the complaint."

What is Indiana's unused building law?

Under Indiana law, public school districts like South Bend have to notify state officials of certain unused property. That's because charter schools in the state have the right to buy or lease unused public school buildings for $1.

The law has been ambiguous on what constitutes "use" of a school building, and multiple school districts in Lake and Tippecanoe counties have filed a suit to challenge it.

The law has changed multiple times over the last several years, moving the goal posts for school administrators as they decide how to make best use of their facilities.

"This impacts any school corporation that does, maybe, have declining enrollment and has the need to assess whether it should close a facility," said Lisa Tanselle, general counsel for the Indiana School Boards Association. "But it also could be that they're finding other purposes or other uses for their buildings."

In South Bend, two buildings, closed amid the district's Focus 2018 restructuring plan, have recently come into question.

The Brown Intermediate School, at 737 W. Beale St., was closed in 2018 and leased through late 2021 to the St. Joseph County Public Library as it renovated the Main Library downtown. The school district eventually renamed the former middle school Brown Community Learning Center and used part of the building to host community events and student activities.

The other building, Hamilton Traditional School, closed in 2019 but was later leased to the private South Bend Hebrew Day School. Last summer, the complaint claims, South Bend school officials exchanged Hebrew Day School's lease at Hamilton for one at the recently closed Hay Elementary School.

Though both buildings appear to have been leased legally, the attorney general's investigation narrowed in on how those buildings have been used since the library and Hebrew Day School moved out.

The attorney general's office in February argued that it couldn't establish the buildings were being used, and that the school district failed to let state officials know about vacancies so that the buildings could be made available for inspection by charter schools.

Why did attorney general investigate?

Garatoni, with the Career and Success Academy, filed complaints in December with the attorney general's office, claiming the Brown and Hamilton buildings were no longer occupied.

Under state law, the complaint set off a 60-day period to investigate the claim and post the findings online. Molly Craft, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said she could not share details of the investigation.

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Garatoni has made no secret of his interest in expanding his Career and Success Academy schools. He publicly discussed hopes of expanding into the Brown building in 2019.

He also competed in an unsuccessful bid last summer to move into South Bend's closed Tarkington Elementary School, exercising the same unused buildings law. The state, in another precedent-setting decision, instead awarded the school to the Indianapolis-based Paramount Schools of Excellence for $1.

Garatoni told The Tribune on Wednesday that he tried to pitch South Bend school leaders on a plan to partner on a new school at the vacant Hamilton building.

Career Academy offered to lease the Hamilton building from South Bend for $20,000 annually over five years in exchange for complete control of school operations and curriculum, as well as state and federal funding. The building would house a newly established Career Academy Middle School.

Garatoni told The Tribune he has interest today in both the Brown and Hamilton buildings. Career Academy, which serves grades 6-12, would like to create a new middle school in one building and open a second elementary school in another.

Garatoni said the plan to partner with South Bend schools is now off the table.

Anella said Garatoni approached the district at a time as it was working through other priorities, like a tense period of contract negotiations with teachers this winter.

"Larry's a business person," Anella told The Tribune. "He just wanted to keep moving forward if we weren't being responsive enough, then he's going to move forward with what he wants to do."

What happens next?

Until recently, there was no clear path for enforcement of the state's unused building law. That changed last summer, after legislation went into effect creating a system under which the attorney general could investigate complaints and "take any action necessary to remedy" violations of the law.

Because this is the first complaint substantiated by the Attorney General's office, it's not clear what those remedies could be, including whether the state could force a sale of the buildings.

It's unclear what Hamilton, if anything, is being used for today. And, South Bend administrators declined to comment further on the matter beyond the superintendent's provided statement. However, South Bend schools has maintained an active presence at Brown, during and after the lease with the library.

The district frequently organizes community events, information sessions and after-school tutoring in the building. The Tribune reported this winter on the district's Saturday Accelerator program, providing additional classroom instruction time to students. Last Saturday, the corporation put on a public information session on its facilities planning.

Craft, the attorney general's spokeswoman, said the South Bend school district is preparing documents for the office to review.

"The statute requires that we take steps to bring the school corporation into compliance," Craft wrote in an email. "If we feel they have done that or are taking adequate steps to do that, we would take no further action. If we do not find that is the case, then we are empowered to take whatever action is necessary to bring them into compliance."

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State law says that the Attorney General's office should consult with the Indiana Department of Education and Board of Education in deciding what to do.

Caleb Bauer, a spokesman for the city of South Bend, said officials are optimistic about buying the schools' downtown administration center.

"We are still hopeful on the deal moving forward," Bauer said.

Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @carleylanich.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Charter disputes sale, move of South Bend schools downtown building