IPS receives help from Stand for Children for capital referendum campaign

Stand for Children Indiana, an education reform nonprofit group, is helping the Indianapolis Public Schools district in its campaign to pass a $410 million capital referendum on the May primary ballot.

In its most recent financial report, IPS’s political action committee, Yes4IPS, reported it received $50,000 from Stand for Children Indiana’s PAC to support their efforts to pass the capital referendum.

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Stand for Children has helped IPS in previous referendum campaigns, but the relationship between the two was put into question earlier this year over disagreements on the final version of the Rebuilding Stronger plan. In contention were potential operating referendum dollars, on which the IPS school board ultimately decided not to vote.

Stand for Children Indiana said in a statement that parent advocates associated with the group met in March and agreed that IPS’s facilities need improvement.

“I support the capital referendum because all IPS kids deserve a safe place to learn,” Swantella Nelson, an Edison School of the Arts parent, said in the statement. “I hate to think that any IPS kid is learning in a building that isn’t secure or has major safety issues.”

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Stand for Children Indiana has been a strong advocate for the expansion of charter and innovation schools, which are IPS schools that are allotted more autonomy to run their school than traditional IPS district schools. A handful of IPS innovation schools would also receive updates from the referendum funding.

Some Stand for Children Indiana parent advocates, whose children attend IPS schools, said that approving the capital referendum will help close the gap IPS faces compared to nearby wealthier school districts.

“Kids 30 minutes away attend schools that are luxurious in comparison and give them huge advantages solely based on their ZIP codes,” Sherry Holmes, a George Washington Carver School 87 parent, said in the statement. “Those advantages equal opportunity. I support the IPS capital referendum because our kids deserve an upgrade, and they even deserve more.”

Stand for Children’s contribution was the largest single contribution given to the Yes4IPS PAC for the final financial filing period before the May 2 election.

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The Indiana Political Action Committee for Education PAC — the political action division of the Indiana State Teachers Association — also contributed to the IPS PAC, donating $12,500.

IPS School board commissioner Diane Arnold contributed $250 to the IPS PAC, as well as IPS school board commissioner president Venita Moore with a $1,000 contribution.

Overall, the IPS PAC received $68,807 in contributions and spent $5,477 in this most recent filing period which ended April 7.

Stand for Children’s contribution to this year’s referendum is significantly less than what they contributed to IPS’s last referendum campaign in 2018, when they contributed around $188,000. At the time, IPS sought an operating and capital referendum in a November election that equaled around a $272 million referendum ask.

IPS district leaders say the district needs the $410 million capital referendum to make much-needed building repairs on more than 20 IPS buildings.

Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.

Caroline’s work is supported by Report for America and Glick Philanthropies. As part of its work in Marion County, Glick Philanthropies partners with organizations focused on closing access and achievement gaps in education.

Report for America is a program of The GroundTruth Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening local newsrooms. Report for America provides funding for up to half of Caroline’s salary during her time with us, and IndyStar is fundraising the remainder.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IPS receives financial backing for capital referendum campaign