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The groundbreaking new board overseeing the Indianapolis Public Schools and charter schools in the city has hired the head of a major national charter school organization as its first executive director.

Karega Rausch, president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers since 2020, was selected Wednesday to lead the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation. The Indiana state legislature created that board earlier in the  year, over opposition from the school district, to give charters a greater say in running the city鈥檚 schools.

Rausch, who led the Indianapolis mayor鈥檚 education office from 2007 to 2011, will now guide efforts to increase the share of local taxes going to charter schools, create a joint district-charter bus system and find ways to close and share school buildings. The city now has 50,000 school seats for just 41,000 students, a costly surplus of 9,000 seats.

He鈥檒l take the position this fall in the middle of a campaign to pass a tax increase in the November election that will be split equally between the school district and charter schools. That sharing of taxes was mandated by the state legislature after bitter fights between district and charter supporters.

Rausch, a resident of Indianapolis since 2000, told the IPEC board before the vote that he considers himself a 鈥渂ridge-builder鈥� who will work with both the district and charters. He said the Indianapolis Public Schools has expertise he hopes to tap into.

鈥淚 was not looking for a new opportunity,鈥� Rausch told 91涩漫 after the vote. 鈥淚 love the work and impact we are making at NACSA. This opportunity was very unique and a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to be the founding executive director, allowing me to help make a transformative difference in Indianapolis.鈥� 

IPEC board member Patricia Castaneda said she believes Rausch is 鈥渁nswering the call of community鈥� in leaving his national post for the job.

鈥淚t is not often that someone comes home to their community to do the work that they have so successfully done across not only the state, the city, the state, but also the nation, and that is encouraging to me,鈥� said Castaneda, former chair of a charter school network in the city.

Board member John Hammond said he is happy Rausch wants to 鈥渉elp us lead a very special effort here that is unique in the country.鈥�

鈥淚 think he understands the special circumstance that we’re in as a community鈥� and the balance that needs to be struck as we kind of move into a new era, and understands both sides and all sides of the equation,鈥� Hammond said.

Rausch鈥檚 selection continues a push, driven by Republican state legislators, to shift more control of schools in Indianapolis from the school district to charter schools, which have gained so many students in recent years that Indianapolis is one of nationwide where more than half of students attend charters 

The legislature鈥檚 creation of IPEC, whose members are appointed by the mayor instead of elected like the district school board, moves power away from the school board. 

The tax increase on the November ballot, for example, previously would have been sought by the district just for district schools. Now, only IPEC can ask voters to approve taxes for both the district and charters.

Experts said earlier this year that Indianapolis is rivaling New Orleans, the most charter-friendly city in the country, in its support of charter schools. Charter supporters say the majority of students deserve more say and to close a gap in funding for district schools and charter schools, while critics say IPEC threatens to drain money and resources from district schools. 

Though IPEC members, by law, include members of Indianapolis Public Schools鈥� board, it still leans heavily pro-charter. A majority of its members have worked for or served on boards of charter schools. Its chairman, David Harris is founder of several charter schools and led the Mind Trust, a local advocate of charter schools, until 2018. 

The selection of Rausch continues that pattern.

Rausch, who has a PhD from Indiana University, was director of the city鈥檚 Office of Education Innovation under two Indianapolis mayors from 2007 to 2011. He then was director of Stand for Children, an education advocacy group in the city, before later joining NACSA as vice president of research and evaluation in 2014. 

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