Joe Hogsett is Killing Public Schools - Even if it kills his legacy
Friends and Constituents,
The Mayor of Indianapolis is killing public education as we know it - intentionally, deliberately, and cynically. And he’s killing his legacy to do it.
When I swore my oath of office on January 1, 2024, I did so alongside my fellow Councilors from both parties and alongside Mayor Joe Hogsett. Surrounded by friends and family, we each stood on the stage at the Indiana Landmarks building and placed our hand on a Bible to solemnly commit to serving the city. Most of us were not afforded the opportunity to speak on that morning. But Mayor Hogsett did.
Hogsett said that he wanted to be “the Education mayor” as his legacy. He committed himself to treat education as his defining project.
For over a year, Mayor Hogsett was completely silent in public about this supposed vision.
But behind closed doors, he has been working.
In January, enemies of public schools, including two former Mayors of Indianapolis and three Democratic City Councilors, issued a press release to pressure IPS to give away resources to charter schools. Hogsett issued no statement of his own, but began asking legislators at the Statehouse on both sides of the aisle to turn up the pressure on IPS.
Hogsett and his ally City Council President Vop Osili worked together to silence any dissent from Democrats (including removing me from the Democratic caucus) while Republican legislators attempted to muscle through legislation to destroy IPS and send its money to charter schools.
The public, led by Indianapolis Teachers, courageous school board commissioners like Gayle Cosby and Alissa Impink, and Democrats like Andrea Hunley, Ed DeLaney, and Greg Porter fought back. Hundreds of people came to school board meetings and Statehouse committee meetings to stand in solidarity with each other, fighting under the slogan that Central Indiana DSA coined: “Fully funded, fully public.” This fight culminated in a massive rank-and-file-led teacher sickout that closed IPS for the day and brought hundreds upon hundreds of teachers to the Statehouse. I helped teachers deliver a letter to the Governor that day, signed by ten City Councilors, three IPS school board commissioners, and over 1700 other people in Indianapolis.
During this entire battle for the survival of public education in Indianapolis, the “education Mayor” was nowhere to be found.
Nowhere in public, that is.
As the IndyStar reported, he was actively involved in conversations with legislators, including pressuring Democrats to cave on SB373, which created the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance. This private pressure was a major reason that former education champion Ed Delaney eventually authored the ILEA amendment and even changed his vote to join Republicans in passing it.
Next, Hogsett began asking Republicans at the statehouse to do him a favor: amend the legislation to ensure that the “alliance” has no legal requirement to do its public business in the public. Instead, they are permitted to operate behind closed doors with no public notice or public engagement.
Hogsett’s chief political strategy is to hide from the people who pay his salary.
Time after time, the Mayor of Indianapolis contemptuously refuses to allow the public input or even knowledge about his largest political moves. Two years ago, he committed the city to a $510 million hotel project, refusing to share information with the media or the public until after the authorizing votes were held. Last year, Hogsett kept the public - and even the City Council - in the dark as he schemed behind the scenes to renege on a previous agreement and facilitate his largest donor becoming a potential owner of the potential future Major League Soccer stadium and team Indianapolis is trying to create.
So we should not be surprised that on Friday at 4:00 pm, carefully designed to be buried in the news beneath the Indy 500 and the Pacers, Joe Hogsett once again made a major and damaging announcement: he announced the appointment of the nine individuals who will serve on the shadowy “Alliance” to determine IPS’s fate.
The mayor’s appointees include:
Bart Peterson, one of the most pro-charter Democrats in the United States, who founded The Mind Trust
Maggie Lewis, who sits on the board of The Mind Trust
Angela Smith-Jones, who has long been an appointee representing Hogsett and who sits on the board of my alma mater Cathedral High School, and who served on a panel put on by The Mind Trust
Tobin McClamroch, the former Republican Majority Leader of the Indianapolis City-County Council and a board member of Marian University (another Catholic school, and one of the largest charter authorizers and backers in higher education)
Other board members that IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson are better and less obviously opposed to traditional public schools, but two of the three are also cause for concern:
Andrew Neal, who serves admirably as the CEO of homelessness service provider Outreach Indiana, is married to the Director of Operations at the Mind Trust.
Barato Britt, who does amazing community work as the CEO of the Edna Martin Christian Center, serves on the board of directors for KIPP, a group of charter schools founded by Reid “Let Indianapolis Public Schools Die” Litwack.
Out of the full nine-person board, only IPS Teacher of the Year Tina Ahlgren can be trusted as a dedicated advocate for traditional public schools.
Take a minute and re-read this list of people who serve on the “Local Education Alliance”. It is extremely clear that Mayor Hogsett is stacking the deck with pro-Charter, anti-public education operatives who are happy to work behind closed doors to kill IPS and sell your children’s education to the highest bidder.
Anywhere else in the country, elected Democrats who appointed Republican politicians to a board to kill public education would be run out of office, if not run out of town on a rail. But here in Indianapolis, Joe Hogsett thinks so little of the public that he believes he can get away with it, as long as he keeps hiding.
For our future, for our children, we cannot allow the mayor to hide. This week, I am rededicating myself to opposing this corrupt mayor and saving our system of public education. Mayor Hogsett’s legacy will be that of a sellout turncoat who failed in his attempt to privatize away our children’s futures.
For more information on the ILEA and Mayor Hogsett’s corruption, and for important demands and action items, take a look at this statement from Central IN DSA’s Fully Funded Fully Public Campaign!
In love and solidarity,
Jesse