The portfolio model is about obliterating all the "old" bureaucracies, which includes all the rules and regulations and guardrails, replacing them with some central batch of unelected overlords to manage the portfolio, closing and opening schools, moving resources around as they see fit. It also automatically elevates charter schools to equal footing with public schools, with access to the same pile of public taxpayer dollars as public schools, which is why you find the portfolio model pushed by charter folks. Another way to think of it is as a forced "merger" between public and charter schools. (Longer explanation here.) So that's Indianapolis now.
Mind Trust used a pretend hurricane to put IPEC over the finish line. I wrote about it at the time, and you can catch up by reading here. But the bottom line is that Indianapolis schools were just subjected to a hostile takeover. IPEC's nine board members are appointed by the mayor with statutes to determine the corporate board’s membership: three come from the Indianapolis Public Schools [IPS] board of commissioners–which still exists, three from the charter school industry, and three with administrative and financial expertise. But as Jeff Hagan notes at In The Public Interest, four members are from the charter industry. And the chairman is David Harris, who founded the Mind Trust-Indianapolis, the folks behind this whole thing.
Thing is, Indianapolis is not the end of it.
Mind Trust gets a big chunk of its money from the City Fund, an outfit that was established to funnel money to groups trying to push charter schools. It was founded by Neerav Kingsland, one of the guys who helped charterize New Orleans after Katrina. The group collected mountains of money and started using it to juice up privatizers. In 2018, Matt Barnum reported for Chalkbeat that the group planned to make the portfolio model "normal," by spreading it to 40 cities in 10 years. By 2020, Barnum was reporting that City Fund had handed out over $110 million.
In December of 2018, Barnum reported the cities that the fund had targeted, and the groups they were funding to do it.
That list included the Mind Trust in Indianapolis.
Also on the list:
RootED in Denver. RootED is now teamed up with Denver Families for Public Schools. On their board is Ethan Gray, a City Fund "partner" who was previously a vice-president of Mind Trust and a founder-CEO of Education Cities, another outfit pushing charters. DFPS, like virtually all of these groups, talks about its support for "public schools" but actually means "charter schools." The head of RootED in 2018 was Nate Easley
City Education Partners in San Antonio. Their current board president is Chris Barbic, best remembered for his attempt to make Tennessee's disastrous Achievement School District work. He is currently a City Fund "partner." Their CEO Dalia Flores Contreras taught for a couple of years before launching a career in charter administration, from UNO to KIPP. At Pahara Institute she's listed as a fellow, a "visionary CEO."
RedefineED in Atlanta. Patrick Dobard is the City Fund partner on their board.
The Opportunity Trust in St. Louis. The Newark Charter School Fund. In Nashville, they were just giving directly to charter schools.
That was in 2018. If we take a look at other current "partners" on their staff, we find:
Dorsey Hopson, partner on the advisory board of the Memphis Education Fund, which also includes Holly Coleman of the Hyde Foundation and David Mansouri of SCORE. Their Board of directors is led by Darryl Cobb, president of Charter School Growth Fund.
Gary Borden, previous leader at California Charter Schools Association. Borden lives in Oakland, where he serves on the board of Black Pine Circle School.
Jessica Pena, previously with Education Cities. Now in Philadelphia.
Naeha Dean, previously with Camden City Schools. She founded the Camden Education Fund, where she is now the City Fund partner on the board, as well as the board of Mind Trust.
Kameelah Shaheed-Dialo, formerly with the Mind Trust and a leader in their privatization push.
Maura Marino, formerly CEO of Education Forward DC and a managing partner at New Schools Venture Fund. Former charter teacher. She's now on the DC Public Charter School Board.
There's more, but you get the idea. Meanwhile, their four person board includes former Teach for America CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard, Enron millionaire John Arnold, Walton Foundation education program director Romy Drucker, and Netflix gazillionair and school board hater Reed Hastings.
Indianapolis is just the tip of the reformy iceberg. Mind Trust is a reformy octopus with its tentacles in multiple cities and a willingness to squeeze slowly for years if necessary. IPEC is bad news for Indianapolis schools, but it's a model for what could be happening in other cities around the country.
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