The Mind Trust

The Mind Trust is an Indianapolis-based, education nonprofit organization. It aims to provide every Indianapolis student access to an excellent education by amplifying the power of neighborhoods and communities to lead educational change. It also seeks to help schools excel in a thriving education ecosystem and to disrupt systemic racism in education.

The Mind Trust traces its origins to the BART PETERSON ADMINISTRATION. In 1999, Bart Peterson became the first Democrat since 1967 to win the mayorship of Indianapolis. One of his campaign promises included bringing charter schools to Indianapolis as a much-needed solution to correct the dropout rates plaguing the 1950s style model of education used at INDIANAPOLIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

A 2001 bipartisan effort with Republican state senator Teresa Lubbers succeeded in passing a charter school law that empowered mayors to authorize charter schools. The following year Peterson invited David Harris, who had helped to develop Peterson’s education policy during his first run as mayor, to be the first director of the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office Charter School system. In 2005, Harris developed the idea to create a venture capital fund to push Indianapolis’ educational agenda beyond charter schools toward new school reform nonprofits. He formulated a five-year plan for his concept, which he called The Mind Trust.

By the 2006-2007 school year, the Peterson administration had authorized 16 charter schools through The Mind Trust. The RICHARD M. FAIRBANKS FOUNDATION provided critical start-up funding for The Mind Trust as well as additional funding for operational expenses through 2010.

The Mind Trust’s venture capital fund has successfully recruited talent for its reform agenda by convincing Teach For America (TFA), The New Teacher Project (now TNTP), and stand for children to come to Indianapolis in part by raising money for these outfits. TFA has brought more than 500 teachers and 39 school leaders, TNTP has trained 498 teachers, and Stand for Children has engaged the community by educating parents about school reform. The latter organization has also fundraised for school board candidates.

By 2011, The Mind Trust issued a 160-page report revealing a more radical approach to school reform termed Opportunity Schools. These schools included universal pre-kindergarten with charter-like oversight, which means school leaders would have freedom over staffing, budgets, culture, and curriculum. The Mind Trust envisioned all IPS converting to this model over time. The model for reform includes quality, autonomous schools that meet three key conditions for success: exceptional school leaders who support high levels of achievement for teachers and students; school-level autonomy, with leaders and teachers empowered to meet the needs of students and families; and high levels of accountability that hold schools to rigorous academic, financial, and governance standards.

The first type of Opportunity School to emerge from the plan was the Innovation Network School. Thanks to a law passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2014 school districts were permitted to reinvent struggling schools as autonomous entities free from many regulations but still held to high standards. Under the law, school districts could convert, open new, or restart existing schools as an Innovation School with its own 501(c)3 nonprofit board. IPS schools with a “D” or “F” grade for three consecutive years qualified for conversion to Innovation School status.

Innovation Schools Network has 20 schools in Indianapolis. These schools account for 28 percent of thee IPS student population, and they come in an array of forms, including Dual Language Immersion, Classical Liberal Arts, Blended Learning, Social Identity-based Learning, Industry Focused Experiential Learning, and Study Abroad. As of fall 2020, The Mind Trust had supported the launch of 38 public charter and IPS Innovation Network schools in Indianapolis, collectively serving more than 14,000 students. IPS schools that have converted to the Innovation School Network plan have witnessed a 15 percent increase in enrollments.

Additionally, The Mind Trust has recruited three national nonprofits to Indianapolis to provide educators and families with support: Stand for Children, Relay Graduate School of Education, and Surge Academy. It has also invested in the launch of 9 education-focused nonprofits: EmpowerED Families, the Center for Innovative Education Solutions, Enroll Indy, FosterEd, Global Citizen Year, STEMNASIUM, Summer Advantage USA, Teach Plus, and the Expectations Project.

The Mind Trust has not been without its critics. With the introduction of Innovation Schools to Indianapolis, the NAACP and IPS Research Group asserted it played a major role in turning IPS into the second most privatized school district in America, trailing only New Orleans. Critics fear that The Mind Trust’s actions have blunted reform of local public education, resegregated city schools, and encouraged gentrification.

Despite these issues, The Mind Trust has gained a reputation for educational innovation and partnerships, and since its founding has raised more than $134 million dollars from local and national donors including the Lilly Endowment, Inc., The Gates Foundation, The Arnold Foundation, The Dell Foundation, and The Walton Family Foundation. In 2018, The Mind Trust founder David Harris stepped down as CEO. Brandon Brown succeeded him.