Indianapolis Public Schools to divest 2 abandoned buildings

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Public Schools announced Friday it’s moving forward with the sale of one former school building on the south side of the city, and offering another former school on the city’s far-east side for sale or lease to a charter school.

IPS will sell the building that once housed Francis Bellamy School 102 to the Voices Corp. youth organization for $550,000. The former school at 9501 E. 36th Place sits amid homes in the North Eastwood addition that’s southeast of the intersection of East 38th Street and North Post Road.

The building that once housed Raymond Brandes School 65 will be sold to a charter school under the state’s “$1 Charter Law,” as amended in 2024 to include IPS. The former school at 4065 Asbury St., on the city’s south side, is just northwest of the South Keystone Avenue overpass for I-465.

The district has notified the Indiana Department of Education that the Brandes building is available, and the state will decide who the new owner or leaser will be, not IPS.

The “$1 Charter Law” requires Indiana public school corporations to offer certain unused, vacant or underutilized school buildings for a lease or sale for $1 to charter schools and state-funded educational institutions. 

The law’s goal was to provide affordable facilities for charter schools, but it has been the subject of controversy regarding its impact on taxpayer value and traditional public school districts.

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