July 27, 2007
DFER Education Warrior: Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson
(We were pleased to have Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson join us for our June 5th launch event in NYC because he has shown the kind of courage that it takes to battle an entrenched status quo in his school system. DFER encourages visitors to learn more about/and support Mayor Peterson's work through a non-profit he helped establish, The Mind Trust. The organization exists to help attract, support, and empower educational entrepreneurs in Indianapolis.)
Recently dubbed “the Peyton Manning of charter schools” by Education Next magazine, Mayor Peterson is the only mayor in the nation running a charter school authorizer out of his office and has proven himself willing to be judged by the results. This past school year, the mayor oversaw 16 charter schools serving 3,870 students. His charter school office issues an annual report on its schools that, in its candor and analytical sophistication, rivals just about any report out there.
As Ed Next noted, “What makes the mayor’s experiment far more interesting than, say, improvements in the city’s bus service, is that his charter schools are achieving results – in some cases, great results – with seriously disadvantaged kids.”
Peterson was elected the 47th mayor of the City of Indianapolis, the State of Indiana’s capital and the nation’s 12th largest city in 1999, and again in 2003. He took office on January 1, 2000.
In 2006 Mayor Peterson's charter schools initiative received Harvard University's prestigious Innovations in American Government Award, which recognized Indianapolis as a national model for improving public education. Harvard’s Innovations program has been referred to as the "Oscars" of American government awards.
The Mayor’s charter school initiative has been recognized by other organizations around the country over the last several years, including the National Association for Public Charter Schools, which recently profiled Indianapolis as one of its top five cities for growing charter school success. The accountability system established by Mayor Peterson also was featured in a Progressive Policy Institute report entitled, " Fast Break in Indianapolis: A New Approach to Charter Schooling."
Before running for office, Mayor Peterson had a distinguished career in the private sector, as well as in public service. With his family, he built The Precedent Companies, a conglomerate of 11 development and financial services companies. From 1989 to 1995, he was a member of Indiana Governor Evan Bayh’s leadership team, first as his aide for environmental affairs, and later, as chief of staff.
Mayor Peterson’s leadership serves as a reminder that Democrats can – and should -- support both meaningful parental choice and rigorous supply-side accountability in ways that result in improved academic outcomes for students. For that, we are proud to honor him with a 2007 DFER “Education Warrior” award.
