South Bend charter school may block relocation of district offices under unused buildings law

In January, the South Bend Community School Corporation announced it wanted to sell its downtown headquarters to the city of South Bend and move into the Brown Community Learning Center on the city’s northwest side.

And in March, the South Bend Common Council approved a $7.8 million dollar appropriation request to buy the school corporation’s downtown building and renovate it into a new city hall.

At the time, multiple council members called the deal a win-win situation, as it will give the city and county more office space and decrease costs for the school corporation.

But that deal may now be in jeopardy after the Indiana Attorney General’s Office ruled in favor of a complaint brought by local charter school Career and Success Academy under Indiana’s “unused buildings” law, which requires public schools to sell unused buildings to charter schools for $1.

South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich broke this story on March 24, and she joined WVPE’s Jakob Lazzaro for an interview to discuss what the decision means for South Bend and school districts around the state.

You can listen to the interview above.

Contact Jakob at jlazzaro@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @JakobLazzaro.

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