Five years ago under pressure from the state, South Bend Community Schools gave up control of a group of underperforming schools. The corporation could soon regain that control.
In 2019 after years of receiving failing school grades from the Indiana Department of Education, South Bend school leaders put together a plan to intervene and prevent a potential state takeover of Navarre Middle School and its feeder elementary schools.
That plan led to the creation of the autonomous entity called the Empowerment Zone which included increased academic and financial support for those handful of schools. The Zone is part of the district but has control over its own curriculum, scheduling and school-level spending.
Tuesday night the Empowerment Zone’s board voted 3-1 to give the schools back to the corporation. The move marks a change from a vote that both the zone and corporation boards took in August to return the schools to the corporation in June 2026.
The changeover took effect Wednesday. South Bend Schools Superintendent Todd Cummings declined to say exactly why it's now happening two years sooner than planned.
"With looking at budgets and gaining efficiencies, and making sure the whole district was making academic improvements, we just thought now was the perfect time," Cummings said.
The school board will consider resuming control of the schools at its next meeting Monday.
