Ball State University’s charter school office has much to account for in its lackluster oversight of the Imagine Schools it sponsors. The school board’s blatant disregard for Indiana’s Open Door Law would give the university sufficient leverage to sanction them, but a stronger public meetings law would better prevent such practices from ever occurring in the first place.

As reporters Dan Stockman and Kelly Soderlund found in their three-part series, “Education Inc.,” the school board members charged with overseeing the two Imagine charter schools in Fort Wayne routinely ignored provisions of state law by signing resolutions outside of public meetings.

Some examples:

•In a resolution signed five months before their first meeting, board members agreed to a contract with Imagine Schools Inc., giving the Virginia-based corporation 12 percent of all money it would receive in taxpayer support and grants. The contract also gave the for-profit company that operates the schools the authority to make virtually all major management decisions, including hiring.

•By resolution, the board agreed in January 2008 to create two limited liability companies in Texas, where two Imagine charter schools were planned.

•In August, the board members signed a resolution allowing an out-of-state board member to serve on one of the Texas boards and appointed Don Willis, the Fort Wayne board chairman, to serve on it until 2011.

Minutes of its public meetings show none of the issues was ever discussed or voted on in a legally advertised session.

Indiana Public Access Counselor Andrew Kossack told The Journal Gazette there is no provision in state law to allow official actions to be taken outside of a public meeting. That leaves all of the decisions vulnerable to a challenge, but the Open Door Law lacks the punitive provisions it needs to keep errant boards in line.

Now that its disregard for the law has been disclosed, the board can simply meet in public session and approve all of the measures it previously did in private. Anyone who wants to challenge the board on grounds that measures were approved illegally has only 30 days to act – or less if the board acts first.

Most states have added teeth to their open meetings laws. In Missouri, if the court finds a public board has knowingly violated the state’s Sunshine Law, it may nullify any action taken in violation of the law and may fine the board or an individual member $1,000, plus court costs and attorney fees. If the board or a member purposely violates the law, the fine can be as much as $5,000, plus legal costs.

A bill to add a civil fine to Indiana’s public access law was approved unanimously by the Senate in the last session, but it died in the House without being heard in committee. The legislation’s sponsors, Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, and Rep. Russ Stilwell, D-Boonville, have said they will try again in the 2011 session.

Ball State’s 2007-08 accountability report on Imagine MASTer Academy makes no mention of the Fort Wayne board’s lax governance procedures. By contrast, an assessment of school board governance is a standard measure in accountability reports issued by the Indianapolis mayor’s office, which also sponsors charter schools. A January report from the charter schools office noted the KIPP Indianapolis College Preparatory, for example, must follow all open-door provisions and ensure “all board meetings are conducted publicly.”

Without the vigorous oversight of its only statewide charter school sponsor, Indiana needs a stronger Open Door Law to protect Hoosiers in their investment of millions of tax dollars. A law that includes financial penalties would help ensure public boards operating here do so in the full spirit of the public access law.