Indianapolis Charters Spur Budget Debate

By Caroline Hendrie

The designers of the 21st Century Community School in Indianapolis didn't set out to create a school built around a railroad theme. But that hasn't stopped them from having plenty of fun with the brand-new charter school's location in Union Station, the city's redeveloped 1920s-era railway depot where office workers and shoppers now rub elbows with travelers catching the 8:25 to Chicago.

Visitors to the school's Web site are greeted with the toot of a locomotive whistle. Students are putting on a musical about rail travel. And the equipment on the school's 15,000-square-foot playground, which is built on an old platform for elevated trains, was inspired by the railroads' glory days.

"If you look up at the bridge that used to have trains going over, now you see kids playing," said John Hayden, the "mentor teacher" who serves as the school's principal. "Our school is right where the first seven...