Beech Grove City Schools operating referendum

What a vote means

A yes vote

District estimate: a median home (market value about $185,700) would pay about $6.76 less in 2027 than now, because the new levy replaces the 2020 one.

A no vote

The district lists about $4 million a year in cuts, including bus routes, counselors and school safety staff. The 2020 levy was authorized through 2028.

On the ballot

In full

Beech Grove is asking voters to replace its 2020 operating referendum (55 cents per $100) with a new eight-year levy of up to 57 cents, capped at $4.4 million a year, mostly for school buses, building upkeep and school resource officers. The district says property tax caps leave its regular operations fund with almost no usable local money and that SEA 1 will shrink its tax base further. It says failure would require about $4 million a year in cuts. Because Beech Grove is in Marion County, it must share a small part (about $97,000 in 2027) with participating charter schools ^[1][2][3][5].

What is being asked for

Most it could charge

$0.57 per $100 of assessed value ^[1]

Most it could raise a year

$4,400,000 ^[1]

For how long

8 years

What it replaces

The district says it replaces the operating referendum voters approved in June 2020 ($0.55 per $100, authorized 2021 through 2028) ^[3][4] A passing new levy does not automatically repeal the existing one unless the question or resolution says so; IC 20-46-1-19.5(b) allows one earlier and one later levy in the same year ^[22].

On a median home

$200,000 (Marion County Auditor certification) ^[1] — +$493 per year on the ballot (statutory figure, counted as if no referendum tax existed). The district's current estimate is that a median home (market value about $185,700) would pay about $6.76 less in 2027 than now and about $127.74 less over eight years; earlier district documents reported by WRTV/WISH in June 2026 showed an average increase of about $1.25 a month ^[1][3][5]

On other property

No separate business, rental or farm estimate was published; referendum taxes apply to all taxable property outside the 1%/2%/3% caps ^[16]

If it passes

• District spending plan (2027): school bus transportation $3,100,000; facilities maintenance $862,516; student safety and security including school resource officers $340,000; projected 2027 charter share $97,484 ^[2].
• Participating charters listed include Adelante, Victory College Prep (elementary, middle and high), Christel House Academy South, Dynamic Minds, Irvington Community, Paramount (Brookside, Cottage Home, Englewood), Purdue Polytechnic, SENSE and Tindley Genesis; the largest estimated share is Adelante's $19,827 ^[2].
• The district says the referendum would fund transportation, maintenance, custodial services, utilities and safety, and is 'not about adding new services' ^[3].
• Cost: ballot +$493 for a $200,000 home (statutory). District estimate: about $6.76 less in 2027 for its median home than under the current levy. Referendum taxes are outside the 1/2/3% caps ^[1][3][16].

If it fails

• District: about $4,000,000 a year in reductions across the Education and Operations funds ^[3][5].
• Potential impacts the district lists: reduced bus routes and expanded walking zones; reductions in counselors, instructional support, coaching positions and school leadership; reduced instructional supports and extracurricular programs; reduced custodial and maintenance services; deferred facility work; and fewer school safety resources including school resource officers ^[3].
• Timing: the 2020 levy was authorized for 2021 through 2028; district materials reviewed do not say whether it would keep being collected through 2028 if this question fails ^[10][3]. No statute says a failed later question ends a levy voters already approved. After failed renewals in Hammond and Lake Station (Nov 2023), DLGF kept certifying the existing levy to its original end date. IC 20-46-1-19(a)(1) ('may not make any levy for its operating referendum tax levy fund'), read alone, could suggest otherwise; no DLGF memo or court ruling settles it ^[22][23].
• Next chance: November 2028 general election ^[20].

How it got on the ballot

• June 2026: the board approved placing the question on the ballot; a third-party meeting summary (Govly) dates the board meeting that approved the referendum tax levy resolution June 17, 2026 (vote count not found) ^[17].
• June 23, 2026: the district began a series of community meetings; Superintendent Laura Hammack described them as part of 'a community campaign' to educate the public ^[5][3].
• DLGF received the resolution and Marion County Auditor certification June 30, 2026 and approved the ballot language July 2, 2026 ^[1].
• District reasons: 'the highest tax-cap loss in Indiana', little revenue in the operations fund, and SEA 1 reducing assessed value over several years ^[3][5][6].

The district's own numbers

• Enrollment (IDOE): 3,016 (2018-19), 2,843 (2022-23), 2,790 (2024-25), 5,481 (2025-26). The 2025-26 jump reflects virtual programs: 2,727 students were enrolled in Indiana Digital Learning School at Beech Grove (2,143) and Indiana Digital Learning Alternative School at Beech Grove (584); the in-person schools enrolled 2,754 ^[12].
• Students living in Beech Grove (fall 2025): 2,122 state-funded residents; 1,659 attended Beech Grove; 253 transferred out (94 to charters) while 3,784 transferred in; 210 used Choice Scholarships ^[13].
• Tax rates (DLGF certified 2026): referendum $0.55 ($4.27M), Operations $0.4921 ($3.64M), debt service $0.7374 ($5.45M, down from $1.2192 in 2022), capital referendum debt $0.2204. Net assessed value $517M (2022) to $740M (2026), the smallest base in this group ^[14].
• 2027 advertised budget notice: estimated property tax cap credits of $3.19 million against a $3.86 million maximum operating levy; referendum fund to be raised listed at $4.675 million ^[15].
• SEA 1-2025 estimate (LSA, House-amended version): net levy -$475k (2026), -$711k (2027), -$1.29M (2028, -9.6%), the largest percentage loss among the districts in this group ^[19].
• Cost reductions the district lists: eliminating six district administrators, reorganizing leadership, attrition, grants, more transfer enrollment and 'leveraging virtual school revenue strategically' ^[3].
• Teacher pay and cash balances were not found in sources reviewed.

What came before

• Nov 3, 2009: operating referendum, about $1.5 million a year (district estimated $114 a year on a $100,000 home). PASSED (DLGF) ^[4].
• May 2015: renewal ('continue to impose') of up to $0.35 per $100 for 7 years for transportation, buses, safety and building maintenance. PASSED (DLGF; WFYI reported Beech Grove 'handily won' on unofficial results) ^[4][7][8].
• Nov 2015 (DLGF list): construction referendum. PASSED (DLGF) ^[9].
• June 2, 2020: operating referendum, up to $0.55 per $100 for 2021-2028, replacing the 2015 levy; it funded $2,000 teacher raises, $1,000 support-staff raises, three school resource officers and three counselors. PASSED (DLGF certified); early election-night returns favored it ^[4][10][11].
• June 2, 2020: $17.5 million construction referendum (+up to $0.25 per $100) for renovations and the Hornet Park Early Childhood Learning Center. PASSED (DLGF certified) ^[9][11].
• The district's 2026 ballot question does not list a prior operating referendum because the last one (2020) was more than five years before the vote ^[1].

What each side says

Other people's words and claims, not ours, each with the page it came from. Where we found no organised campaign on a side, the page says so rather than inventing one.

Questions worth asking

• Will my 2027 bill go up or down under this question compared with 2026, and why do the district's estimates differ from the $493 on the ballot?
• If the question fails, does the 2020 levy keep being collected through 2028?
• Why does the 2027 budget notice list $4.675 million for the referendum fund when the ballot caps the new levy at $4.4 million?
• How much of the district's budget now depends on virtual-school enrollment, and how stable is that revenue?
• Which services would be cut first under the $4 million reduction plan?

What we could not find

• Board resolution and vote count were not in the DLGF filing; the June 17 date comes from a third-party (Govly) meeting summary.
• Certified 2015 and 2020 vote totals were not retrieved; DLGF lists both 2020 questions as passed (certified).
• Reconciliation of the 2027 budget-notice referendum figure ($4.675M) with the $4.4M ballot cap was not found.
• Teacher salaries and fund balances not found.

Sources