Carmel Clay Schools operating referendum

What a vote means

A yes vote

Our computation for the $500,000 median home: about $197 a year more than today at the district's projected 2027 rate ($0.3194), or about $466 more at the full rate.

A no vote

The 2023 operating levy ($0.19) stays through 2031, and the $0.05 safety levy ends after 2027. The district says even its lowest scenario requires staffing and program cuts.

On the ballot

In full

Carmel Clay Schools asks voters to replace its two current referendums (operating $0.19 and school safety $0.05) with one eight-year operating levy of up to $0.4274 per $100 and up to $61.98 million a year, 2027-2034 ^[1][7]. The district says the request responds to revenue reductions tied to SEA 1 and state funding shifts and would fund school resource officers, teacher and staff retention, and academic and support programs ^[2][8]. Its 2027 spending plan estimates $47.1 million in collections, not the maximum ^[8]. If voters say no, the 2023 operating levy continues through 2031 but the safety levy ends after 2027 ^[2].

What is being asked for

Most it could charge

$0.4274 per $100 of net assessed value ^[1]

Most it could raise a year

$61,981,519 ^[1]

For how long

8 years

What it replaces

Repeals and replaces both existing referendums: the 2023 operating renewal ($0.19, approved Nov 2023, runs 2024-2031) and the 2019 school safety referendum ($0.05, 2020-2027). Combined current rate in 2026: $0.24 ^[1][2][3]

On a median home

$500,000 (gross AV $482,000 rounded up; net AV $248,400 after the $40,000 standard and 46% supplemental deductions) ^[4] — (1) Ballot figure: +$1,062 per year, computed as if no referendum existed and at the full $0.4274 rate ^[1][4]. (2) Net vs. today (computed by this study from the auditor's $248,400 net AV and the current $0.24 combined rate, ignoring caps, credits and future AV changes): about +$197 at the district's projected 2027 rate of $0.3194, and about +$466 if the full $0.4274 were levied ^[4][5][3]. The district's own net estimate was not found in a readable official source.

If it passes

• The 2023 operating levy and the 2019 safety levy are repealed and replaced by one levy for 2027-2034, capped at $0.4274 and $61,981,519 a year ^[1][7].
• Spending plan for 2027 (estimated collection $47,105,549): $8,478,993 for student safety, health and well-being including school resource officers; $38,626,526 for retaining teachers and staff and academic and support programs; the plan says the district does not expect to levy the maximum in 2027 ^[8].
• Tax effect: ballot says +$1,062/yr for a $500,000 median home (whole rate, as if new) ^[1]. Net vs. the current $0.24 combined rate, computed by this study on the auditor's $248,400 net AV: about +$197 at the projected 2027 rate ($0.3194) and up to about +$466 at the cap; the district's projected path reaches the cap in 2031 ^[4][5].
• Referendum levies are outside the 1%/2%/3% property tax caps (circuit breakers), so they are paid in full even by owners at their cap ^[6]; the new supplemental homestead credit (lesser of 10% or $300) does not apply to referendum taxes ^[22].
• Charter sharing: IC 20-46-1-22 (SEA 1 §222) requires sharing operating-referendum revenue with eligible brick-and-mortar charters only for levies imposed for the first time with taxes first due after Dec. 31, 2027, and only where at least the greater of 100 resident students or 2% of ADM attend such charters ^[23]. This levy would begin with 2027 taxes, so by the statute's text it would not be subject to that sharing, and the board resolution states the corporation "does not plan to distribute any revenue" from it to a charter school ^[7]. A renewal after 2034 would fall under the sharing rule.

If it fails

• Nothing changes immediately: the 2023 operating levy ($0.19) stays in place through 2031, and the safety levy ($0.05, about $7.7M in 2026) runs through 2027 and then ends ^[2][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 ^[28][29].)
• Computed for a $500,000 median home: when the safety levy ends after 2027, the referendum portion of the bill would fall by about $124 a year (0.05 x $248,400 net AV) ^[4][2].
• District materials say the safety referendum funds 21 SROs and mental health services; the district has not published an official cut list for a NO vote that this study found ^[2].
• At the May 13 board meeting, the administration said even its lowest scenario "would still require reductions to staffing and student programs," with projected deficits of $2M-$8.5M a year ^[5].
• Under SEA 1, school property-tax referendums may be held only at November general elections in even-numbered years, so the earliest re-try after a NO would be November 3, 2028, for taxes beginning in 2029 ^[24].

How it got on the ballot

• The board held a special session March 30, 2026 and heard Policy Analytics and district presentations April 22, 2026; it reviewed scenarios and an administrative recommendation May 13 and previewed outreach materials June 10 ^[5].
• At the May 13 meeting the administration compared levy scenarios of $42.1M, $45.1M and $47.1M; the recommended path rises from $0.3194 (2027) to $0.4274 (2031), with 2031 labeled "the maximum possible rate" and 2027 the "start of SEA1 losses" ^[5].
• The draft question shown May 13 had a maximum annual levy of $72,667,288; the adopted question lowered it to $61,981,519 at the same $0.4274 rate ^[5][7].
• On June 24, 2026, with all five members present (Shapiro, Kouka, Brown, Wheeler, Cashin), the board adopted the referendum resolution and revenue spending plan; the district says the vote was unanimous ^[7][2].
• The resolution finds that for 2027-2034 the corporation "will not be able to carry out its public educational duty" without the levy ^[7].
• DLGF received the resolution and the Hamilton County Auditor's certification July 6, 2026 and approved the language July 7, 2026 ^[1].

The district's own numbers

• Enrollment: 16,352 (2018-19) to 15,913 (2025-26), -2.7% ^[18].
• Fall 2025 transfers: 256 in, 260 out; 534 resident students used Choice scholarships (vouchers) ^[19].
• Certified net assessed value: $12.61B (2023) to $15.46B (2026), +22.6% ^[20][3].
• Certified referendum levies 2026: operating $29.37M at $0.19; school safety $7.73M at $0.05; total school tax rate $0.8425 per $100 ^[3].
• District: the operating referendum supplements the Education Fund "by more than 17%"; the safety referendum funds 21 school resource officers (at least one per building, up from seven shared officers) and Ascension St. Vincent on-site mental health services ^[2].
• LSA estimated SEA 1 net levy change for Carmel Clay: -$5.35M (2026, -5.0%), -$8.24M (2027, -7.3%), -$11.69M (2028, -9.9%) versus prior law ^[21].
• Teacher pay, cash balances and rainy-day fund figures were not compiled (see gaps).

What came before

• May 4, 2010: operating referendum at $0.16 passed, 10,417 yes (57.87%) to 7,584 no ^[9][10].
• May 2017: operating referendum at $0.19 for 7 years passed ^[9][11].
• Nov 5, 2019: school safety referendum ($0.05; district says rate held at 3.5 cents 2019-2022 and full 5 cents from 2023) passed with 68.55% yes, 9,826 to 4,509; the district calls it the first safety referendum passed in Indiana ^[12][13][2].
• Nov 7, 2023: renewal of the operating levy at $0.19 for eight years passed, 21,215 yes (67.82%) to 10,065 no; the 2023 spending plan estimated $23.96M a year, $23.5M of it for retaining and attracting teachers and staff ^[14][15][16].
• No Carmel Clay school construction referendum appears on DLGF's historic controlled-project list ^[17].

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

• What rate does the board expect to set for 2027, and what is the projected rate each year through 2034?
• What would the district cut, and when, if the safety levy ends after 2027 and the operating levy continues?
• How much of the new levy goes to school resource officers and mental health services versus teacher pay?
• How will the board decide each year whether to levy less than the $61.98M maximum?
• What would a typical homeowner pay in 2027 compared with 2026, after SEA 1 deductions and credits?

What we could not find

• The district's net homeowner estimate (reported elsewhere as about $143 in the first year) is in Current in Carmel coverage, which could not be read (bot-check page); net figures here are computed by this study.
• Board vote tally is not stated in the DLGF documentation; "unanimously" is from the district website.
• No official district list of reductions for a NO vote was found.
• 2017 vote totals were not found on the Hamilton County site (special election pages blocked).
• Teacher salary, cash balance and rainy-day fund figures (Gateway) were not compiled.
• Whether a replacement levy first imposed for 2027 is outside IC 20-46-1-22 charter sharing is this study's reading of the statute text; DLGF guidance on that point was not reviewed.
• No 2026 PAC registrations (county election board) were checked.

Sources