Frontier School Corporation operating referendum

What a vote means

A yes vote

Our computation: about $53 a year more than today if the new levy replaces the 2019 one at the full rate, and more in 2027 if both were imposed. The district has not said.

A no vote

The 2019 levy continues through 2027 taxes (our reading) and then ends: about $231 a year less for the median home. No district cut list was found.

On the ballot

In full

Frontier School Corporation is asking voters to approve a new eight-year operating property tax of up to 25 cents per $100 of assessed value, capped at $1.75 million a year (2027-2034). Voters approved Frontier's first operating referendum (up to 21 cents) in May 2019, and that levy is near its end; because SEA 1 now allows referendums only at November general elections in even years, 2026 is the last chance to act before it expires. The district cites 'reductions in property tax revenue' and plans to spend most of the money on retaining teachers and staff and keeping class sizes.

What is being asked for

Most it could charge

$0.25 per $100 of assessed value ^[1][2]

Most it could raise a year

$1,750,000 ^[1][2]

For how long

8 years

What it replaces

Frontier already levies an operating referendum approved in May 2019 (max $0.21 per $100, 8 years). Counting the way DLGF certified other 2018-19 levies (taxes due starting the year after the vote), that levy runs for taxes due 2020-2027 (our inference; no DLGF certificate for Frontier was found). The 2026 question is written as a NEW levy ('increase'), not a renewal. Neither the resolution nor the ballot says how the 2019 levy and the new levy would interact in 2027 ^[1][2][4][5] 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 ^[10].

On a median home

$250,000 (White County Auditor; the actual median homestead gross assessed value is $221,150, rounded up as required) ^[3] — Ballot figure: +$284 a year at the full $0.25 rate (net assessed value $113,400 x $0.25 = $283.50) ^[1][3]. Net change vs. today (computed by us from the 2026 certified referendum rate of $0.2038 on the same $113,400 net value): the existing referendum costs that home about $231 now, so if the new levy simply replaces the old one the net increase at the maximum rate would be about $53 a year. If both levies were imposed in 2027 the increase that year could be larger; the district has not said ^[3][6]

On other property

No separate estimate for farmland, rentals or businesses was published. Referendum taxes apply to all taxable property, including farmland, and are outside the 1%/2%/3% caps ^[10]

If it passes

• Ballot figure: +$284 a year for the $250,000 median home at the maximum rate; net vs. today about +$53 if the new levy replaces the 2019 levy (our computation from the 2026 rate of $0.2038) ^[1][3][6]
• New levy of up to $0.25 per $100 and $1.75 million a year for 2027-2034 ^[1]
• 2027 spending plan (estimated $1,542,741 collected): retaining teachers and staff $903,811; student health and safety initiatives $119,200; maintaining class sizes $385,200; academic and support programs $134,530 ^[2]
• The resolution says Frontier does not plan to share the levy with charters; mandatory statewide sharing (IC 20-46-1-22) applies only to levies first imposed for taxes due in 2028 or later ^[2][10]

If it fails

• Timing: the 2019 levy is not affected by a NO and, on our reading, continues through taxes due in 2027, then ends. Bills would then drop by the referendum portion (about $231 for the median home at the 2026 rate) starting with 2028 taxes, unless a new question passes in November 2028, which would first be collected in 2029 ^[5][6][10] (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 ^[10][16].)
• The district has not published a list of cuts tied to a NO vote in the sources reviewed
• Statewide context: districts that lose a referendum must wait 700 days (350 with a petition), and referendums can now appear only at November general elections ^[10]

How it got on the ballot

• June 22, 2026: the Board of School Trustees adopted the Referendum Tax Levy Resolution and revenue spending plan (certified by Vice President Laura Bell); the vote count is not shown ^[2]
• The White County Auditor (Elizabeth J. Billue) certified the $250,000 median home and +$284 on June 3, 2026 ^[3]
• DLGF received the resolution June 25, 2026 and approved the language June 26, 2026 (No. 26-017-REF) ^[1]
• The district's advertised 2027 budget notice lists a Referendum Fund levy of $1,625,000 (vs. $1,322,728 in 2026), with a budget hearing Sept 29, 2026 and adoption Oct 19, 2026 ^[7]

The district's own numbers

• Enrollment (IDOE): 668 in 2018-19 and 680 in 2025-26 (+1.8%), one of the few stable or growing districts in this group ^[12]
• Fall 2025 transfers (IDOE): 677 state-funded resident students; 107 transferred in, 106 out, 15 Choice vouchers; net -14. Largest parent-choice destination: Tippecanoe School Corp. (41) ^[13]
• Charters: 9 resident students attended charters (virtual or adult programs); far below the statewide sharing threshold ^[13][10]
• Net assessed value: $454.6 million (2022) to $649.0 million (2026), +43% ^[6]
• 2026 certified school tax rate $0.6279 per $100: Operations $0.2782, Referendum $0.2038, Debt Service $0.1459 ^[6]
• Circuit breaker losses, 2026: $70,128 of the $1,800,116 Operations levy (3.9%); the referendum levy lost $2,548 ^[14]
• SEA 1 (2025) LSA estimate: net levy -$181,880 (2026), -$262,410 (2027), -$313,320 (2028, -7.4%) versus prior law ^[15]
• Teacher pay and fund balances were not located

What came before

• Before 2019, then-Superintendent Dan Sichting told the board Frontier received $5,613 per student versus a $6,060 state average, that staff were leaving for higher pay at Tippecanoe School Corp. and elsewhere, and that 'We're in the bottom 25 percent of tax rate in this state, so we're not overtaxing people' (Monticello Herald Journal; article date not shown) ^[8]
• May 2019: operating referendum, up to $0.21 per $100 for 8 years 'for the purpose of funding academic and educationally related programs, managing class sizes and attracting and retaining teachers.' PASSED (certified); WFYI reported Frontier won its first-time request. Vote totals were not found ^[4][5][9]
• Referendum levy actually collected (DLGF): $954,626 at $0.21 (2022); $1,054,692 at $0.21 (2023); $1,086,097 at $0.1909 (2024); $1,118,504 at $0.1786 (2025); $1,322,728 at $0.2038 (2026) ^[6]
• No construction referendum by Frontier appears in DLGF's historic controlled-project list ^[11]

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

• When exactly does the 2019 levy expire, and will Frontier levy both the old and new referendum taxes in 2027?
• What will the combined referendum rate be on 2027 bills, and how does the $1,625,000 in the 2027 budget notice relate to the two levies?
• Why is the new maximum (25 cents, $1.75 million) higher than the 2019 maximum (21 cents), and what is the extra used for?
• What happens to the teachers and staff now paid from referendum money if the question fails?
• How do farmland assessments and SEA 1 changes affect what farm owners would pay?

What we could not find

• No DLGF levy certificate for the May 2019 Frontier referendum was posted, so the 2019 levy's end year (2027) is inferred
• May 2019 vote totals not found (White County results not located)
• District website (frontier.k12.in.us) could not be loaded; no district FAQ or superintendent statements were read
• Herald Journal pre-2019 article date not shown
• Board vote count not shown

Sources