Pike County Schools operating referendum

What a vote means

A yes vote

Adds up to $149 a year for a $150,000 median home (ballot). With no levy today, that is the full change at the maximum (our reading).

A no vote

No new tax. The district's other stated options include cuts to staffing, pay, benefits and programs, and consolidation or reconfiguration.

On the ballot

In full

Pike County School Corporation is asking voters for a new operating tax of up to 25 cents per $100 of assessed value, raising up to $2.2 million a year for eight years (2027-2034). The district has lost about a fifth of its students since 2010, many to neighboring districts and a charter school, and has run deficits since 2020. In October 2025 the state's Distressed Unit Appeal Board (DUAB) asked it for a corrective action plan, and in June 2026 the state notified it that its starting teacher salary was below the $45,000 legal minimum. Most of the money (about $1.5 million) would go to keeping teachers and staff.

What is being asked for

Most it could charge

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

Most it could raise a year

$2,200,000 ^[1][2]

For how long

8 years

What it replaces

Nothing. Pike County has no operating referendum now; its only earlier attempt (2015) failed, so this would be a new tax on top of current rates ^[6][14]

On a median home

$150,000 (median household assessed value certified by the Pike County Auditor, rounded up to the next $50,000) ^[1][4] — +$149 a year at the $0.25 maximum (ballot figure). Net change vs. today (our reading: Pike has no referendum levy now): the same +$149 at the maximum rate. No district estimate of a lower first-year rate was found ^[1][4]

If it passes

• New levy of up to $0.25 and $2.2 million a year, 2027-2034, added to current school taxes ^[2]
• Spending plan for $2,200,000 in 2027: retaining teachers and staff $1,500,000; academic and CTE programs $400,000; operations at existing school buildings $200,000; safety initiatives $100,000 ^[3]
• Cost: +$149 a year for a $150,000 median home at the maximum rate (ballot); since there is no current referendum, this is also the net change from today's bill ^[1]
• Referendum taxes are outside the 1%/2%/3% caps ^[5]
• Charter sharing: the resolution says the district does not plan to share the levy with charters; a levy first imposed in 2027 is not covered by the statewide sharing rule, which starts with levies first imposed for taxes due after Dec. 31, 2027 ^[2][19]

If it fails

• Nothing is added to tax bills; there is no existing referendum to expire ^[6][14]
• The district has not published a final cut list. Its stated options other than a referendum are enrollment growth, cuts to staffing, salary and benefits and programs, and 'consolidation or reconfiguration'; its Phase 1 plan already includes early retirement, fewer administrative contracts and suspended employer retirement contributions ^[8][10]
• The DUAB corrective action plan (described by the district as a 4-5 year plan) would continue ^[8]
• Retry: the next possible date is the November 2028 general election (700-day wait after a defeat, 350 with a petition). A levy approved then would start in 2029 and, because the district says more than 100 residents attend brick-and-mortar charters, would likely have to be shared with those charters ^[8][19]

How it got on the ballot

• Oct. 21, 2025: the district was notified by DUAB, the state board that monitors school finances, and began weekly meetings with the superintendent, treasurer and board president; it submitted a corrective action plan Jan. 20, 2026 and presented it to DUAB March 3, 2026 (district presentation). DUAB records show a March 3, 2026 executive session held under IC 20-19-7-18 ‘to discuss a proposed corrective action plan’; the posted records do not name the school corporation ^[8][21]
• The district's 'Phase 1 - Steps for 2026-2027' list includes 'Consider Referendum Options - Fall 2026' alongside an early-retirement incentive, fewer administrative contracts, sale of the vacant Otwell building, and suspended retirement and VEBA contributions ^[8]
• May 2026: the district listed its funding options as increasing enrollment, reducing expenses (staffing, salary and benefits, programs), an operating referendum, and 'consolidation or reconfiguration' ^[10]
• June 9, 2026: the Board of School Trustees adopted the referendum resolution and spending plan; the resolution says the district cannot carry out its educational duty for 2027-2034 without the levy. The vote count was not found in an official record ^[2]
• June 4, 2026: Pike County Auditor certified the $150,000 median and $149 figures; June 17: DLGF received the resolution; June 18, 2026: DLGF approved the ballot language ^[1][4]
• June 8, 2026: the board chose Assistant Superintendent Dana Deffendoll to succeed retiring Superintendent Suzanne Blake ^[20]

The district's own numbers

• Enrollment (IDOE): 1,776 in 2017-18, 1,734 in 2019-20, 1,594 in 2023-24, 1,497 in 2025-26 (-15.7% since 2017-18) ^[16]
• District ADM: 1,865 (2010-11), 1,868 (2015-16), 1,622 (2020-21), 1,447 (2025-26), projected 1,309 (2030-31) ^[8]
• Fall 2025 transfers (IDOE): 1,832 state-funded resident students; 51 transferred in, 419 out, 17 Choice vouchers; net -385 ^[17]
• District count of out-of-county transfers (2024-25): 221 to other public districts, 151 to charter schools (Otwell Miller Academy, Indiana Connections Academy), 14 to private schools with Choice; 'uncaptured funding' of $2,950,740 ^[8]
• Teacher pay: the state notified the district on June 19, 2026 that its minimum full-time teacher salary was $40,800 in 2025-26, below the $45,000 minimum required by IC 20-28-9-26 ^[12][19]
• Fund balance (DUAB fiscal indicator shown by the district): total fund balance fell from about $12.6M (2019) to about $4M (2024), with annual deficits each year 2020-2024; fund balance was 16.4% of expenditures in 2024 ^[8]
• Assessed value $623.9M (2022) to $883.1M (2026); total school tax rate $1.2710 (2022) to $1.0998 (2026); 2026 operations rate $0.8488 and debt rate $0.2510 ^[8][14][15]
• Circuit-breaker (tax cap) losses: $1,569,300 (district, April 2026); 2027 budget notice estimates $1,032,800 ^[9][13]
• SEA 1 (2025): district estimates 2026 tax-credit losses of $176,891 (operations) and $52,309 (debt); LSA estimated $278,560 less in 2026, $205,830 less in 2027 and $35,650 less in 2028 than prior law ^[8][18]
• Charter sharing: the district projects about $480,000 of its Operations Fund levy will go to charter schools, phased in 2028-2031 ^[8]
• Facilities: a 2023 study listed about $5.3 million of high-priority needs ^[8]
• 2027 budget notice: referendum fund budget $2,300,000 (advertised maximum); operations fund $7.5M budget ^[13]

What came before

• May 2015: operating referendum for up to $0.29 per $100 for five years 'for the purpose of funding costs related to providing education services'. FAILED (DLGF). Vote totals were not found ^[6][7]
• This is the first Pike County School Corporation referendum since 2015; no construction referendum appears in DLGF lists ^[6]
• June 2016: Otwell Elementary closed, with a reduction in force; the district says staff were hired back in August 2016 when enrollment did not fall as expected ^[10]
• Local economy (district): former Hoosier Energy generating station closed; AES Petersburg shut down units 1 and 2; a K-5 charter school opened in Otwell in 2018-19 ^[8]

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 plan to set in 2027, and would it always levy the full $2.2 million?
• How would referendum money bring starting teacher pay up to the $45,000 state minimum?
• What does the DUAB corrective action plan require, and what happens to it if the referendum fails?
• What does 'consolidation or reconfiguration' mean in practice, and is any school closure under study?
• How much will the district lose to charter-school sharing from 2028, and would a 2028 referendum be shared?

What we could not find

• May 2015 vote totals were not found.
• Board vote count on the June 9, 2026 resolution and current board minutes were not found online (minutes links did not load).
• DUAB public minutes do not name Pike County; the corrective action details come only from the district presentation (DUAB discussed school fiscal indicators in executive session).
• The DUAB fund balance figures were read from chart images in the district presentation and are approximate.
• Coverage of the Sept. 8, 2026 budget hearing came only from an unofficial automated summary (citizenportal.ai), not used as a source.
• No district estimate of the first-year rate below $0.25 was found.

Sources