Westfield Washington Schools operating referendum

What a vote means

A yes vote

District estimate: about $147.68 a year more ($12.31 a month) for a $426,700 home at the planned $0.3381 rate, after credits.

A no vote

The district says the 2022 levy ends after 2026 and lists possible cuts to busing, class sizes and pay. The 2022 DLGF determination describes an 8-year term (taxes 2023-2030), and certified rates since 2023 match it.

On the ballot

In full

Westfield Washington Schools, which grew 28% in enrollment since 2018-19, asks voters for an eight-year operating levy of up to $0.3941 per $100 and $38 million a year for 2027-2034, replacing its current $0.17 referendum rate ^[1][2][8]. The district cites below-average state funding, tax caps and SEA 1, projecting a funding gap of about $15 million, and plans to add a school resource officer in every school, raise pay and add counselors ^[2][3]. It plans an initial rate of $0.3381 ^[2]. The district says the current referendum expires at the end of 2026, so a NO would end referendum funding, though the 2022 state determination describes an eight-year term (2023-2030) and certified rates since 2023 match it ^[2][4][32].

What is being asked for

Most it could charge

$0.3941 per $100 of net assessed value ^[1]

Most it could raise a year

$38,000,000 ^[1]

For how long

8 years

What it replaces

District says it would replace (not add to) the operating referendum renewed in Nov 2022 at $0.17, which the district says expires at the end of 2026; note the 2022 DLGF determination describes that renewal as running eight years (see gaps) ^[2][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 ^[31].

On a median home

$450,000 (district says the actual median assessed value is $426,700; law requires rounding up) ^[1][2] — (1) Ballot figure: +$873 per year at the full $0.3941 rate, as if no referendum existed ^[1][5]. (2) Net vs. today (district estimate): +$147.68 a year ($12.31 a month) for a $426,700 home at the planned initial rate of $0.3381, after subtracting the current referendum and counting SEA 1 homeowner credits ^[2]; an earlier district figure reported by Chalkbeat was about +$494 for a $450,000 home ^[6]. (3) Computed by this study on the implied $221,400 net AV, before credits: about +$372 at $0.3381 and +$496 at the $0.3941 cap, versus $0.17 ^[5][7].

If it passes

• New levy 2027-2034, capped at $0.3941 and $38M; the board sets the rate each year, with $0.3381 planned initially "with an aim to lower the rate over time" ^[1][2].
• Spending plan purposes (annual estimates): retaining teachers and staff $9.0M; student health and safety $6.0M; maintaining class sizes $9.0M; academic programs $4.0M. These total $28M, while the plan lists $38M as expected collection ^[23].
• District preliminary plan: expand from about six to 14 SROs with the Westfield Police Department (about $3.5M a year initially); about $8M for compensation; about $2M for counselors, social workers and mental health ^[3].
• Tax effect: ballot +$873/yr at $450,000 (whole rate, as if new) ^[1]; district net +$147.68/yr for a $426,700 home ^[2]; computed before credits +$372 (at $0.3381) to +$496 (cap) ^[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 ^[24]; the new supplemental homestead credit (lesser of 10% or $300) does not apply to referendum taxes ^[25].
• 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 ^[26]. 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 ^[9]. A renewal after 2034 would fall under the sharing rule.

If it fails

• District: the current referendum "expires at the end of 2026," and WWS says "there is no 'status quo'" whether it passes or fails ^[2].
• Computed if the $0.17 levy ends after 2026: a $450,000 home (net AV ~$221,400) would pay about $376 a year less in referendum tax, and the district would lose about $13.7M a year ^[5][7]. If instead the 2022 levy runs its eight-year term as described by DLGF, the $0.17 rate would continue and the bill would not change (see gaps) ^[4]. On the failed-vote question itself: 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 ^[31][20].
• District list of possibilities: reduced safety and student supports; more students per adult; hiring and salary freezes; larger classes; reduced busing and possible no-busing zones; inability to rebuild reserves ^[2].
• 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 ^[27].

How it got on the ballot

• The Hamilton County Auditor certified the $450,000 median and $873 figure May 27, 2026 ^[5].
• June 9, 2026: the board (Ogle, Anderson, Larrison, Willis, Steele) adopted the resolution 5-0 ^[9][10].
• DLGF received the resolution June 9 and approved the language June 12, 2026 ^[1].
• District projections presented to the board: a funding gap of about $14.8 million in 2026 and more than $4.4 million in uncollected revenue from 2023-2025 due to referendum and operations formula changes ^[10].
• Superintendent John Atha: "This referendum gives our community the opportunity to decide how we move forward together." ^[10]

The district's own numbers

• Enrollment: 8,119 (2018-19) to 10,396 (2025-26), +28.0% ^[8].
• Fall 2025: 77 transfers in, 400 out; 350 resident students used Choice scholarships ^[18].
• Certified net assessed value: $5.53B (2023) to $8.07B (2026), +46% ^[19][7].
• Operating referendum rate: $0.17 (2023), $0.1528 (2024), $0.1469 (2025), $0.17 (2026, levy $13.72M); total school rate $1.2883 in 2026 ^{[19][20][21][7]}.
• District: ranks 260th of 290 in state funding, $558 per student below average; projected gap $15.1 million, up from $9.8 million in 2022 ^[2].
• District: about 1,700 employees; each 1% raise costs about $1 million; some positions trail the local market by more than 10%; about 21 counselors for ~10,500 students (about 500:1) ^[3].
• LSA estimated SEA 1 net levy change: -$3.45M (2026, -4.3%), -$4.40M (2027, -5.3%), -$6.06M (2028, -6.9%) ^[22].

What came before

• Nov 2, 2010: operating referendum at $0.23 for seven years passed, 5,123 yes (54.17%) to 4,334 no ^[11][12].
• Nov 8, 2016: renewal at $0.20 for seven years passed, 14,128 yes (81.35%) to 3,239 no; the district gave up the seventh year of the 2010 levy ^[13][14].
• May 2017: construction (controlled project) referendum passed ^[15][2].
• Nov 8, 2022: renewal for eight years at a lower $0.17 passed, 12,783 yes (67.76%) to 6,083 no; the 2022 plan estimated $7.63M a year ($5M for retaining and attracting teachers and staff, $2M for class sizes) ^[4][16][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

• Does the 2022 referendum end with 2026 taxes or run through 2030? What exactly happens to the $0.17 levy if this fails?
• Why does the spending plan list $28M of purposes against $38M of expected collection?
• What would the SRO agreement with the City of Westfield cost each party?
• How will the rate move from $0.3381 over the eight years?
• How does continued enrollment growth affect the projected gap?

What we could not find

• Conflict on the 2022 levy's end date: district materials say it expires at the end of 2026. The 2022 DLGF determination describes an eight-year renewal, which by the question's wording runs for taxes 2023-2030 ^[4]. Certified referendum rates fit that reading: the rate moved from the 2016 approval's $0.20 to the new $0.17 cap in 2023 and was 0.1700, 0.1528, 0.1469 and 0.1700 for 2023-2026 ^[32]. No DLGF document stating an explicit end year was found, and the 2026 resolution contains no repeal clause. If the term is eight years, a NO would not end it early: 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 ^[31][20].
• District net estimates changed ($494 per Chalkbeat in August; $147.68 now) and use different home values and credit assumptions.
• Spending-plan purposes do not sum to the stated $38M estimate.
• Teacher pay and cash balances not compiled; 2017 construction vote totals not retrieved.

Sources