Schools: money, enrollment, and where kids go

Schools: money, enrollment, and where kids go

Schools are not county government, but they share the same tax base, the same tax caps and the same 2025 overhaul. Their decisions shape every county: bus routes, building closures and referendums on the county ballot. Data: the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), the Legislative Services Agency (LSA), the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF), and 171 school board race profiles. District file: data/school_corps.csv, 290 districts.

Funding: state aid up, local property tax down

• State formula (HEA 1001-2025). — The base grant per student goes $6,681 → $6,967 (2025–26, +4.3%) → $7,071 (2026–27, +1.5%). — Total tuition support rises 3.8% and 3.0%. Without vouchers it is about +3.4% and +1.7%, against 2.7% inflation. — The $160M textbook fund was folded in, so part of the increase replaces textbook money. — New rules: a $45,000 minimum teacher salary, and 65% of tuition support must go to teacher pay.
• SEA 1-2025 property tax effects. LSA estimates schools lose $191M (2026), $217M (2027) and $336M (2028) against prior law. Operating levy growth was capped at 4% for 2026.
• Referendums now go only on November general-election ballots. The question must state the dollar effect on a median home.
• Debt. Lower debt-rate thresholds mean 154 districts would face a petition fight and 36 a referendum for new building projects.
• Charter sharing. From 2028, every district shares operating levy money with charter schools in its boundaries, phasing from 25% to 100% by 2031. Operating referendums first levied after 2027 must be shared too. — LSA estimates about $4.5M statewide in 2028. — Indianapolis and Lake County districts with November 2026 referendums have published projected shares, e.g. Washington Township $357,820 and Wayne Township $332,242. — WFYI totals more than $49M for about 60 charter schools.
• One district dissolved. SEA 1 dissolves Union School Corporation (Randolph County) on July 1, 2027. The district is suing the state.

Referendums: a record year

• The November 2026 list includes the new Indianapolis Public Education Corporation (IPS plus charters, $95M a year for 4 years) and Whiting's $39.3M building question, the only construction question.
• Several questions name busing as a purpose: Beech Grove, Tri-Creek, Whiting, Crown Point, River Forest, Smith-Green, Shelbyville, Oak Hill and Elwood.
• The district file lists each question's rate, maximum levy and median-home effect.

Enrollment: where kids are going

• Public district enrollment fell 2.7%, from 997,027 (2018–19) to 969,769 (2025–26). 202 of 288 districts shrank, 76 of them by 10% or more.
• Private school enrollment rose from 85,539 to 102,668.
• Vouchers: 80,548 students in 2025–26 ($548M). 69.5% had never attended an Indiana public school.
• Charters: 56,675 students, 5% of the state.
• Vouchers become universal in 2026–27; LSA projects $673M.
• Transfers: in fall 2025, 149,486 students attended school outside their home district, 49,689 of them at charters.

• Real gains are suburban: Westfield-Washington (+2,277), Franklin Township (+1,918), Brownsburg (+1,331), Center Grove (+1,300), Avon (+969).
• Paper gains are virtual. Big gains on paper in Clarksville, Union, Beech Grove and Cloverdale are virtual-school partnerships enrolling students from across the state.
• The pattern: urban and small rural districts lose students to suburbs, charters, private schools and virtual programs. They lose the matching state money while their buildings and routes stay the same size.

Getting there: busing

• The law changed in 2025. HEA 1002-2025 cut the notice a district must give before ending busing from three years to one. It also repealed two busing sections, one of which let districts limit busing to the start and end of the school day.
• Tri-Creek (Lake County) voted in August 2026 to end busing on Aug. 1, 2028, for more than 2,200 daily riders. It cited a $3M deficit and SEA 1; a referendum is on the November ballot.
• Mississinewa (Grant) voted to cut its transportation program within two years.
• Fewer routes through bell times: Decatur Township and Yorktown changed bell schedules to run fewer routes. Wayne Township bought fewer buses. Shelbyville and Nettle Creek cut routes.
• South Bend's finance chief said the district could have to "end all transportation" without a 2028 referendum.
• Drivers: pay is rising district by district (e.g. Prairie Heights' daily rate went from $109.50 to $115.50). No statewide shortage data exists.
• No law on transfer students. No 2025–26 law addresses busing for students who transfer. As routes shrink, how kids get to school becomes a family cost and a county issue (roads, safety, sheriff and school resource officers).

Buildings and schedules

• Closures or mergers: Elkhart (4 elementary schools), Fort Wayne, South Dearborn, Southwest Parke, Madison-Greene, Greenfield-Central and Central Noble. Martinsville, Warsaw and Vigo have plans underway.
• Big projects without a referendum: some fast-growing districts are still building large projects through bonds that don't need a vote, e.g. Westfield (about $88M) and Warsaw (bond up to $143M).
• Four-day weeks: only Vinton Elementary uses one. A 2026 law (HEA 1266) sets strict conditions for a waiver, including busing for families who opt for five days.

What school boards are debating

Approximate counts across 171 board race profiles:

What's still unpublished: fall 2026 enrollment and voucher counts. District-level charter-sharing estimates are due from IDOE in August 2027.