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Indiana’s controversial property tax changes will not affect Indianapolis Public Schools operations in 2025-26 — but in later years, they’ll mean “giant cuts” to the district’s budget and require “gut-wrenching” decisions, Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said Friday.
The district is also accepting nominations for people who wish to serve on a new state-mandated group that will examine resource-sharing between IPS and charter schools.
Senate Bill 1, which state lawmakers passed last month, not only reduces the amount IPS will receive in property tax revenue beginning in 2026, but also requires the district to share that revenue with charters in 2028.
Lawmakers also created a new Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, which will examine the sharing of transportation and building resources between the district and the roughly 50 brick-and-mortar K-12 charter schools within its borders.
IPS will bring in roughly $5 million less in property taxes in 2026 than it would have under previous property tax law; roughly $4 million less in 2027; and roughly $5 million less in 2028, according to the latest fiscal analysis for SB 1. The district previously estimated that SB 1 would make IPS lose as much as $96.8 million from 2026 to 2032.
Johnson said SB 1 creates a “win-lose framework” that incentivizes competition between schools over an even smaller pot of funds.
“Our community worked tirelessly to stop this bill because we know there’s no way we can move forward with such giant cuts to our budget without gut-wrenching decisions at IPS,” she said.
“We will vigorously pursue savings and cost reduction opportunities,” Johnson added. “But we will do so while keeping stability for students and families at the forefront.”
Johnson also announced that nominations are open for the three ILEA members who are to be appointed by the superintendent and school board President Angelia Moore. The superintendent’s appointees must be one parent of a traditional IPS school and one parent of a charter school in the district’s autonomous Innovation Network. The board president’s appointee must live in district boundaries.
Johnson or her representative will also serve on the alliance.
The district is also launching an online transportation survey to help inform the ILEA’s members on recommendations for improving school transportation, Johnson said.
“While I’m deeply concerned about the scale of changes ahead, we will strive to continue to engage our community deeply,” Johnson said.
IPS will host a series of town halls to provide the public with a detailed analysis on the impact of the recently passed state laws. IPS plans to organize the town halls before the ILEA’s first meeting in June, Johnson said.
“IPS is more than 150 years old,” Johnson said. “We’ve been here a long time as the pillar of this community, and we are going to be here a long time to come.”
Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.
