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Lindsay Bohney stares at her house’s property tax bill. There’s one figure she has trouble swallowing: roughly $4,000 for the school district.
That’s in addition to the roughly $18,800 she says she already pays in taxes to the district for the farmland in Lowell she co-owns with her mother.
As a fourth-generation Lowellian, she’s held on to her family’s farmland even as she’s watched the town’s agricultural spaces give way to new housing subdivisions, a data center, and — ironically enough — a future John Deere factory. Bohney, a single mom, works multiple jobs to make ends meet.
And if a proposed tax increase from the local Tri-Creek School Corporation passes, she estimates it will cost her nearly $4,000 more on her farmland alone. But if it doesn’t pass, Tri-Creek will eliminate school buses. Bohney would have to drive her daughter to and from school and lose about an hour of pay.
“I feel like it’s a lose-lose. Either maybe I can’t pay some bills because of it, and then what if I were to lose my house?” she said. “Or what if it doesn’t pass, and then the kids suffer anyway?”
She and her neighbors face a tough choice. They can vote to raise property taxes as they grapple with the rising cost of living. Or they can vote no, and cuts to student services will follow. And this year, voters in a record number of Indiana communities are facing essentially the same decision.
If Tri-Creek’s proposed tax increase fails, the district will also eliminate K-8 extracurricular activities next year — and cuts to high school sports could be next. In Gas City, the small Mississinewa Community School District also plans to eliminate bus services in 2027 if a ballot question fails. And thirty miles north of Lowell in Whiting, the school district estimates it will run out of money altogether by 2032 without a mix of cuts and voter-approved tax increases.
From now until the November election, school districts are trying to educate the public about state property tax reforms lawmakers approved this year that significantly reduce the local revenue available to schools. In order to compensate, districts say, voters must approve new local tax increases.
But getting voters on board will take more than yard signs, T-shirts, or pamphlets, said Andrew Larson, superintendent of the Tri-Central Community Schools in Sharpsville that is also seeking a property tax increase.
“It’s going to be individual conversations with people that live in these communities,” he said. “They need to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
It’s not an easy task: Lowell voters rejected a tax increase proposed by Tri-Creek schools in 2023. So did Whiting voters. And some say schools should have to make tough financial choices just like voters.
“The cost of living is affecting Hoosiers all across the state,” said Cody White, deputy state director for the Indiana chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group opposed to such tax increases. “It’s a real problem, and everyone’s tightening their belts.”
School districts battle mistrust, rising cost of living
The state property tax changes under State Enrolled Act 1, or SEA 1, ultimately aim to reduce the assessed value of land and reduce taxes.
The state already limits how much property can be taxed, and restricts how much the tax revenue can grow from the previous year.
Plus, Indiana’s strong school choice environment and an ongoing decline in student enrollment leave many districts scrambling to keep the students they have.
“When we lose enrollment, we lose money, and so the problem exacerbates,” Andy Anderson, Tri-Creek’s superintendent, said at an August town hall meeting on the tax measure, which would raise about 17 cents per $100 in assessed value. “It’s like the bottom will fall out.”
After voters rejected a tax increase in 2023, the roughly 3,300-student Tri-Creek district eliminated 10% of its staff — including 14 teachers and 10 classroom assistants.
“We are at a bare-bone minimum,” Anderson told Chalkbeat. “Our class sizes are near capacity or have exceeded capacity. There are really no other positions that we can eliminate to make up the nearly $3 million deficit that we need to maintain status quo.”
Bohney attended the town hall and listened to Anderson’s arguments. She still has questions about how the district spends money — did Tri-Creek need to issue new iPads this year, for instance?
“It’s a lot,” she said of the district’s funding. “We’re talking millions and millions and millions of dollars in multiple accounts. Where does it go?”
District leaders fear public education is being devalued
After a roof collapsed on the middle school side of Whiting Middle/High School in 2024, incoming Superintendent David Verta knew it was time for action.
The School City of Whiting’s three school buildings are over 100 years old and haven’t had major renovations in over 40 years, he said.
Whiting is making a particularly big bet: It’s the only district in the state asking for two tax increases, one for capital costs and one for operating expenses. But it will be a tall order: Like Lowell, Whiting voters also rejected a tax increase for operating costs in 2023.
“For some reason public education is not valued anymore, and I don’t know why,” he said. “We’ve been taking hit after hit after hit, slap after slap.”
In Sharpsville, the Tri-Central district — which educates under 1,000 students — is eating into its reserves, Larson said. The district is also “hemorrhaging” students in part because of school choice.
“They’ve pitted school districts against one another because you can move around, so districts send buses into other (districts) to pick up kids,” he said.
Schools are also competing with other government entities looking for extra cash — including potential wheel taxes for roads in communities like Lowell.
And there will be organized resistance. Americans for Prosperity plans to train residents who want to actively oppose these tax measures.
School tax measure could hinge on social media
In Lowell, arguments over the referendum have proliferated on social media.
“It’s dividing people,” Bohney said. “No one can just have a healthy discussion.”
Local organizations that could help set the tone for debate haven’t so far. The Lowell Chamber of Commerce told Chalkbeat it won’t take a stance on the measure. Lowell’s town council is still weighing whether to support it.
Jason Sickinger, who owns a local jewelry store, understands the hesitation about giving the district more money.
“People always have this bad taste in their mouth about the way money is handled around here,” he said.
Some may be wondering why the district couldn’t use funding for its new buildings to save transportation, Sickinger said — although such a move is prohibited by state law.
Others may worry about administrative bloat. Yet Anderson said that even eliminating all the district’s administrators would still leave a deficit of over $2 million.
Still, Sickinger plans to vote yes. His son still has four years left in the district.
Andrea Blandford, a bus driver for the Tri-Creek district, also owns 56 acres of farmland in Lowell. She voted against the district’s proposed tax increase in 2023. But this time, with her job on the line, she plans to vote in favor.
She’s worried the measure won’t pass.
“The state might just step in and see what the issues are, and hopefully they’ll figure something out if this referendum doesn’t pass,” she said. “I don’t know what other options there are.”
Amelia Pak-Harvey covers schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.