$2.8 billion. That is how much more the state of Indiana now sends its public schools in tuition support than it did in 2016, a 41% increase. Keep that number in mind, because you will not find it printed on the school referendum question waiting on your ballot.

Thirty-eight districts are asking voters for more property tax money on Nov. 3, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, and Axios Indianapolis calls it a record for a single election cycle. The message from many of them is the same: the Statehouse's 2025 property tax law, Senate Enrolled Act 1, squeezed them, and the only way to stop layoffs and bus cuts is a yes vote.

Some of that is true. Some of it skips a few pages.

What the law actually took

SEA 1 will lower schools' property tax revenue by $744 million over three years, with most of the savings going to homeowners, Capital Chronicle editor Niki Kelly wrote Friday. The law was pushed largely by Gov. Mike Braun to slow runaway growth in tax bills.

Slow it did. But it did not reverse it. A Legislative Services Agency analysis cited in the same column found school property tax levies statewide still rose 3.2% in 2026 over 2025. The two years before that, they rose 6.5% and 6.9%. In 2023, the jump was 11.8%. Those figures cover all three school tax levers: the operations fund, debt service, and voter-approved referendums.

House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jeff Thompson, the Statehouse's chief budget writer, put it bluntly: "Indiana has continued to increase funding for schools at both the state and local levels. State funding for education has increased every year over the last decade, including a 5% increase in our most recent budget, even as we reduced spending in other areas of government. SEA 1 put reasonable limits on local property tax growth to protect taxpayers. Even with the taxpayer relief in SEA 1, schools are still receiving more local property tax revenue statewide this year than they did last year."

Where the school lobby has a real point

Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association, conceded to the Capital Chronicle that schools collectively are still getting new money. His argument is about which bucket it lands in. According to Spradlin:

• The operations fund, which pays for buses, insurance and utilities, fell overall in 2026, and 196 districts received less in it than the year before.

• About 76% of that fund goes to transportation, insurance and utilities, costs he says are outrunning inflation. A school bus that averaged about $90,000 before COVID now runs about $160,000.

• The 3.2% overall levy increase trails inflation, which he put at 3.7%.

• Tuition support for public schools rose just 2% this year, and many districts saw no increase at all because their enrollment is falling.

Those are fair questions, and Hoosiers should weigh them. But notice the last one. A district that is losing students is going to lose per-student money under any funding law. That is not SEA 1. That is families choosing somewhere else.

The survey behind the layoff headlines

The scariest numbers in this debate come from a superintendent survey by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, a volunteer advocacy group. As reported by Indiana Public Media and the Capital Chronicle, 46% of responding superintendents said they are eliminating some teaching roles, a figure that climbs to 93% once you count districts merely considering it.

Readers should know what that survey is. It went to 290 superintendents in August, and 144 answered, so roughly half the state's school chiefs are not in it. It was run by an advocacy group, and it asked the people whose budgets are on the line. The same survey found 39% of respondents skipped a referendum this year because they lacked community support, a signal that plenty of Hoosier towns are not buying the pitch.

A Republican who voted for the cut, now backing the tax

Then there is Noblesville. Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, voted for SEA 1. He now supports his district's request to extend an expiring referendum, the Capital Chronicle reported, praising the district for lowering its share of the tax rate and making $4 million in cuts.

Noblesville Schools has warned that if voters say no, it would cut 20% of its staff, close an elementary school and scale back programs, WRTV reported. Superintendent Dan Hile told the station the referendum provides about 20% of the district's operating money, close to $25 million a year.

Baldwin also said the ballot language itself is misleading and that the Legislature should fix it. He is not alone on that. Michigan City Area Schools Superintendent Wendel McCollum told WSBT that his district's ballot wording, which says a $200,000 home would pay an extra $260 a year, overstates the hit for most local homeowners. When both a tax-cut senator and a superintendent asking for money say the question on the ballot is confusing, the people who wrote the ballot rules have homework to do.

Before you fill in the oval

Every district is different, and the honest answer for your own ballot is in your own district's books. A few questions worth putting to your school board:

• How much did our operations fund actually drop, in dollars, and how much of that came from SEA 1 versus lost enrollment?

• What share of our total budget is the referendum, and what did the last one pay for?

• What has administration and central-office spending done over the same years the state raised tuition support 41%?

• If this passes, does any of it get shared with charter schools? In Indianapolis it does: Axios reports the $95 million Indianapolis Public Education Corporation question would split proceeds between IPS and charters, and IPS would still face a $20 million hole.

Lawmakers also limited school referendums to general election years, so districts that miss this window wait until 2028. Expect this fight again. Early voting is already open, and Election Day is Nov. 3.

The ballot question will show you a tax rate. It will not show you the $2.8 billion.

Written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers.