SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – Your child’s school district could be impacted by a bill that’s still circulating the Indiana Statehouse.
Earlier this week, our team did some digging into Senate Bill 1 and found how it would reduce property taxes, which is good for homeowners but not-so-good for critical services dependent on this money.
This includes local school districts. According to new figures from Indiana’s Legislative Services Agency, here’s how much money some local school districts are projected to lose under Gov. Mike Braun’s plan over the next three years:
- The South Bend Community School Corporation could lose over $54 million in funding between next year and 2028. In comparison, Indianapolis Public Schools — the state’s largest school district — would lose about $70 million.
- Elkhart Community Schools are at risk of losing over $16 million.
- The Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation could lose up to $14 million over that same time span.
Again, local property taxes help school districts fund transportation and facility expenses. Gov. Braun has gone on record asking local governments to do more with less, adding school districts need to run more efficiently.
To see how much your school district could lose from 2026-2028 if the proposed bill is passed, click here.
And now to the flip side of this story, the people who are directly impacted: the homeowners, many of whom are fans of Senate Bill 1.
As our team was working on the school angle of this story, we got a call from Mary Aragon, who lives in the Harter Heights neighborhood close to Notre Dame.
She’s 75 and has owned her home for decades and says property taxes are skyrocketing in the area.
Aragon says she shouldn’t have to compete with investors who don’t even live here who are buying up homes and renting them out.
“I’m retired. I’m 75 years old. I live on a limited income, and I’m going to be driven out of my house if these taxes aren’t lowered or controlled. And who’s going to buy them another investor. So, I think this is a, especially in this particular neighborhood, this needs to be taken under consideration,” Aragon said. “There are a lot of parents who may be watching this who say, ‘My kids need a foundation, a school, and they need all the resources they can get for those schools,’ and the only way to get that is through taxpayer funds, specifically through property taxes. I don’t think that the taxpayers need to take responsibility for that, and I know we can’t. Some of us can’t do that anymore than we’re already doing. What is your hope with this, this Senate bill for homeowners, but what would be your ideal goal for also another way, another resource that folks could look at, or the Statehouse should be able to look at in order to help schools and other institutions that rely on these funds.
“I’m not a politician, so I’m not sure where they come from,” she added. “I’m just saying that there’s got to be other ways besides putting this burden on the taxpayer, who a lot of us, our kids aren’t even in school. I mean, we’re retired. We’re trying to, you know, live in our homes until we pass away. We’d like to not be forced out of our homes due to rising property taxes so I’m sorry I don’t have an answer for that, but I’m sure there is one.”
Aragon reiterated a lot of the rentals in her neighborhood are driving up costs and driving people out.
Braun’s proposal is likely to face some debate before anything passes.
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