Property tax revenue shared with charter schools.
SB 336 revises Indiana education finance law to end several existing requirements that certain school corporations share property tax revenue with charter schools. The bill repeals provisions that currently require charter-school sharing of operations fund property tax levy revenue, operating referendum levy revenue, and school safety referendum levy revenue in specified counties. It also removes related statutory sections that govern how those distributions are calculated and administered for charter schools in Lake, Marion, St. Joseph, and Vanderburgh counties.
At the same time, the bill makes conforming changes across multiple education funding chapters to reflect the repeal of those sharing mandates and to update references to charter-school operations funds, education funds, and school safety funds. It preserves and adjusts other charter-school finance rules, including provisions for participating innovation network charter schools and existing authority for school corporations to voluntarily distribute certain funds to charter schools in some circumstances. The bill is effective January 1, 2026.
The bill would substantially change how property tax revenue is allocated between school corporations and charter schools by eliminating several county-specific mandatory distribution schemes. It repeals IC 20-46-1-21 and IC 20-46-9-22, along with IC 20-46-8-11.2, and removes related cross-references in statutes governing education funds, operations funds, school safety funds, deficit financing, and referendum procedures. As a result, affected school corporations would no longer be required under those repealed provisions to share certain levy proceeds with eligible charter schools, and county auditors would no longer administer those specific distributions under the repealed formulas.
The bill also updates referendum notice, spending-plan, and disclosure requirements tied to charter-school participation in certain referenda, while retaining some voluntary distribution authority and special rules for participating innovation network charter schools. Charter schools that continue to receive any distributions under remaining provisions would still be subject to use restrictions and, in some cases, public posting requirements.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes in the provided materials, the overall sentiment appears to be policy-driven and structurally focused rather than reflective of a documented public debate in the record provided. The bill’s purpose is framed as removing mandated revenue-sharing requirements and cleaning up related statutory language, which suggests support from those seeking to reduce compulsory transfers from school corporations to charter schools. At the same time, the breadth of the repeals indicates the bill would likely be viewed as significant by charter-school advocates and affected districts because it changes an established funding arrangement.
The main point of contention is the elimination of mandatory property-tax sharing with charter schools in several counties and the repeal of formulas that determine how much revenue charter schools receive from operations, referendum, and school safety levies. Charter-school operators and supporters would likely object because the bill reduces or removes revenue streams they currently rely on, while school corporations and their supporters may favor the change because it preserves more locally raised tax revenue for district operations. Another likely area of dispute is the bill’s treatment of referendum-related transparency and participation rules, including notice, disclosure, and election participation requirements for charter schools in the affected counties, which could be seen as either accountability measures or added administrative burdens depending on the stakeholder.