rom left to right: George Philhower of Eastern Hancock Schools, Jack Parker of Mt. Vernon Schools, Gina Pleak of New Palestine Community Schools and Harold Olin of Greenfield-Central Schools — Hancock County’s four school superintendents — know they’ll be facing financial challanges from here on out.
rom left to right: George Philhower of Eastern Hancock Schools, Jack Parker of Mt. Vernon Schools, Gina Pleak of New Palestine Community Schools and Harold Olin of Greenfield-Central Schools — Hancock County’s four school superintendents — know they’ll be facing financial challanges from here on out.
County school administrators have braced themselves for the impact of last year’s SEA 1 legislative cuts that created changes in property tax revenues. While all the county’s district leaders have made plans and braced for the impact of less funding, this year and in coming years the reality of the bill’s passage will start to hit full force.

Just what the resulting funding losses mean for local public school districts has yet to be fully seen; many are watching to see what will be cut to make up for having less funding. Some are feeling programming like art or music will suffer, or that teacher and transportation issues arise, while many note buildings and operations be the area that suffers first.

Regardless, all local district officials know the changes in funding will start to hit the local school district starting with the new year. Indiana Coalition for Public Education (ICPE) recently provided an estimation of funds lost for each district, and local leaders discussed the possible impact.

Greenfield-Central Superintendent Harold Olin noted 2026 is the true start of a challenging era for all public schools unless districts see some changes from the General Assembly this session or in coming years.

“Most of us will see our biggest challenges on the operations side of the budget,” Olin said.

Greenfield-Central has estimated it will specifically lose over $600,000 in local income tax support in 2026, and that funding has been critical in allowing the district to maintain its facilities and pay inflated utility costs and increased liability insurance premiums.

“Beyond the impact to our operations fund, the changes to assessed valuation will also impact our debt service rates up through 2031,” Olin said. “Therefore, we have made some adjustments on that front as well.”

Olin admits his district has been studying the impact of SB 1 for many months now, and has proactively made some adjustments to its staffing model and its organizational structure to help, as he said, “ride out the storm.”

Olin said district leaders believe they are controlling the factors they can control and said, “At the end of the day, that is all you can do.”

The baseline property tax revenue amount for the 2025-26 school year for G-C was estimated at $21,140,669. However, according to Indiana Coalition for Public Education, the new property tax revenue amount due to SB 1 has the money estimated at $20,124,129, a million dollar loss.

The projection for the 2026-27 school year was at $21,615,897, but the figure is now at $20,583,467, while the projections are worse for the 2027-28 school year. The baseline property tax revenue amount was to be at an estimated $22,083,787 but is now at $20,898,167.

Mt. Vernon Community School Corp., according to the coalition, had a baseline property tax amount of $31,972,173 for the 2025-26 school year. However, the new property tax revenue amount due is $30,450,643. Projected numbers for the 2026-27 school year shows a drop from $33,659,249 to $31,918,059. The numbers for the 2027-28 school year show a drop from $35,433,364 to $31,844,254.

The changes will significantly constrain school funding by eliminating local income tax revenue and decreasing property tax revenue.

“In fast-growing communities, this makes it harder to keep pace with enrollment growth and maintain the programs families rely on,” Mt. Vernon chief financial officer Greg Elkins said.

He noted the changes intensify the impact of constitutional tax caps on school operations by further reducing operating revenue and increasing uncollected levy amounts — disproportionately harming growing districts like MVCSC through structural changes in tax policy, capital equipment depreciation and TIF taxation.

“As MVCSC continues to responsibly lower its tax rate while already spending among the least per student in the greater Indy Metro area, these changes make it increasingly difficult to fund essential services and sustain the high-quality education our community expects.”

Eastern Hancock Superintendent George Philhower noted the same concerns as the other district leaders and said he hopes districts have prepared, because school districts will be forced to make tough decisions in the coming years.

“SB 1 will create real financial challenges for schools across Indiana, and Eastern Hancock will not be immune,” Philhower said. “We’re fortunate to be in a relatively strong budget position right now, which gives us time to make careful, thoughtful adjustments.”

Philhower said his district’s commitment to students and families remains clear, and leaders are confident that despite the challenges they can continue meeting the needs of the schools as the funding landscape changes.

The baseline property tax revenue amount for the 2025-26 school for Eastern Hancock was $3,928,181, but now with the new property tax revenue amount due to SEA 1, that figure is $3,712,991. The 2026-27 school year figure would likely have been $4,979,328, but is now $3,854,738. For the 2027-28 school year the numbers were $4,227,335, but now $3,964,725.

Gina Pleak, superintendent of New Palestine Community Schools, said district leaders worked hard all summer making plans for the revenue loss and the projected figures; dollar loss estimates released by ICPE really don’t change anything they’re doing.

During an interview with the Daily Reporter last summer discussing the issue, Pleak noted 88% of the New Palestine school district’s property base is residential properties, and the tax credits and deductions will start decreasing the budget beginning in 2026. She said with aging facilities that need to be maintained and rising operational costs — such as utilities, insurance, fuel, buses and technology — the decreased revenue will put an additional strain on the budget going forward.

The baseline property tax revenue for New Palestine Community Schools for the 2025-26 school year was at $14,733,239, but the new property tax revenue amount puts the figure at $13,834,409. Figures for the 2026-27 school year were at $14,194,791, down from $15,107.151, while figures for 2027-28 were at $14,429,167, down from the $15,474,207 it likely would have been before the SEA 1 changes.
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