Pike Township is one of a few districts in central Indiana going out for a referendum this spring. The particulars of the referendum may or may not interest you (for those, read Mirror Indy’s coverage of the referendum request). But this just so happens to mark the first time since the passage of Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) 391 that a school district in Marion County might have to share referendum dollars with public charter schools.

As it stands, 15 individual charter schools have expressed interest in sharing referendum dollars. The Mirror Indy piece linked above noted, “[Superintendent Larry Young] believes none have fulfilled requirements to receive the money.”

He declined to say which requirements those 15 charter schools didn’t meet in his estimation. But he was clear that he does not want to share any dollars with charter schools (a stance he reiterated in WFYI’s even more recent piece from May 1).

So buckle up, put your monocle on, and lean in a la Sheryl Sandberg. It is once again time to dig into the painfully obtuse language of a piece of Indiana legislation.

A Brief History of SEA 391

Passed during the 2023 legislative session, SEA 391 made waves for requiring school districts in four Indiana counties to share referendum dollars with local charter schools with any referendum approved after May 10, 2023. The law requires charter schools to clear certain bars for eligibility. Namely 1) that they not deliver more than 50% virtual instruction, which is meant to guard against virtual schools getting a cut of referendum dollars when they have no physical footprint in a community; and 2) that they serve students who “have legal settlement in certain school corporations” (which is a fancy way of saying the charter school must enroll students who physically live in the district that passes a referendum).

It did more than just allow for sharing referendum funds with charter schools, but that’s really the bit to hang on to for now. (If you really want to dig your teeth into some bran flakes, you can read the full text of SEA 391 here.)

Since the bill’s passage, only one district in a pertinent county (the School City of Hammond in Lake County in the northwest corner of the state) has gone out for a referendum with the potential for sharing dollars with charter schools. In that instance, sharing never happened because 70% of voters rejected it.

Will Charters Receive Any Pike Township Referendum Dollars?

The first hurdle is passing the referendum. There’s a chance Pike Township’s request follows the way of Hammond, meaning no dollars for anyone. But let’s assume for a moment that this referendum passes. What requirements do charter schools need to meet in order to get a share of the funding?

To be eligible to share referendum funds, they must:

1. Submit in writing to the pertinent school district an intent to share in the referendum funding at least 15 days prior to that district’s governing body voting to move the proposed referendum forward.
2. Post a referendum disclosure statement on the school’s website at least thirty (30) days before the public votes on the referendum.

As far as I can tell, if a referendum passes and a charter school meets both of those criteria, Pike Township must share. (Dollars would of course be proportional to the number of students a school enrolls who live in the specified district.) Seems hard to imagine those 15 schools Superintendent Young mentioned won’t meet the aforementioned criteria since it’s spelled out pretty clearly by the legislation. And, if they don’t meet them, they of course shouldn’t get to share.

(Notably, Superintendent Young is not, per Marcie Brown-Carter of the Indiana Charter School Network, the “arbiter of who is following the law.” So while he may not like that some funds will be shared, he doesn’t get to decide who met requirements or not.) 

Now, that’s not everything. SEA 391 goes a bit further. In exchange for referendum dollars, there are other requirements charter schools must uphold both during a referendum process and after they receive money from a referendum.

During:

• “A charter school that may receive money from a school operating referendum tax levy or a school safety referendum tax levy may not promote a position on a referendum, in the same manner as a school corporation is prohibited from promoting a position on a referendum.” (Language pulled directly from the bill.)
• At least 30 days in advance of the final vote by a district’s governing body to advance a referendum, charter schools participating in the request are required to post the following details on their website:
  • Salaries of all employees (by position – not individual names), listed from highest to lowest.
  • An acknowledgement that they are not committing any crime as described in IC 35-44.1-1.
  • A link to their most recent state audit.
  • Current enrollment disaggregated by student group and race.
  • High school graduation rate (if applicable).
  • Annual teacher retention rate for the previous five years.

After:

• Charter schools that receive funds are required to hold a public hearing on their proposed annual budget before it goes to the state for approval.
• Charter schools that receive funds are required to post the following information to their website:
  • The specific purposes that referendum dollars will be used for.
  • A breakdown of the dollar amount put toward each purpose.

Will Pike Township’s Referendum Pass?

As I said earlier, if charter schools meet a set of relatively basic criteria, it seems clear some of this referendum will certainly be going to charter schools. The total amount could be just about $400,000 out of the total referendum amount of around $14.5 million.

(Let it be known I support sharing referendum dollars with charter schools though I think the particulars of SEA 391 could be better. For instance, I’d much rather charter schools physically operate within the district in question as a requirement rather than just serve at least one student who lives in the district in question.)

In the words of Superintendent Young, Pike Township “vehemently” opposes charter schools. Does knowledge that at least some portion of this referendum will be shared torpedo its chances of passing? That’s unclear, even unlikely perhaps. But there’s certainly new calculus in voter’s heads as they head to the polls in Pike Township.