Phase 1: Education

How big is your school corporation? The most basic measure is the count of the number of students enrolled in the corporation.  Many of Indiana's 293 school corporations are very small; some are quite large.  Almost one-fifth (54) have less than 1000 students; more than half (157) have less than 2000.  But 43 corporations have more than 6,000.  The average size is 3,374.  This figure is pulled upward by the few very large corporations--212 of 293 corporations are smaller than average.  The median school corporation has 1,848 students.  Half of the corporations have more than this, and half have less.

Special education students may require smaller class sizes, added staff or special facilities.  The median school corporation has 370 special education students, which is about 20% of total enrollment.  In 47 school corporations special education students are 25% or more of total enrollment.  In 33, special education students make up less than 16% of total enrollment.

Another measure of size is the number of teachers employed by the school corporation.  Teachers make up the largest part of school corporation employment, and teacher pay is the largest part of school corporation budgets.  The median school corporation employs 110 teachers.  Once again, there is quite a range among corporations.  62 corporations employ more than 250 teachers; however, 48 employ fewer than 60 teachers.

A third way to measure school corporation size is the number of school buildings in operation.  Buildings may be larger or smaller, of course, but the count of the number of buildings is the only information on "physical plant" available for all corporations.  The median corporation has 4 buildings. 56 corporations have only one or two, and 63 have 8 or more.

Some school corporations add pupils, others lose them.  The number of added pupils might influence teacher hiring and the construction of new buildings.  Add a few dozen new pupils, and new teachers may be needed.  Add a few hundred new pupils, and a new building might be required.  Subtract pupils, and fewer teachers might be hired.  School buildings might even be closed.

Enrollment change measured by the number of pupils added or subtracted is an important measure of growth or decline.  Over the past five years, 2002-2007, the median corporation's enrollment was almost unchanged.  45 corporations grew by 300 or more students, while 21 corporations shrank by at least 150 students.

In bigger corporations, even a few hundred new pupils might be spread among existing classroom, while the same number would require new hiring and new construction in a smaller corporation.  The percentage increase or decrease in enrollment shows growth or decline relative to the size of the corporations.  The median percent change in enrollment was near zero.  Enrollment in 41 corporations grew by 10% or more, yet, 13 corporations shrank by 10% or more.

Are the five year changes in enrollment just a temporary "blip", or are they part of a longer trend?  Over the ten year period, 1997-2007, the median corporation lost 28 students.  55 grew by 300 pupils or more.  54 corporations shrank by 150 or more.  In percentage terms, the median corporation's enrollment shrank by 1.8%.  59 corporations grew by 10% or more, while 52 shrank by 10% more.

School corporation budgets are supported largely from two sources: property taxes and state aid.  Property taxes are levied on the assessed value of taxable property within a corporation's boundaries.  Since the purpose of that revenue is to pay for education of students, the assessed value of property per pupil is a good measure of the property tax resources available compared to the resources a corporation needs.  Property wealth per pupil varies greatly among Indiana school corporations.  The median is $260,000 per pupil, but 85 corporations have $300,000 or more and 60 have $200,000 or less.

The shares of different property types in taxable property show what kind of wealth a school corporation has.  Homesteads are owner-occupied primary residences.  In the median school corporation, 43% of taxable property is homestead.  Other residential property is mostly rental housing though it also includes vacation homes.  In the median school corporation, 15% of the taxable property is other residential.  Business property includes the land, buildings and equipment of commercial, industrial, utility and agricultural businesses.  In the median school corporation, 39% of taxable property is in the business category.

The other major source of school funding is state aid.  State payments to local school corporations are the largest item in the state's budget.  The median corporation receives $3,855 per pupil in state support.  the amount of support varies, mostly because state aid is designed to offset differences in property wealth.  22 corporations receive $5,000 or more per pupil from the state.  35 corporations receive $3,000 or less per pupil.

The property tax rate is the percentage of property's assessed value that its owner must pay to the school corporation each year (before tax credits).  The median total tax rate is $1.55 per $100 assessed value, which is the same as 1.55%.  There is less variation in these rates among school corporations than one might expect, considering the wide variation is assessed value per pupil.  This is mainly because state aid helps to offset differences in property wealth.  78 corporations have total tax rates above $1.70 while 68 have total tax rates less than $1.40.

Much of the variation in total property tax rates occurs because of differences in the debt service property tax rate.  Debt service is the payments school corporation make to pay interest and repay principle of money borrowed to construct new buildings or add other facilities.  Debt service is not offset by state school aid.  Growing corporations often have higher debt service tax rates because they must build new facilities.  The median debt service tax rate is $0.33 per $100 assessed value, or 0.33%.  64 corporations have debt service tax rates above $0.50, and 48 have debt service tax rates less than $.20.

School corporations with more students, more teachers and more buildings naturally tend to spend more.  In this sense, total spending is another measure of size.  General fund appropriations are dominated by teacher pay and other operating costs.  It's a better measure of what is spent day-to-day in the classroom.  Total appropriations include spending on transportation, large capital projects and repayment of borrowing for facility construction.  The median school corporation spent $11.0 million on the general fund.  55 corporations spent more than $30 million, while 64 spent less than $7 million.  The median total appropriations was $16.8 million, with 50 corporations spending more than $50 million and 64 spending less than $10 million.

Spending per student allows comparisons of school corporations regardless of size.  The median corporation spent $6,296 per pupil on general fund functions such as teacher pay and daily operating costs.  The range of spending among corporations is not as great as one might expect considering the differences in property wealth.  This is because state aid offsets differences in property wealth.  59 corporations spent more than $7,000 per student, while 10 corporations spent less than $5,500 per student.  The median corporation spent $9,040 per pupil in total, a figure that includes transportation, capital projects and debt service.  52 corporations spent $10,000 or more, and 19 spent less than $8,000.

The "tax price" can be measured as the added taxes that a property owner must pay when the school corporation increases its spending. For example, suppose the school corporation borrows $10 million to build a new school building.  It borrows by issuing a bond at an interest rate of 4.5% for 20 years. To pay the interest and repay the principle over 20 years, the corporation would have to pay about $769,000 per year in debt service. Debt service is usually paid with property taxes. The amount to be paid each year is divided by the school corporation's assessed value to set the debt service tax rate. This tax rate is measured in dollars per $100 assessed value. If the added tax rate is $0.20 per $100 assessed value, and a homeowner has $50,000 in taxable assessed value, he or she would pay an added $100 in property taxes each year. Payment on different amounts are fractions or multiples of this payment.  If only one million dollars had been borrowed, the added tax payments would be $10.00.

The map shows the added tax rate required to pay the debt service on a $10 million bond at 4.5% for 20 years. School corporations with more assessed value have smaller tax prices; those with less assessed value have bigger tax prices. The median tax price is $0.15 per $100 assessed value. Sixty-one corporations have tax prices about $0.30 per $100 assessed value; fifty have tax prices less than $0.05 per $100 assessed value.

Are a school corporation's buildings straining to hold the corporations enrollment, or are there empty classrooms waiting for students?  Whether or not growing enrollment will require new construction depends in part on how close to capacity existing facilities are.  Unfortunately, no statewide data are available on the capacity of school buildings.  Instead, we can measure the average enrollment per building.  A high enrollment per building may indicate crowding, or it may mean that the school corporation has building with large capacity.  The median school corporation has 465 students per building.  42 corporations average 650 students per building or more; 50 averages 350 or less.

Special education students may require smaller class sizes or added facilities.  The average number of special education students per building is another measure which could indicate crowding.  The median school corporation has 94 special education students per building.  47 corporations have 125 or more, while 51 have less than 70.
 

Another measure of possible crowding is "class size," measured by the ratio of enrollment to the number of teachers employed.  The median pupil-teacher ratio is 16.9.  In 36 school corporations, the ratio is 19 or more.  In 29 corporations, the ratio is 14.5 or less.  Not all employees who are classified as teachers are in the classroom, so average class sizes are usually higher than the ratio implies.