Indiana's property tax reform delivers relief while preserving local growth
The angst I heard talking to members of our community came, of course, with an acknowledgement that rising taxes were a result of increased home values, but a lack of transparency around home assessments and some frustration with a seemingly endless chain of school referenda made it clear that many Hoosiers were demanding relief.
Heading into the 2025 legislative session, it surprised no one that this issue was front and center for lawmakers. After months of negotiations and input from residents, the Indiana General Assembly delivered one of the most significant changes to local taxation we have seen in nearly two decades.
No one got exactly what they wanted — it would take you three minutes on social media to know that — but the result is a bill that provides immediate relief to nearly every Hoosier and, when fully implemented, allows homeowners to deduct two-thirds of their assessed value to lower their property tax bill while reining in $54 billion in local government debt.
We transformed some tax deductions into tax credits, a change that will result in lower actual tax bills for thousands of taxpayers; moved school referendums to even-year general election ballots to ensure better participation; and lowered the amount of local income taxes governments can collect by $1.9 billion.
In short, while changes to tax policy can be complicated, Senate Enrolled Act 1 not only gives Hoosier homeowners tax relief today, but also moves Indiana to a fairer, simpler and more balanced local tax system in the near future.
One of my goals as a state legislator is to ensure the voices of growing communities are represented in these debates. It was important that we find a balance between needed relief and the resources upon which communities like mine have come to rely, resources that represent critical investments in quality of life, amenities, infrastructure and key services.
Carmel and Westfield, the cities I represent at the Statehouse, have enjoyed forward-thinking, fiscally responsible leadership for years. The results are demonstrative.
Carmel, for example, was ranked No. 2 on the list of the Best Places to Live in 2025 by Livability & U.S. News, and both communities are consistently ranked among the best in the country. Indiana, moreover, is now ranked 7th nationally for net in-migration, with the high-earning, talented individuals Indiana needs flocking to cities in Hamilton County. That's not an accident. The strategies that Carmel and Westfield have implemented should be celebrated and enhanced by the policies coming from the Statehouse.
That balance was not easy to strike and local governments and schools will, no doubt, be faced with difficult decisions in the future. But SEA 1 represents much-needed reform to a convoluted property tax system that disincentivizes these hard decisions today at taxpayers' expense.
Even with these changes, schools in my district will receive more money from property taxes over the next three years, and the new state budget increases tuition support for students.
I am proud of the work we did this session on this issue, and I am equally grateful for the perspectives, insights, and counsel shared by our incredible local leaders who helped legislators avoid harmful unintended consequences.
As with any bill this complex, property tax reform will remain a topic of discussion in the General Assembly, and we will be making tweaks to the law moving forward. But SEA 1 is a strong step forward to helping homeowners while improving accountability in local government spending.
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Indianapolis Star
5 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
New Indiana IREAD law sparks parent concern as student retention set to rise
Parents are stressed, and kids are coming home crying. These are the emotions more families say they're experiencing this summer because of a new law that will likely mean more third graders are kept from progressing to the fourth grade. The law that is affecting this year's rising fourth graders will hold back students who do not pass the state's standardized early literacy test, or IREAD, by the end of the third grade and don't meet one of the mandated exemptions. Some parents were left confused this summer as their second- or third-graders were told they have to go to summer school to improve their reading due to the new law; others think holding them back will do more harm than good. One parent who spoke to IndyStar said that their rising third grader is dealing with stress and anxiety over passing the test, especially while trying to get the proper help for their severe dyslexia. 'I don't know how, for an 8 or 9-year-old, that you tell them they're not good at reading and then make them do the year all over when it's already been a struggle for them, and then what, just tell them to try harder at school?' one parent told IndyStar. 'It's just putting kids in a bad education situation for the rest of their lives,' said the parent, who asked not to be named to protect their child's privacy. However, lawmakers like Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, who supported the bill, say this is a necessary step to help young readers continue to grow in school. 'We must recognize we do kids a much bigger disservice when our schools advance students who are not ready to move on in their studies,' Bray told IndyStar. 'Kids learn to read and then read to learn, so ensuring our Hoosier students are prepared for their next level of education is absolutely critical.' Educational experts often cite third grade as a pivotal point in a student's life, where, if foundational reading skills aren't mastered, it could lead them to be academically behind for the rest of their lives. Final scores for this year's IREAD results won't be released until August, but schools are already anticipating the need to adjust staffing and classroom sizes as more students are held back. Indiana schools have historically had the authority to hold students back if they don't feel that they're ready to advance, but the state has been increasingly promoting students over the past decade, according to state data. According to the Indiana Department of Education's third-grade literacy data, in 2012, the state promoted just 4.7% of its third graders who didn't pass IREAD, but in 2023, that had grown to 17% being promoted. This trend also follows national data, where from 2000-2016, retention rates have been dropping. Wayne Township schools for the 2023-24 school year saw about 65% of its third graders pass IREAD, the third-worst proficiency rate among Marion County's 11 school districts. However, in the 2022-23 school year, they allowed 29% of third graders who didn't pass IREAD to continue to the fourth grade. Under the law passed last year, if a student meets one of these exemptions, they can move on to fourth grade: Some English language learning students will also get an exemption from being retained, at least for the next two school years. This year, House Bill 1499 was passed, which allows schools whose third-grade population is comprised of at least 50% English language learners can register those students as exempt from retention if they are unable to pass IREAD. However, this exemption will only last until the start of the 2027-28 school year. This could impact an estimated 550 third-grade English language learners across 25 public schools in Indiana, according to the bill's fiscal note. For this upcoming school year, Wayne Township anticipates needing additional third-grade class sections at two of its 11 elementary schools. 'All students who don't pass IREAD this summer will participate in targeted instruction and intervention next year,' said Jeannine Templeman, Wayne Township's chief communications officer. Indianapolis Public Schools saw the lowest IREAD proficiency rates among Marion County's districts in 2024 at 59%. However, IPS Communications Director Alpha Garrett told IndyStar that they are not concerned about overcrowding in its third grade classrooms for the upcoming school year. Garrett said they are concerned about how IREAD has become more 'high-stakes' in nature and what kind of impact it will have on students' and staff's experiences. One IPS parent whose son did not pass IREAD in second grade told IndyStar she felt misled because of the school's emphasis on getting students to pass it before being held back is required. 'They made it seem like it was mandatory that they pass in the second grade, when really they're testing them on things that aren't even in his grade level yet,' the IPS parent said, who is not being named over concerns that their child would be bullied. 'They made it seem so scary, and didn't explain it well enough that it would be OK if he didn't pass this year.' The IPS parent's son has been getting extra help in summer school this year, but continues to feel anxious about what this test will mean for him heading into third grade. Garrett said that students who are retained in third grade will be placed with a teacher state evaluations show is a "highly effective" educator. Mandatory summer school for third graders who don't pass IREAD was also included in the legislation that requires retention, along with two other chances to pass the test before fourth grade. However, for the next two years, the state will be working with less money for summer school as the budget for 2025-27 allocated around $17.4 million for both years, which is around a $918,000 annual decrease from the 2023-25 budget. In total, Hoosier students now have five chances to pass the test throughout the second and third grades. If students pass IREAD in the second grade, they do not have to retake it. The Indiana Department of Education said schools will be given priority reimbursement for summer school based on how many second- and third-grade students they're serving. Republican leadership in the House and Senate also point to the $170 million from the Lilly Endowment given to the state in 2022 to specifically help with early literacy, as well as a new $100 million allocated to the state department under the 'Freedom and Opportunity in Education Fund' for the 2025-27 budget. Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said during the session that some of the $100 million could go toward summer learning. But there is competition for that money, since Jenner also plans to use it for expanding ILEARN checkpoint testing, teacher recruitment efforts, student data tracking efforts and literacy training for teachers, among other things. The Indy Summer Learning Labs is another tool more schools across the state are using for summer learning, with now over 140 sites across the state serving over 12,000 students. The learning labs support five weeks of free or low-cost summer school during June and July for rising students in first through ninth grades. The labs dedicate the morning hours of the day to learning math and English language arts, and the afternoon is open for extracurricular activities. Liberty Grove Schools at Elder Diggs School 42, an IPS innovation charter school, is one of those learning lab sites this year. The labs are supported by funding from the state's Learning Recovery Grants and are run by the Mind Trust. The Indianapolis-based education organization is typically known for its work around curating charter schools, but it also provides the curriculum and other financial support for lab sites. Liberty Grove founder, Morrise Harbour, wishes they could invite all 250 of their K-6 students to summer school, but they could only afford to offer it to 75. 'We have to offer as many opportunities to our students as possible," Harbour told IndyStar. "Now, they don't have to be mandated to come, but what we're saying is 'if we can afford for you to come, then come.'' Harbour said additional staffing to support retained students may be needed, but they won't know until IREAD results are finalized. This summer, they had 17 third graders retaking IREAD and therefore had to attend the mandatory summer schooling, but 19 other third graders chose to join them at the summer learning lab. Since Liberty Grove Schools opened on the west side in the 2022-23 school year, they've been able to raise their IREAD scores from 29.3% proficient in 2023 to 41% in 2024. The school says they've been using the "science of reading" practices in the curriculum since the start, so adjusting to the retention law has been easier for them than maybe other schools. Every school in the state was required to adopt an early literacy curriculum that supports the science of reading from the state-approved list for the 2024-25 school year. The science of reading is a body of research that focuses on how brains learn to read, with a heavy emphasis on phonics and phonemic awareness, along with teaching fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Harbour thinks that, along with more money, more time to get districts adjusted to the law would help schools like his that serve predominantly low-income students. For the 2024-25 school year, all of Liberty Grove's students qualified for free and reduced lunch. 'Any change of this magnitude where it almost seems like it's all or nothing, in a lot of ways, it takes time,' Harbour said. 'So, obviously, just some time for schools to adjust.' While the state will see more third graders being held back starting this year, Indiana overall has seen growth in its reading proficiency rates in recent years. Overall, statewide IREAD proficiency rates have been steadily increasing since scores dropped in 2021, which is a different story than the 10 years prior, which saw scores steadily declining since the test was first administered in 2013. Last year's scores showed that 82.5% of third graders were reading at grade level, which is still far off from pre-COVID levels of 87.3%. Indiana's fourth-grade reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the "nation's report card," also showed good results, with Indiana's average score improving for the first time since 2015. Indiana ranks sixth in the nation in fourth-grade reading proficiency. Some Indianapolis parents are even taking the chance to become trained in the kind of curriculum that educators are using to teach reading to young students. Elisah Smith is a parent to a rising fourth grader in Warren Township and also participated in the RISE Indy Freedom Readers program, which trains parents for 16 weeks on the science of reading practices. Smith's daughter was able to pass IREAD, in part she says, because the teachers at her Warren Township elementary school were transparent about the specifics around the test. "I think the more transparent you are with parents, the less stress it is for the kiddos, and letting the kiddos know that this is their opportunity to take it, but there will also be other opportunities, too, if you don't pass it," Smith told IndyStar. Smith plans to volunteer in Warren Township to help other young readers once the school year begins. Advice that she would give other parents who have a child struggling to read is to seek help. "Don't be afraid, and don't keep that a secret," Smith said. "There are literacy programs out there and we are not here to judge the parent. We are here to make sure that the student is successful."
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
More young people going into farming, but it's still few of them
At the Porter County Fair on Thursday, Ron Birky, of Morgan Township, said he retired as a farmer after 46 years. 'I was raised on a farm,' he said, but that's not a guarantee he would become a farmer. 'I was one of five kids, and I was the only one to go into farming,' he said. 'I always enjoyed it. That was really the only thing I wanted to do after high school,' Birky said. But becoming a farmer isn't easy. The average age of a Hoosier farmer is 56. Out of 94,282 producers in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2022 Census of Agriculture, only 1,962 were under age 25. Compared to the previous survey, conducted in 2017, there were more younger farmers going into the business, noted Todd Davis, chief economist at the Indiana Farm Bureau. 'I can say part of that is that coming out of the experience of 2020, there might be more people wanting to look at having a change,' he said. The COVID-19 pandemic has created long-lasting changes in society. 'I guess you can read into it younger people are seeing opportunities,' Davis said. 'My guess would be a lot of them would be what I call the specialty farmers, smaller scale, maybe taking advantage of farmers markets, selling to local people,' Davis said. That could include operating an on-farm store and more aggressively marketing products to local customers. 'It's a little more niche,' he said. Cody Boone, 17, a member of the Pleasant Pioneers 4-H club, raises cattle. 'I want to do something with farming. I'm not exactly sure what part,' he said. Boone is being raised on a farm, 'a lot of work all the time, especially during birthing season.' 'The farm is more my grandpa's,' he said. Cody's uncle has a farm in LaCrosse, so working for his uncle has possibilities, too. 'I definitely want to do something with them,' he said. Cody's father, Corey Boone, 42, married into farming. His father-in-law had a dairy farm, then raised feeder calves, then goats. 'I kind of got into helping him do all that,' Boone said, although his full-time job is as a collision repair technician, working on auto bodies. With a small hobby farm like his, 'you probably put in more than you get out,' Boone said. Along the way, he has learned a lot about farming. 'One of the first lambs we had, it got out and we chased it for over an hour. We chased that lamb for miles,' he said. Raising goats has been an adventure, too. 'They will climb on everything. They will eat everything,' including flowers in the garden, Boone said. Part of specialty crop production, Davis said, is being an entrepreneur and gauging what the market is. 'Some of those operations also get into a little agritourism,' like an apple orchard, Davis said, with a focus on fall tourism. 'Frankly, I think it was kind of a donut stand. That was the most popular part of the farm experience.' For the traditional corn-and-soybeans farmer, getting into the business has some barriers for a young person. Land is the first need. That means buying or leasing, renegotiating the terms of the lease every few years. 'If you want to grow your business, you have to keep expanding your land base,' Davis said. 'Commodity agriculture is known for having margins that are constantly shrinking,' he said. 'There's always a push for greater efficiency, cost management, using every input in the most efficient way possible.' Trying to support a family? You'd want off-farm income not only for the cash but also for the benefits, especially if you're raising children. Machinery is another big expense. Farmers can find used equipment or lease it, but that will require getting loans. 'Younger farmers may not have much of a credit history, and they may not have a lot of equity to help secure loans,' Davis said. That's where their parents or grandparents come in. They need a previous generation to help them get started. And, of course, they need to know how to farm. 'That's a prerequisite for every career, isn't it?' Where younger farmers might have an advantage over their counterparts nearing the end of their careers, Davis said, is that younger farmers tend to be more interested in pursuing technology and newer, innovative production practices. They're probably more comfortable with electronics, computerization and so forth. Farm Bureau provides scholarships for ag majors, primarily, to help them get started. 'There are college Farm Bureau chapters at Purdue, Huntington and Vincennes,' getting young farmers into Farm Bureau and the networking side of industry. 'They'll make more than just friends,' Davis said. They'll bounce ideas off each other, too. 'That's something that Farm Bureau helps foster in its younger farmers program.' Agriculture gets a lot of attention this time of year, what with county and state fairs allowing youngsters to show off the fruits of their labor. 'The county fair experience is really good for the younger generation,' Davis said, along with Future Farmers of America. 4-H, and living on a farm, helped Annie Martin's kids understand where meat really comes from – not just a grocery store but all the steps along the way, from farm to slaughterhouse, before reaching the grocery. Being in 4-H, 'it's responsibility all the way around. It's time with your family. It's time management,' she said. Martin also married into the farming business when she said, 'I do,' alongside husband Blake Martin. Their kids understand the rigors of farming. 'They have to be accountable at a really young age,' she said. Her son is planning to become a farmer. 'He's been able to drive a loader since he was 6,' Martin said. 'He has a work ethic that's pretty incredible.' He's heading to the state fair after winning the tractor driving competition at the county fair, the proud mom said. 'Farmers never really retire. He slowly learns to operate something new every year,' she said. Her daughter Brooklyn Martin, 11, a Morgan Sodbuster, said she wants to be a zoologist, not a farmer. 'I just like animals a lot, so I thought that would be fun.' Soon after Ron Birky graduated from high school, a distant cousin retired and leased his 165 acres to Birky. 'At one time, we had some hogs,' he said, but corn and soybeans were Birky's two staples. Birky was in 4-H for all 10 years. He's seen his kids go through 4-H, and now his grandchildren are going through it. The oldest grandchild, now entering fifth grade, thinks he wants to be a farmer. 'We still own 600 acres,' Birky said, but the machinery was all sold at auction two years ago. If that grandchild goes through with his current career choice, it won't be easy. 'Boy, it's tough,' Birky said, for a young person to become a farmer. 'There's 600 acres that we own, and that's half the battle.' But it's a fierce battle. 'If you're not raised in a farming family, it's virtually impossible' to go into farming, Birky said. 'The capital investment is unbelievable,' he said, with combines and other machinery exceeding $1 million to buy new. Then there's the risk involved. This year hasn't had much rain. 'I don't need to go to Vegas,' Birky said, because farming is its own gamble. Birky retired at 67, his dad at 80 or so. 'He basically didn't retire, I just took over everything,' Birky said. Young 4-H'ers are considering their options. Norah Grimmer, 13, of Valparaiso, tended Maverick, her grand champion steer, at the fair on Thursday. She's planning to study animal science at the University of Notre Dame to become a veterinarian. Elizabeth White, 16, a member of the Center Wildcats, plans to attend Valparaiso University. 'I'm trying to decide between mechanical and electrical engineering,' she said. After that comes law school. 'We have a small hobby farm,' White said, raising poultry and rabbits along with a few sheep not exhibited at the fair. '4-H has really, really raised my confidence,' she said. 'I know a lot of veterinarians, and they have to deal with a lot of attitudes.' Alexis Leek, 18, of Morgan Township, is a member of the Hustling Hoosiers club. 'I was thinking about working with horses,' she said, in the criminal justice field. That involves riding horses in parades and other events, not putting the handcuffs on felonious equines. 4-H 'definitely helped me with people skills and talking with people I don't know,' she said. Heather Cox, of Morgan Township, aged out of 4-H but was master showman last year, she said while visiting the horses – and people – in the horse barn. She's at Purdue University, where she's thinking of studying animal behavior. Like Leek, Cox said 4-H has polished her people skills. Now she's passing the torch to others. Shiloh Otey, 15, a member of the Hustling Hoosiers, is exhibiting horses, rabbits and poultry, and helping her sister with goats. 'I want to be a veterinarian,' she said. 'I like working with bigger animals.' Leek and Cox said although their career paths don't include farming, they wouldn't rule out raising animals on a small farm when they're older.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Washington Post
Statehouses are the public's houses, but the fight for potty parity continues
For female state lawmakers in Kentucky, choosing when to go to the bathroom has long required careful calculation. There are only two bathroom stalls for women on the third floor of the Kentucky Statehouse, where the House and Senate chambers are located. Female legislators — 41 of the 138 member Legislature — needing a reprieve during a lengthy floor session have to weigh the risk of missing an important debate or a critical vote.
