Why Southeast Dubois has a referendum on the ballot

By Kathy Tretter
Editor • ferdnews@psci.net

Understanding school corporation financing (or basically any government financing) is a little like understanding how nuclear fusion works — for someone who never took chemistry nor physics.

In a word — confusing.

Whereas a typical household may have a couple of pools of money to draw from and can decide accordingly, schools, cities, towns and counties have funds that are allocated for a certain purpose.

For school corporations there are several separate funds: Operations, Education, Debt Service, Rainy Day and, in the case of the Southeast Dubois County School Corporation and others in the state, a Referendum fund.

Money cannot be taken from one fund to pay for something in another and public schools must follow specific state laws that determine how money is received and how it can be spent.

As readers may recall, in 2020 Southeast voters supported the aforementioned Referendum fund to help the corporation’s bottom line with a slight tax increase of 19 cents per $100 dollars assessed valuation.

The funds raised through Southeast’s referendum are only used to enhance learning opportunities.

Why is the additional funding necessary?

Primarily because that whole thing about schools getting a set amount per student is highly misleading — it isn’t a flat amount at all. Several things are factored in, like the number of students with IEPs, number of students who receive free or reduced lunch and number of students for whom English is not their first language.

This funding formula provides below average funding to Southeast ( which comes in 19th from the bottom). That means 355 school districts get more money per student than our local corporation.

For comparison the top school in regards to funding, KIPP Elementary, a public charter school, receives $9,259.80 per student. Southeast, on the other hand, receives $6,870.26 per student — a difference of $2,389.54 for each and every child.

Typically around five school corporations seek a referendum during an election year. However, due to proposed property tax changes, a record number of school corporations are pursuing referendums this election cycle, 38 to be exact, many looking for far more than 19¢ per $100 of assessed valuation.

Southeast’s 2020 referendum was set to last until 2028; but since a referendum can only be held during an election cycle, if it didn’t pass in 2028 the corporation would go without essential funds for the next two years.

What would that mean?

Cuts in things like class sizes, possibly letting some teachers and counselors go, maybe even getting rid of the resource officer who helps keep the schools safe.

This does not affect construction projects at Forest Park or other corporation schools because that funding comes from an entirely different pool, namely the Debt Service Fund.

Voting yes will not increase or change the amount you pay, just allow the needed funding to continue. And if the proposed tax cuts follow what has been reported, your property taxes will decrease.

In May, Southeast School Superintendent Dr. Jamie Pund and the board began working with Dubois County Auditor Sandy Morton and the DLGF (Department of Local Government Finance) to draft the resolution that will be placed on the ballot in November.

The resolution requires a yes or no answer, but the state legislature has changed the way the question must be worded. The language must now indicate if you vote no to the resolution your taxes will go down.

It is not required to say your schools will suffer, which translates to your children will suffer.

This is the exact wording as it will appear on the ballot in November to meet legislative requirements:

“Shall Southeast Dubois County School Corporation continue to increase property taxes paid to the school corporation for no more than eight (8) years for the purpose of funding and maintaining academic and educationally-related programs and opportunities to meet the learning needs of all students, student health and safety initiatives, maintaining class sizes and recruiting and retaining teachers and staff in response to reductions in property tax revenue by imposing a property tax rate that does not exceed $0.19 and results in a maximum annual amount that does not exceed $1,242,788. If this operating referendum public question is NOT approved by the voters, for a median residence of $200,000, the property’s annual tax bill would decrease by $164 per year. If this operating referendum public question is approved by the voters, it would be a renewal of the most recent operating referendum public question passed in 2020 with a property tax rate of $0.19.”

The verbiage is rather misleading: “… continue to increase property taxes paid to the school corporation …” as that increase already took place several years ago and the amount WOULD NOT CHANGE.

Again, not a tax increase but just maintaining the status quo.

Superintendent Pund noted that for more information or to better understand the situation, Southeast Dubois constituents can visit the corporation’s website, or if preferred reach out to her or one of the Southeast school board members: Matt Eckert, Kent Uebelhor, Elaine Miller, Nate Schuler or Matt Luebbehusen.

A Little Information About Vouchers

According to Steve Hinnefeld with the Indiana Citizen: Spending on Indiana’s private school voucher program topped a half billion dollars in 2025-26, according to a report released this week by the Indiana Department of Education.

A record 80,548 students participated in the program, in which the state helps pay tuition for students who attend private schools. Some 385 schools accepted vouchers, also a record. Most voucher schools in Indiana are religious schools.

The 143-page Choice Scholarship Annual Report provides detailed information about students and schools who participate in the program, including how much money private schools receive. Private school tuition vouchers are referred to as “choice scholarships” in state law.

The cost of vouchers awarded in 2025-26 totaled $548 million, the report says.

Indiana created the voucher program in 2011, initially providing strict limits on participation and promoting it as a way for students from low-income families to escape “failing” urban schools. It expanded over time as Republican legislators adopted a philosophy that state education dollars should “follow the child” to the schools that parents choose.

In 2025-26, students qualified for vouchers if their families made less than 400% of the cutoff to receive reduced-price school meals. For a four-person household, that was $237,910. According to the report, more than half the families in the program made over $100,000 a year, which is well above Indiana’s median household income of about $72,000.

Starting with the current school year, all restrictions, including those on income, have been removed from the program. All students who attend private schools qualify for the “universal” voucher program.