Tri‑Creek holds public hearing on 2026 budget; district projects $1.9M tax revenue loss from new state law

Tri‑Creek School Corporation opened a public hearing Wednesday on its proposed 2026 calendar-year budget, the five‑year bus replacement plan and a three‑year capital projects plan. Dana, a staff member who presented the budget, told the board the district expects a substantial circuit‑breaker tax credit impact tied to recent state changes and outlined steps the district plans to take to balance operations and education funds.

The hearing drew a detailed explanation of how school finance works in Indiana and projections showing the new Senate Enrolled Act 1 deductions will reduce Tri‑Creek’s net assessed value. "A budget's a plan of expenditures and revenues that, you know, at any given time, it would support our educational...programs that we want," Dana said during her presentation.

The presenter said the district's net assessed value (NAV) is 2,029,299,813 on the district’s current books and that, under modeling the district commissioned, circuit‑breaker tax credits could rise to about $1.9 million in 2026. That reduction would shrink the revenue the district can raise through its operations fund and increase the portion of the district budget the board must cover by transfer from the education fund.

Why it matters: Tri‑Creek’s operations fund is property‑tax driven and limited by state rules to a 4% annual increase in revenue; many cost drivers—utilities, bus purchases and insurance—are rising faster than that cap. Dana said a combination of higher fixed costs and the state’s changes to homestead and business…