Nettle Creek board warned state tax changes, enrollment loss will force large cuts

The Nettle Creek School Corporation’s leadership told the board on Tuesday that changes to state tax law and falling enrollment will force tough budget choices over the next several years.

The superintendent told trustees the district will “lose a $101,000 of property tax revenue” in budget year 2026 because of a new homestead property-tax credit in Senate Enrolled Act 1 and that removal of a local income-tax source will reduce operations revenue by about $80,000 more — “so we’re talking about a $181,000” reduction to the operations fund. She added the district must “cut roughly $600,000 out of our education budget this year to not be spending down our cash balance in our education fund.” (Superintendent, SEG 339–344; SEG 413–416.)

The superintendent told the board the operations fund pays for building maintenance, technology, furniture and transportation, and warned that those are largely fixed costs that are hard to reduce. “It forces us to make cuts in positions, people, salaries and benefits to absorb the impact,” she said. (Superintendent, SEG 376–381.)

Board members said the $181,000 figure stood out. One trustee described saving $25 on a personal property-tax bill after the legislative change and urged clearer communication to families about how the law is affecting school revenue and services. Another board member raised the lack of affordable housing and population out-migration as underlying causes of enrollment decline. (Board member comments, SEG 498–556.)

District officials traced the enrollment drop back to demographic changes identified in a 2014 study and noted new options for families — virtual schools, charters and open enrollment — that have intensified enrollment pressures. The superintendent said Nettle Creek has lost about 100 students since 2020–21, which she described as a roughly $742,000 year-over-year loss in state basic grant revenue over time; that contributed to the estimate of required education-fund reductions. (Superintendent, SEG 426–436; SEG 390–396.)

Trustees said they will continue conversations about where to find savings and asked administrators to keep the public informed as they plan potential reductions. No formal staffing actions were taken at the meeting; personnel changes discussed later in the agenda were approved separately with motions and unanimous votes. (Personnel approvals, SEG 1316–1330.)

What’s next: board members directed staff to review handbooks and job descriptions in the coming weeks and brought the district’s budget pressures to the community for further discussion before formal budget adoption.