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Indiana Code Title 20. Education § 20-46-1-8

Current as of January 02, 2024 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

Sec. 8. (a) Subject to subsections (b), (e), and (f) and this chapter, the governing body of a school corporation may adopt a resolution to place a referendum under this chapter on the ballot for any of the following purposes:

(1) The governing body of the school corporation determines that it cannot, in a calendar year, carry out its public educational duty unless it imposes a referendum tax levy under this chapter.

(2) The governing body of the school corporation determines that a referendum tax levy under this chapter should be imposed to replace property tax revenue that the school corporation will not receive because of the application of the credit under IC 6-1.1-20.6.

(b) A resolution for a referendum described in:

(1) section 21 of this chapter;  or

(2) section 22 of this chapter;

shall specify that a portion of the proceeds collected from the proposed levy will be distributed to applicable charter schools in the manner described under this chapter.

(c) The governing body of the school corporation shall certify a copy of the resolution to place a referendum on the ballot to the following:

(1) The department of local government finance, including:

(A) the language for the question required by section 10 of this chapter, or in the case of a resolution to extend a referendum levy certified to the department of local government finance after March 15, 2016, section 10.1 of this chapter;  and

(B) a copy of the revenue spending plan adopted under subsection (f).

The governing body of the school corporation shall also provide the county auditor's certification described in section 10(e) or 10.1(f) of this chapter, as applicable.  The department of local government finance shall post the values certified by the county auditor to the department's website.  The department shall review the language for compliance with section 10 or 10.1 of this chapter, whichever is applicable, and either approve or reject the language.  The department shall send its decision to the governing body of the school corporation not more than ten (10) days after the resolution is submitted to the department.  If the language is approved, the governing body of the school corporation shall certify a copy of the resolution, including the language for the question and the department's approval.

(2) The county fiscal body of each county in which the school corporation is located (for informational purposes only).

(3) The circuit court clerk of each county in which the school corporation is located.

(d) If a school safety referendum tax levy under IC 20-46-9 has been approved by the voters in a school corporation at any time in the previous three (3) years, the school corporation may not:

(1) adopt a resolution to place a referendum under this chapter on the ballot;  or

(2) otherwise place a referendum under this chapter on the ballot.

(e) This subsection applies to a resolution described in section 21 or 22 of this chapter.  Not later than sixty (60) days before the resolution is voted on by the governing body, the school corporation shall contact the department to determine the following:

(1) In the case of a resolution described in section 22 of this chapter, whether the school corporation is exempt from revenue sharing requirements under section 22(a)(2) of this chapter.  If the school corporation is determined to be exempt, the department shall notify the school corporation, and the school corporation is not required to contact charter schools concerning participation under subsection (h), shall exclude distributions to charter schools under section 22 of this chapter, and shall exclude charter schools from the projection described in this subsection.

(2) If the school corporation is not determined to be exempt from revenue sharing requirements under subdivision (1), the number of students in kindergarten through grade 12 who:

(A) have legal settlement in the school corporation but attend a charter school, excluding virtual charter schools or adult high schools;  and

(B) receive not more than fifty percent (50%) virtual instruction.

Not later than ten (10) days after receiving the request, the department shall provide the school corporation with the requested information, which shall be disaggregated for each particular charter school.  Subject to subsection (h), the resolution shall include a projection of the amount that the school corporation expects, based on the information provided by the department under this subsection, to be distributed to a particular charter school under section 21 or 22 of this chapter.

(f) As part of the resolution described in subsection (a), the governing body of the school corporation shall adopt a revenue spending plan for the proposed referendum tax levy that includes:

(1) an estimate of the amount of annual revenue expected to be collected if a levy is imposed under this chapter;

(2) the specific purposes for which the revenue collected from a levy imposed under this chapter will be used;

(3) an estimate of the annual dollar amounts that will be expended for each purpose described in subdivision (2);  and

(4) for a resolution for a referendum that is described in section 21 or 22 of this chapter, the projected revenue that shall be distributed to charter schools.  The revenue spending plan shall also take into consideration deviations in the proposed revenue spending plan if the actual charter school distributions exceed or are lower than the projected charter school distributions described in subsection (e).  The resolution shall include for each charter school that elects to participate under subsection (h) information described in subdivisions (1) through (3).

(g) A school corporation shall specify in its proposed budget the school corporation's revenue spending plan adopted under subsection (f) and annually present the revenue spending plan at its public hearing on the proposed budget under IC 6-1.1-17-3.

(h) This subsection applies to a resolution described in section 21 or 22 of this chapter.  Except as provided in subsection (e), not later than forty-five (45) days before the resolution is voted on by the governing body, the school corporation shall contact each charter school disclosed by the department to the school corporation under subsection (e) to determine whether the charter school will:

(1) in the case of a resolution described in section 21 of this chapter, elect to participate;  or

(2) in the case of a resolution described in section 22 of this chapter, elect to not participate;

in the referendum.  The notice must include the total amount of the school corporation's expected need, the corresponding estimate for that amount divided by the number of students enrolled in the school corporation, and the date on which the governing body of the school corporation will vote on the resolution.  Not later than thirty (30) days prior to the date that the resolution is to be voted on by the governing body, the charter school must respond in writing to the school corporation and to the department, which may be by electronic mail, and, in the case of the school corporation, addressed to the superintendent of the school corporation.  A charter school that elects to not participate in the referendum may not subsequently change that election during the term of the referendum.

(i) If a charter school will not participate in the referendum, the school corporation shall exclude distributions to the charter school under this chapter and from the projection described in subsection (e).  If a charter school will participate in the referendum, the charter school:

(1) must be included in the projection described in subsection (e);  and

(2) shall contribute a proportionate share of the cost to conduct the referendum based on the total combined ADM of the school corporation and any participating charter schools.

(j) This subsection applies to a resolution described in section 21 or 22 of this chapter.  At least thirty (30) days before the referendum submitted to the voters under this chapter is voted on by the public in a general election, the school corporation that is pursuing the referendum and any charter school that will participate under subsection (h) shall post a referendum disclosure statement on each school's respective website that contains the following information:

(1) The salaries by position within the school corporation or charter school listed from highest salary to lowest salary and a link to Gateway Indiana for access to individual salaries.

(2) An acknowledgment that the school corporation or charter school is not committing any crime described in IC 35-44.1-1.

(3) A link to the school corporation's or charter school's most recent state board of accounts audit on the state board of accounts' website.

(4) The current enrollment of the school corporation or charter school disaggregated by student group and race.

(5) The school corporation's or charter school's high school graduation rate.

(6) The school corporation's or charter school's annual retention rate for teachers for the previous five (5) years.

(k) Not later than July 15, 2025, the department of education shall prescribe the manner in which a projection described in subsection (e) shall be calculated.

(l) A charter school that begins operations after a resolution under this section or section 8.5 of this chapter is voted on by the governing body for a particular referendum may not receive an option to elect to participate in that referendum during the term of that referendum.

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Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Indiana Code Title 20. Education § 20-46-1-8 - last updated January 02, 2024 | https://codes.findlaw.com/in/title-20-education/in-code-sect-20-46-1-8/

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