Frequently asked questions

An operating referendum for Noblesville Schools, on the November 3, 2026 ballot. It would replace the 2018 operating referendum (which expires at the end of 2026) and authorize a property-tax rate of up to 57¢ per $100 of assessed value for eight years, through 2034. Everyone living inside the Noblesville Schools boundary votes on it.

Noblesville Schools — Referendum 2026

Not at the same price. The current rate is 37¢. The referendum authorizes a maximum of 57¢ — roughly 54% higher. A true renewal would keep the rate where it is. Calling a rate increase a “continuation” is a framing choice, not the math.

No — it's division on the ballot's own numbers, and the 38.5¢ covers one year out of eight. The 54% compares the maximum rate the ballot authorizes with the rate charged today: (57¢ − 37¢) ÷ 37¢ = 54.05%. The certified ballot language reads “by imposing a property tax rate that does not exceed $0.57.” Dr. Hile's own position confirms the ceiling is authorized rather than absent — he says the district “now think[s] we will not need to take 57 cents at all,” which is a forecast about use, not a denial of authority.

The August 18, 2026 resolution is real and we credit it. But it pins 38.5¢ for 2027 only. For 2028 through 2034 it caps the annual step at 4¢, not the destination — increases continue, in its own words, “until the authorized maximum rate is reached, if ever.” Run the board's own ceiling forward:

The ceiling arrives in 2032 — on the board's own schedule, and a year earlier than the district's calculator shows. The resolution, read closely →

A companion claim — that the increase is “about a dollar a year” — is off by a wide margin whichever figure it means. The district's own headline number is $1.88 a month, which is $22.56 a year. At the 38.5¢ rate the board committed to, a $350,000 primary residence pays about $25.11 more in 2027 ($350,000 gross, less the 2027 homestead deductions, leaves $167,400 net; 1.5¢ per $100 of that is $25.11). At the 57¢ ceiling it's about $233 a year. Run your own assessed value →

One caveat we'd rather state than have sprung on us: the district's $1.88 is a net figure that folds in the SEA 1 state tax cut arriving regardless of this vote. Your total bill may well hold roughly flat. That's why the question isn't “will my bill go up” but who gets the tax cut the legislature just passed.

It's described as “the average annual increase over all eight years,” but it isn't an average. We took apart the district's own calculator: $1.88 is its final-year increase divided by eight — the average size of each year's step, not the amount you'd pay above your current bill. Run that same calculator across its own eight years and the average is $8.19 a month, reaching $15.05 a month by 2034. See the year-by-year arithmetic →

Separately, the figure is a net change — it quietly folds in a 2025 state tax cut (SEA 1) that is lowering school taxes whether or not this referendum passes. Measure only what's actually on the ballot, the rate going from 37¢ to 57¢, and on a $350,000 home it costs about $19 a month, roughly $230 a year, once fully phased in. Higher-valued homes pay more. Run your own assessed value →

Indiana law requires the ballot question to carry its own cost estimate. This one reads: “If this operating referendum public question is approved by the voters, for a median residence of $350,000, the property's annual property tax bill would increase by $955 per year.” Superintendent Hile calls that “misleading.”

We checked it, and the $955 is arithmetically correct for what it measures: the full 57¢ rate in 2027, using the state's own homestead deductions, compared with having no referendum. We get $954.18. It does not ignore your deductions — it uses them. What it doesn't do is subtract what you pay under the current referendum, because that one expires in December 2026. You are not voting to extend anything; you're voting on a new eight-year levy where there would otherwise be none.

So all three numbers are defensible — they answer different questions. See exactly what each one measures →

It changes some things and not the important one. On 12 August 2026 the district cut its committed 2027 rate from 41¢ to 38.5¢, revised its headline figure from $2.30 to $1.88 a month, published a rate plan peaking at 54.5¢, and said it “does not expect to need the maximum 57 cent rate.” Those are genuine improvements and we’ve updated this site to reflect them.

What didn’t change is the ballot. It still authorizes 57¢ and a maximum of $43,842,578 a year — about 75% above the ~$25M the district says it needs. The district explains that it “had to certify the ballot language before we had the most recent information on Noblesville assessed values.” That’s candid, and it means the binding document rests on figures the district now calls out of date. A webpage can be revised overnight — this one was. The ballot can only be changed by voters. The full comparison →

For a lot of homeowners, possibly yes — and we'd rather explain that than pretend otherwise. A 2025 state law, SEA 1, is phasing out the $48,000 standard homestead deduction and raising the supplemental deduction from 40% to 66.7%. That shrinks the value your school taxes are charged against, every year, whether this referendum passes or fails. It's big enough that your total referendum bill may hold roughly flat — or fall, on a more expensive home — even if this passes.

The referendum still costs about $19 a month on a $350,000 home. So the real question isn't whether your bill goes up. It's who gets the tax cut the legislature just passed — your household, or the district. The full math →

Noblesville is asking for the highest rate of the four. The certified ballot questions on file with the state show Noblesville at a maximum 57¢, Carmel Clay at 42.74¢, Westfield Washington at 39.41¢ and Hamilton Southeastern at 36¢. Indiana law makes the county auditor compute each district's median-home cost using the identical formula and deduction schedule, so this is a real comparison rather than a constructed one. Per $100,000 of home value, Noblesville's question costs $273 a year against Westfield's $194 and Hamilton Southeastern's $175.

Two things cut the other way and you should have them: Noblesville's referendum genuinely expires at the end of 2026, while the other three are replacing referendums with years still to run — and as a percentage increase over what each district levies today, Noblesville is the mildest of the four (+68%, against Westfield's +168%). The precise point isn't that Noblesville wants the biggest jump. It's that it already levies the county's highest school referendum rate and is asking to stay the most expensive district in Hamilton County for another eight years. The full table, with every source →

Supporting students and scrutinizing a tax increase aren't opposites. Noblesville is a growing district with engaged families; that's not in question. Voting no is a statement that this rate, for this long, hasn't been justified — and that accountability for existing dollars should come first. Districts routinely bring revised proposals back after a no vote — here, November 2028 is the earliest state law allows.

Partly — and it's a real step, so let's be precise about it. On August 18, 2026 the Board of Trustees adopted a Resolution Approving Referendum Rate Schedule, formalizing what Dr. Hile had said aloud at the May 19 board meeting (“a no more than 4 cent increase to the rate each year until it hits that 57 cent rate,” watch from 1:14:29).

It pins one hard number: the 2027 rate rises by no more than $0.0150 over today's $0.3700 — a 2027 rate of no more than 38.5¢. That's one year out of eight. For 2028 through 2034 it caps the annual step at 4¢, not the destination — in its own words, increases continue “until the authorized maximum rate is reached, if ever.”

Three things follow:

• It permits more than the calculator shows. The district's calculator holds the rate flat at 54.5¢ from 2031. But 4¢ a year from 38.5¢ reaches the full 57¢ in 2032. On that path the eight-year average increase is $9.37 a month, not $8.19, and 2034 is $18.30 a month above today rather than $15.05.
• It has an escape clause. The 4¢ ceiling is “subject to changes in Indiana law, assessed valuation, local ordinances and/or other circumstances beyond the control of the School Corporation” — the very sort of change the district cites as its reason for asking 57¢.
• It isn't the ballot. A resolution passes by a board vote and can be rescinded by a later one. What you approve is authority to levy up to 57¢ and $43,842,578 a year for eight years, and that's what binds.

The full text, the arithmetic and the sources are in the note on The Numbers.

The 2018 referendum expires at the end of 2026 regardless, and the district says roughly $25 million a year — about 20% of the operating budget — goes with it. On October 1, 2026 it published the cuts it says would be most at risk: about 20% of staff across every employee group (including roughly 145 teachers), reductions to career, arts, athletics and student-support programs, larger classes, and closing one elementary school. Losing a fifth of the budget is a real consequence, and the list should be read that way.

Know the timing too. A 2025 state law limits school referendums to November general elections in even-numbered years, so the earliest the district could put a revised, smaller proposal before voters is November 2028. That is the honest price of a no vote. It's also a price the board chose: it asked for 57¢ for eight years rather than a straight renewal of today's 37¢, and that choice is what makes this vote all-or-nothing.

Cut list: Noblesville Schools, Referendum 2026 (“Potential cuts, school closure if referendum doesn't pass,” added October 1, 2026). Election timing: WFYI, June 9, 2026.

The “bottom 6%” figure is accurate, but it doesn't mean what it sounds like. Indiana's funding formula deliberately adds money for districts with more low-income students, so every well-off district ranks near the bottom — that's the formula working as designed, not Noblesville being singled out.

The state's own figures bear that out. Per student in 2025, Noblesville received $7,460 — more than Westfield ($7,250), Carmel ($7,211) and Fishers/HSE ($7,036). Noblesville comes out on top precisely because it serves more low-income students, which drives the needs-based part of the grant. And Hamilton Southeastern ranks in the bottom 2% — worse than Noblesville — while asking its voters for a referendum on this same ballot.

So the honest reading is: Noblesville is treated like every other affluent Indiana district, and slightly better than its immediate neighbors. The real debate isn't “fund schools or don't” — it's the right amount and rate, and whether households can absorb it.

Per-student state funding, school year 2025: Indiana GPS (Noblesville, Westfield, Carmel and HSE corporation figures). HSE's ranking: WFYI. Full table →

Indiana's property-tax caps (the constitutional 1%/2%/3% caps) are a protection for taxpayers. Money not collected because of the caps stayed with families by design. Describing it as “lost” assumes the schools were entitled to it in the first place.

An independent, self-funded effort by a concerned Noblesville resident — not a campaign committee or PAC. See the About page. Our goal is simply to make sure voters see the full math before Election Day.

See How to Vote for registration, early voting, absentee, and Election Day details for Hamilton County. Confirm your registration and polling place at indianavoters.in.gov.