Marion County votes on November 3, 2026, and for property owners the items that matter most are not the candidate races. They are the public questions — voter-approved levies that sit outside the 1% homestead cap and therefore raise your bill even if the rest of it is already capped.
As of early July, two school funding questions have been approved for Marion County ballots. This guide covers both, explains why a "yes" vote reaches even capped homeowners, decodes the ballot language you will actually see, and lists the dates you need to participate.
The Two School Questions Approved So Far
IPS district-wide: 37.2 cents for four years
The centerpiece is the Indianapolis Public Schools operating referendum. On June 22, 2026, the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation (IPEC) voted unanimously to put a four-year operating referendum at 37.2 cents per $100 of assessed value before voters, per WFYI's reporting on the vote. If approved, it would generate about $87.8 million per year starting with 2027 bills, split roughly evenly between IPS and the approximately 60 charter schools enrolling students who live inside the district boundary.
We are not going to redo the cost math here — our IPS referendum cost breakdown already covers the district's median-home figures, the net-AV nuance, and the critical detail that the 37.2-cent rate replaces the expiring 19.6-cent 2018 referendum rather than stacking on top of it. The one-sentence version: inside the IPS boundary, a "yes" is a real increase over the expiring rate, applied to your net assessed value beginning in 2027.
For the other side of the ledger — why IPS is asking at all — see our posts on Marion County's cap losses and school funding and the $24 million IPS has already cut.
MSD Decatur Township: up to 26.90 cents
The second verified Marion County question comes from the southwest side. The MSD of Decatur Township board approved an operating referendum for the November ballot at a rate not to exceed $0.2690 per $100 of assessed value, per Fox59's reporting. District officials describe it as a replacement, not an addition: it would take the place of the current referendum rate of roughly 29 cents beginning in 2027, and would generate around $8.5 million annually for student transportation, electricity, building maintenance, and student and staff safety.
The nuance for Decatur Township owners: a lower maximum rate than the expiring one is genuinely taxpayer-favorable as framed — but it is still a voter-approved levy that operates outside the caps. A "no" removes that entire line from your bill when the current authority expires; a "yes" continues it at the lower ceiling.
More Questions Could Still Appear
The list above is as of early July. WFYI's June 9 reporting notes that districts have until early August to approve a question for the November ballot, and school finance experts expect 40 to 50 districts statewide to ask voters for property tax measures this fall. Several Marion County township districts have expiring or active referendum authority, so check your sample ballot at indy.gov once questions are certified. We track the statewide slate in our November 2026 school referenda preview.
Why a Referendum Raises Even a Capped Bill
Indiana's constitutional circuit breaker limits a homestead's property tax to 1% of gross assessed value (2% for other residential and farmland, 3% for everything else). But voter-approved referendum levies are excluded from the cap calculation — that is the entire reason these questions exist. Revenue approved directly by voters is collected on top of whatever the caps allow, which is why districts squeezed by cap losses go to the ballot instead of simply raising their regular levy.
Warning
If your homestead is already at its cap — and a large share of Indianapolis homesteads are, as we detailed in our cap exposure explainer — a new referendum rate is a dollar-for-dollar addition to your bill. The cap does not absorb it. Model any ballot question as a straight rate increase on your net assessed value.
The mechanics of how the caps work parcel by parcel are in our guide to Indiana's property tax caps and circuit breakers.
How to Read the Ballot Language
You will not see "37.2 cents" phrased simply on your ballot. Since a 2021 change in state law, Indiana school referendum questions must describe the ask as a percentage increase in the average property tax paid to the school corporation on a residence in the district, and the Department of Local Government Finance reviews the question language before it reaches your ballot — the DLGF's Referendum Information page collects the certified questions and rates.
Two things to know when you read that percentage, per Purdue Extension's Capital Comments analysis of the required format:
- The percentage applies to the school-corporation slice of your bill, not your total bill. A "20% increase" means 20% of what you pay that school district — which for most owners is a fraction of the whole statement.
- A replacement rate can still read as an increase. Because IPS's question replaces an expiring 19.6-cent rate with 37.2 cents, the school-line percentage on the ballot reflects that jump, even though the practical change to your bill is the difference between the two rates.
If the wording confuses you at the vote center, anchor on the rate: cents per $100 of net assessed value, applied outside the caps, for the stated number of years.
Key Dates for Marion County Voters
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| October 5, 2026 | Voter registration deadline for the general election |
| October 6, 2026 | Early in-person voting begins |
| November 2, 2026 | Early in-person voting ends |
| November 3, 2026 | Election Day — polls open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| 2027 | First tax bills reflecting any approved referendum rates |
Registration status and deadlines are on the Indiana Secretary of State's voter registration page, and Marion County-specific deadlines and vote center locations are at indy.gov. If either question passes, the new rates first appear on the bills you pay in 2027 — a timeline we map date by date in our Marion County 2026–2027 tax calendar.
Verify Your Assessment Before You Vote
The referendum rate is set by the ballot — you cannot appeal it. What you can control is the assessed value it multiplies against. Every excess dollar of AV on your record card costs you at the referendum rate plus your regular rate, and the referendum portion ignores your cap entirely.
Verify your parcel's assessed value, taxing district, and deduction status with our Property Lookup before November — if your AV is inflated, fixing it in the next appeal cycle shrinks whatever the voters decide.
Related Reading
- The IPS November 2026 referendum: what 37.2 cents costs homeowners
- Indiana's November 2026 school referenda: the statewide preview
- Marion County's $300M tax cap loss and the IPS funding squeeze
- IPS cut $24 million — and $20 million more is coming
- Indiana property tax caps and circuit breakers explained