Why CCS is Asking to Increase Its Referendum Rate

The Super Simple Explanation

The property taxes we pay are based on adjusted property value, not actual property value. Last year’s Senate Enrolled Act 1 (SEA) drastically changed how property values are adjusted.

For family owning a $500,000 home, their contribution to the referendum would drop from $678 in 2025 to $400 in 2031.

So for CCS to collect the same amount of money that voters had already overwhelmingly approved, it has to raise the rate. It’s that simple. Here’s the math:

In 2025:

$500,000	Actual home value
-$48,000	Standard homestead deduction
-$169,500	Supplemental homestead deduction
= $282,500	Taxable home value
x $0.24	Combined referendum rate per $100 of home value
= $678	Property taxes paid toward the two referendums

In 2031:

$500,000	Actual home value
-$0	Standard homestead deduction
-$333,500	Supplemental homestead deduction
= $166,500	Taxable home value
x $0.24	Combined referendum rate per $100 of home value
= $400	Property taxes paid toward the two referendums

There’s more to it than that because SEA 1 affects more than just referendums, but that’s the super simple explanation for why CCS is asking to raise the rate.

Why This Page is Here

There’s a lot of confusion about the Operating Referendum that CCS is putting on the ballot this November. Even talking to parents who are pretty plugged in to what’s happening at our schools, I’ve found a lot of people just don’t know what’s going on.

On top of that, there’s an aggressive effort by people who oppose public education to misrepresent what’s happening. That’s muddying the waters so much that local online discussions about the issue are full of people confidently making statements that are completely wrong.

A couple other things people should know out of the gate:

• The new Operating Referendum would replace both the existing Safety and Operating Referendums, not add on to them.

• Thanks to our legislature, a referendum question on a ballot can NOT take into account any referendums being replaced. To offer an extreme example of what this means: if a school had a referendum that was generating $1,000 in property taxes and wanted to replace it with one that would only generate $100, it would have to list it on the ballot as increasing taxes by $1,000, even though it would be reducing them by $900.

If you want a deeper perspective on the impacts of both SEA 1 and the updated referendum rate that CCS is asking for, read on.

The More Complicated Explanation

There are multiple additional factors that further impact CCS funding:

• You’ll note the initial comparison above looks at 2025 and 2031. That’s because the changes from SEA 1 implement over time, with the standard homestead deduction phasing out and the supplemental homestead deduction increasing each year.

• CCS also relies on a tax levy that is impacted by the deduction amount changes.

• In addition to the changes to deductions, homeowners also now get a $300 credit. That impacts funding of both the schools and our municipal services (e.g. the police, fire, streets, and parks departments, library, etc.)

At this point, I’m not going to try to outline the full impact, but I’m happy to do so if I hear from enough people who think it’d be beneficial. That said, I will provide overviews of the annual impact of the new referendum amount for owners of $250,000, $500,000, and $750,000 homes.

For the purposes of comparison, I’m going to assign $50 of the $300 credit mentioned above to the referendum estimates. Also, assuming the CCS referendum passes, the school board has already announced the rate for 2027. For years 2028 – 2031, I’ll include minimum and maximum amounts that use next year’s rate for the minimum and the highest rate allowed by the referendum for the maximum.

For a $250,000 home:

	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031
Home value	$250,000	$250,000	$250,000	$250,000	$250,000	$250,000	$250,000
Standard homestead deduction	-$48,000	-$40,000	-$30,000	-$20,000	-$10,000	$0	$0
Supplemental homestead deduction %	37.5%	40%	46%	52%	57%	62%	66.7%
Supplemental homestead deduction	$75,750	$84,000	$101,200	$119,600	$136,800	$155,000	$166,750
Taxable home value	$126,250	$126,000	$118,800	$110,400	$103,200	$95,000	$83,250
Actual contribution to referendum	$303	$252	$311
Min. contribution to referendum				$286	$264	$239	$203
Max. contribution to referendum				$422	$391	$356	$306

For a $500,000 home:

	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031
Home value	$500,000	$500,000	$500,000	$500,000	$500,000	$500,000	$500,000
Standard homestead deduction	-$48,000	-$40,000	-$30,000	-$20,000	-$10,000	$0	$0
Supplemental homestead deduction %	37.5%	40%	46%	52%	57%	62%	66.7%
Supplemental homestead deduction	$169,500	$184,000	$216,200	$249,600	$279,300	$310,000	$333,500
Taxable home value	$282,500	$276,000	$253,800	$230,400	$210,700	$190,000	$166,500
Actual contribution to referendum	$678	$612	$721
Min. contribution to referendum				$650	$590	$527	$456
Max. contribution to referendum				$935	$851	$752	$662

For a $750,000 home:

	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031
Home value	$750,000	$750,000	$750,000	$750,000	$750,000	$750,000	$750,000
Standard homestead deduction	-$48,000	-$40,000	-$30,000	-$20,000	-$10,000	$0	$0
Supplemental homestead deduction %	37.5%*	40%	46%	52%	57%	62%	66.7%
Supplemental homestead deduction	$253,050*	$284,000	$331,200	$379,600	$421,800	$465,000	$500,250
Taxable home value	$448,950	$426,000	$388,800	$350,400	$318,200	$285,000	$249,750
Actual contribution to referendum	$1,077	$972	$1,132
Min. contribution to referendum				$1,015	$917	$816	$709
Max. contribution to referendum				$1,448	$1,310	$1,168	$1,017

*In 2025, the 37.5% rate dropped to 27.5% for value over $600,000.

For those who don't follow school board meetings, the stated goal is to keep funding levels relatively steady and predictable, merely keeping pace with inflation. That's what led the board to the $0.4274 referendum rate that will be on the ballot. As you can see in the above, that rate ensures that funding from the referendum in 2031 can be close to the same as current levels.

If you want an even deeper dive, I would highly advise visiting the CCS webpage on referendums, as well as attending school board meetings.