I try hard to get the numbers right when writing about public money in any context—and particularly when it comes to public school finances.

Wednesday night’s Hamilton Southeastern School Board meeting generated a lot of news, and in covering it I wrote one sentence that requires a correction. I want the record to be straight.

Here is the sentence from the original story, written the same night as the meeting:

“CFO Tim Brown received board approval for a one-time $6.7 million fund transfer, permitted for one year only by state lawmakers, to alleviate the initial impact of the new Homestead Credit for property taxpayers.”

CFO Brown did cite a $6.7 million figure to the board, but that number reflects the impact of what is described as the property tax “circuit breaker”—including the effect of the up-to-$300 credit on property taxes enacted by state lawmakers. The actual transfer, made as a one-time opportunity under state law, was $2.6 million from the debt service fund to the operations fund. That move is allowed in 2026 only.

In other words, the $6.7 million describes the financial pressure the district faces, while the $2.6 million is the amount actually moved between funds to help absorb it.

Under Indiana law, a school district’s operations fund pays for such things as capital projects, transportation costs, school bus replacement and certain overhead expenditures. The debt service fund, by contrast, is used to repay borrowing such as bonds—so shifting money out of it and into operations is the kind of step the legislature permitted only for this one year.

I attempted to summarize a fairly complex situation in a single sentence and did not tell the whole story. Now you have it.

My latest podcast features a panel from Fishers Fire and Emergency Services: Fire Chief Ky Ragsdale, Communications Director Ashley Heckly and Todd Rielage, who heads recruitment and training for the department.

We began with one of the department’s most visible summer traditions, the cul-de-sac drills. Fire crews bring their trucks into Fishers neighborhoods, hook up the hoses and let kids (and more than a few adults) cool off in the spray. Chief Ragsdale describes it as “a little bit more than sprinklers” — a chance for firefighters to connect with residents on a good day rather than their worst day. Drills run Mondays and Fridays at 7pm through the end of July, with eight more scheduled this month. Anyone can stop by a drill in any neighborhood.

With summer in full swing, the chief also shared his water safety concerns, and they may not be what you expect. While Geist Reservoir gets the attention, Ragsdale says neighborhood retention ponds worry him most — murky water, sudden drop-offs and no lifeguards. The department teaches water safety to every second grader in Fishers public and private schools, and urges families to designate a “water watcher” whenever kids are in the pool. We also talked about the department’s dive teams, based at Stations 91 and 92, and how mutual aid works on Geist, where Hamilton, Marion and Hancock counties meet.

Fresh off the Spark!Fishers festival and the July 4th fireworks, we reviewed how the department plans for big public events, plus fireworks safety at home: keep them on your own property, soak spent fireworks in water overnight before they go in the garbage can, and consider glow sticks instead of sparklers for the little ones.

Mark your calendar for the department’s annual Safety Day, coming to the Fishers Farmers Market at the Municipal Complex on Saturday, August 22. As of our recording, 46 vendors had signed up, along with fire trucks to tour, a safety trailer where kids can practice calling 911, and a school bus for teaching kitchen and sleep safety.

Todd Rielage detailed a record recruiting cycle. By casting a wider net online, the department drew more than 1,000 interest forms and nearly 600 completed applications — up from the typical 250-300 — with applicants from as far away as California, Florida and Washington, D.C. We closed with the growing demand for EMS runs, a fourth ambulance on the way, and how the department now supports the mental health of its own firefighters through peer support.

The LarryInFishers podcast series is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.

You can hear the full conversation at this link, or the link below.

Hallett Sports & Entertainment, the family-owned company behind the Indy Fuel hockey team and the Fishers Freight indoor football franchise, has pledged at least $100,000 per year to the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation (HSEF) for the next ten years — a commitment of at least $1 million to support classrooms across Hamilton Southeastern Schools.

The pledge comes from Sean Hallett, president of both the Fuel and the Freight, who recently joined the HSEF board of directors. Hallett told the HSE School Board Wednesday that once he saw firsthand the work the foundation does in local classrooms — funding teacher grants, student scholarships, and innovative learning projects throughout the district — he and his family’s sports enterprise decided to make a long-term investment in that mission.

Founded in 2001, HSEF has invested more than $4 million in programs supporting the students and staff of Hamilton Southeastern Schools. In the 2025-26 school year alone, the foundation funded 45 classroom grant projects totaling nearly $110,000. The Hallett pledge, at a minimum, would roughly double the foundation’s recent annual grant capacity.

The money will be raised through designated games for each of Hallett’s two teams — two Fuel games and two Freight games each season. In addition, the Fuel have ten Sunday home games on the 2026-27 schedule, and fans who purchase through a dedicated link can buy a ten-game Sunday package for $199, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the foundation.

Hallett emphasized that the $100,000 annual figure is a floor, not a ceiling. If the games and ticket packages raise more, all of it goes to HSEF.

The commitment deepens an already substantial relationship between the Hallett family and Fishers. Hallett Sports & Entertainment was instrumental in making the Fishers Event Center a reality — the 7,500-seat arena that opened in late 2024 as the anchor of the Fishers District development. Both the Fuel, who moved from Indianapolis, and the Freight, an expansion team of the Indoor Football League that began play in 2025, call the venue home.

For a foundation that touches every school building in the district, a guaranteed $100,000 a year for a decade is transformative — and if Fishers fans fill those Sunday seats, it could be considerably more.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board approved a number of administrative personnel items at Wednesday night’s meeting.

Superintendent Matt Kegley heaped praise on outgoing Assistant Superintendent for Operations Bryan Rausch, commending his contributions to the district over the past two years. Rausch’s official last day at HSE is July 23.

The board officially hired Andrea Abel as an Assistant Principal at HSE High School. Principal Craig McCaffrey cited a long list of qualifications and Abel’s extensive experience in education.

Rachael Powell will be the new Assistant Principal at Southeastern Elementary, a promotion from her position as a 4th grade teacher. The board also approved the resignation of the previous Assistant Principal, Trae Heeter.

Katrina Curry was officially hired as Assistant Principal at Fall Creek Junior High School, though she was unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting.

The board additionally approved the resignation of Fishers Elementary Principal Brian Behrman.

In other business before the HSE Board Wednesday:

• CFO Tim Brown received board approval for a one-time $2.6 million fund transfer, permitted for one year only by state lawmakers, to alleviate the initial impact of the new Homestead Credit for property taxpayers. Brown also provided a detailed review of how the district continues to draw down cash reserves to cover expenses.
• The board approved a $875,000 bid for a new chiller at Sand Creek Intermediate. The current chiller is 27 years old, and replacement parts have become difficult to find. Funding comes from a general obligation bond, and the project is part of the district’s ten-year building maintenance plan.
• The board approved a set of new policies and reviewed additional proposed changes, which will go to the board’s Policy Committee before a final vote in August.
• In the Superintendent’s Report, Dr. Kegley announced that the Before the Bell celebration marking the start of the school year will be held July 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater. The first day of school is set for Wednesday, August 5.

NOTE: (I originally reported the fund transfer was $6.7 million, when the transfer was actually $2.6 million.  The $6.7 million figure cited by CFO Brown referred to the “circuit breaker” impact on HSE finances)

Hamilton Southeastern Schools is set to lose a top district administrator and reshuffle leadership at several buildings, according to personnel items on the agenda for Wednesday night’s HSE School Board meeting.

Brian Rausch, HSE’s Assistant Superintendent of Operations, is resigning effective July 23, according to a recommended action before the board. Rausch joined the district in July 2024, meaning his departure comes almost two years after he arrived. The Assistant Superintendent of Operations oversees the district’s non-instructional backbone — areas that typically include facilities, transportation, safety and business operations serving HSE’s roughly 22,000 students across Fishers and the surrounding area.

Also stepping down is Brian Behrman, Principal at Fishers Elementary, who is resigning his position based on an item on the school board agenda.

Several other personnel moves on the agenda would reshape administrative teams across the district:

• Trae Heeter is resigning as Assistant Principal at Southeastern Elementary.
• Andrea Abel is being hired as Assistant Principal at HSE High School.
• Katrina Curry will become Assistant Principal at Fall Creek Junior High.
• Rachael Powell will move from a fourth-grade teaching position to Assistant Principal at Southeastern Elementary.

Personnel actions such as these are recommended by district administration and take effect upon approval by the HSE School Board. Together, the items reflect a busy stretch of summer transition for the district as it settles building and central-office leadership ahead of the 2026–27 school year.

State Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn, who represents a portion of Fishers in the Indiana House, is in Washington, D.C., this week as part of a bipartisan group of young state lawmakers attending Future Summit 2026.

Garcia Wilburn, a Democrat and co-chair of the Indiana Future Caucus, is joined by fellow co-chair Rep. Beau Baird, a Republican, and Rep. Alex Burton, a Democrat. The Indiana lawmakers are among nearly 100 Gen Z and millennial state legislators from 34 states taking part in the annual gathering hosted by Future Caucus.

The summit runs July 8-11 and is being held as the nation marks its 250th anniversary. This year’s theme is “Next 250 — The Courage to Build,” with a focus on strengthening democracy, improving governing institutions and encouraging bipartisan approaches to public policy.

Garcia Wilburn and Baird are scheduled to serve as featured speakers during the four-day event.

According to Future Caucus, the summit is designed to bring together younger elected officials from across the political spectrum to discuss ways to work across party lines and better serve constituents.

Program sessions include hands-on labs with TikTok and OpenAI, where lawmakers are expected to discuss the use of artificial intelligence and social media for constituent outreach, policy research and the challenges of operating with limited legislative staff.

Another session, titled “The Exit Interview,” will examine why some young Americans are reconsidering public service and what might encourage them to remain involved in government.

The summit will also feature a discussion on building a safer internet for children, including state-level policy options related to online safety, algorithms and the impact of congressional inaction on families.

Future Caucus describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works with young elected officials in Congress and state legislatures to bridge partisan divides and promote collaborative governance.

Volunteers for the Advance HSE Political Action Committee gathered at Hub & Spoke in Fishers Tuesday night to begin organizing the campaign to pass Hamilton Southeastern Schools’ operating referendum on the November 3 general election ballot.

HSE is far from alone. Nearly a third of Indiana’s roughly 290 school districts are asking voters to weigh in on a referendum this fall — a wave driven by Senate Enrolled Act 1, the sweeping 2025 property-tax law. Beyond increasing homestead deductions that shrink the assessed value schools can tax, the law also limited school referendum questions to the November ballot in even-numbered years, giving districts just one shot every two years and pushing many of them onto this single election.

Advance Chair Laura Cole told the group the district has already cut roughly $7 million from its budget and will still need a new referendum to close the gap.

HSE Superintendent Dr. Matt Kegley explained that action by the Indiana General Assembly changed the rules underneath the district. By increasing property-tax deductions, the state reduced the net assessed value used to calculate what schools collect — meaning that even keeping the referendum rate voters recently approved would now generate less money than before. That shortfall is what’s driving the district to seek a new, replacement rate. The measure on the November ballot would replace the operating referendum HSE voters passed in 2023, with revenue earmarked for teacher recruitment and retention, school safety, student behavioral health, and classroom programs.

Guiding the effort is outside consultant Robin Winston, who recently advised the successful Avon Community School Corporation campaign that passed with roughly 65% of the vote. Winston laid out the timeline for volunteers: the election is 118 days away, but early voting begins in just 88 days — the real deadline the campaign has to plan around.

The math, Winston said, is straightforward. There are about 83,000 registered voters inside the HSE district. If turnout reaches 30%, that’s 25,000 to 26,000 votes cast — and the campaign’s job is to make sure enough of them are “yes.”

Winston pointed to the ground game that carried Avon. There, volunteers knocked on some 13,000 doors. When no one answered, the volunteer simply held a campaign sign up to the home’s security camera — turning a missed conversation into one more impression.

With the clock already running, Cole closed the kickoff by recruiting volunteers to chair the campaign’s key committees, putting the first pieces of the organization in place as Advance HSE turns toward the 88 days until ballots start being cast.

Two Hamilton County school districts are moving in opposite directions, and a new IndyStar opinion piece, written by Sadia Khatri, argues the main reason is real estate — specifically, whether existing homes are turning over to young families.

The Hamilton Southeastern story. HSE has lost more than 1,500 students since 2020. That decline has real consequences: the district recently announced it will eliminate nearly 60 positions, including contracts for 18 teachers. Because Indiana funding follows the student, fewer students means less money.

Superintendent Matt Kegley points to several causes — families having fewer children and having them later, and some students transferring out for religious schools or smaller settings. But the trend he emphasizes most is housing. Fishers grew fastest in the mid-2000s, and many of those residents have since become empty-nesters who stayed put. Because they aren’t selling to younger families with school-age kids, the pipeline of new elementary students has thinned. The losses are steepest in the early grades.

How HSE is responding. Rather than wait for the housing market to shift, HSE launched an open-enrollment (non-resident transfer) program. Families outside the district can enroll their children but must provide their own transportation. Participation grew from 99 students last year to about 120 approved for 2026-27. Many of those transfers are in the lower grades, which Kegley called encouraging — families who join early are more likely to stay. The district has room for more and hopes awareness across Central Indiana keeps growing.

Why Westfield is booming. To the west, Westfield Washington Schools has grown 43% over the past decade. Its high school has gone from about 650 students in the 1990s to more than 3,000 today, and the district is restructuring — phasing out its intermediate school by moving fifth grade into elementary and sixth grade into middle school. Superintendent John Atha attributes the growth to demographics and, above all, new housing: unlike “built-out” Fishers and Carmel, Westfield still has homes ready for families to move into.

The housing throughline. Over the past decade Westfield issued more residential building permits than Carmel and Fishers combined, according to the Indiana Association of Realtors, and it has the most listings priced at or below $350,000 — the inventory that attracts young families. Fishers isn’t alone: Carmel Clay Schools has also lost more than 750 students since 2020, and Carmel is likewise largely built out.

The long view. Hamilton County is projected to add roughly 180,000 residents by 2050. Westfield is the current top draw for families with school-age children, but early signs of the same enrollment slowdown are already appearing in its numbers. As columnist Khatri  puts it, no suburb stays young forever.

You can read Sadia Khatri’s opinion piece at this link, but you will likely need an IndyStar online subscription to access the article.

When the Indianapolis City-County Council voted 14-10 Monday night to raise vehicle registration taxes across Marion County, it stepped into a fight that Fishers settled almost ten years ago — with a lot less drama.

The Indianapolis measure, Proposal 192, would impose a $240 wheel tax on buses, RVs, semitrailers, tractors, trailers and trucks, and a $100 excise surtax on passenger cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles under 11,000 pounds. Today most Marion County drivers pay somewhere between $10 and $50 a year. The plan runs from 2027 through 2031 and is projected to raise about $855 million, money the council says it needs to unlock a $50 million annual state “match” for road and infrastructure work beginning in 2027.

Mayor Joe Hogsett opposes it and has 10 days to decide whether to veto. Overriding him would take 17 of the council’s 25 votes. The council’s Republican caucus, writing in the IndyStar days before the vote, said it supports more road money but questioned “the timing and hastiness” of what it called an $80 million tax increase. The politics are loud, the stakes are high, and the outcome is still uncertain.

Fishers has been down a version of this road already — just far more quietly.

Fishers acted first, in 2016

On the night of September 19, 2016, the Fishers City Council voted 7-0 to impose a $25-per-vehicle wheel tax to help pay for road maintenance. (Council members John Weingardt and Selina Stoller were absent.) Mayor Scott Fadness had proposed it earlier that month, and the tax took effect in 2018. It applies to both personal and commercial vehicles and was estimated to bring in roughly $2.16 million a year.

Fadness framed it at the time as a “unique opportunity” rather than a burden. His case was straightforward math: a typical road needs to be repaved every 15 to 20 years, and Fishers wasn’t keeping pace. In 2013, the city spent about $1 million on paving when it could have used $2.7 million. In 2016, it budgeted $1.95 million but needed $3.8 million. The wheel tax was meant to help close that gap, augmenting — not replacing — money the city already received from state and local sources. Fadness told the council that even if state road funding grew in the future, he believed the tax would still be needed.

Even reluctant council members came around. “I’m not usually in favor of any kind of tax increase, but this is what I consider to be vital to the safety of our community,” council member Todd Zimmerman said that night.

It’s worth remembering how new that authority was. For years, only Indiana counties could levy a wheel tax, and Hamilton County never adopted one. A 2016 state road-funding law opened the door for cities with populations over 10,000 to impose their own. Fishers was among the earliest to walk through it, alongside Valparaiso, Portage, Crown Point, Munster and LaPorte. The tax generated headlines locally mostly because the council, on the same evening, also gave itself a 58 percent pay raise — from $12,000 to $19,000 a year, its first increase since the early 1990s.

Why the wheel tax matters more now than in 2016

What looked in 2016 like a forward-leaning local choice has since become something closer to a statewide requirement — and that’s the thread connecting Fishers then to Indianapolis now.

In 2025, the General Assembly passed House Enrolled Act 1461, a sweeping transportation-funding law. Its most consequential provision for local governments ties eligibility for the state’s popular Community Crossings matching-grant program to whether a community has adopted both a wheel tax and a vehicle excise surtax. In plain terms: no local wheel tax, no access to one of the most dependable pots of road money the state offers.

The pressure didn’t stop there. SEA 1-2025, the property-tax overhaul passed the same session, capped key local revenue sources, forcing cities and counties to look harder for their own money. State leaders made the message explicit. House Speaker Todd Huston, a Republican from Fishers, warned local officials in December 2024 that they needed to help themselves before asking the Statehouse for more, saying local leaders “have to take some tough votes, too.” With an estimated $2.4 billion road-funding shortfall statewide, lawmakers argued they’d given communities the tools to raise revenue locally.

The result has been a wave of reluctant votes across Indiana over the past year. As of late 2025, 56 counties and 15 municipalities had wheel taxes on the books, with more cities and towns — from Plymouth to Evansville to Goshen — grudgingly adopting them to stay eligible for state dollars. Many councils made their frustration clear, pointing fingers at the Statehouse even as they voted yes.

Indianapolis is the biggest domino. The same funding framework that is pushing small towns to act is what stands to send Marion County a $50 million annual state match — if it raises the local revenue to qualify. That’s the machinery behind Proposal 192, and the reason the vote carried such weight Monday night.

The Fishers contrast

Seen against that backdrop, Fishers’ 2016 decision looks less like an outlier and more like a head start. The city adopted a modest, flat $25 wheel tax on its own terms, years before the state effectively linked such taxes to grant eligibility — and did it with a unanimous, low-drama council vote rather than a veto standoff.

That timing has practical consequences. Because Fishers already levies a wheel tax, it is positioned to meet the HEA 1461 eligibility test that many Indiana communities scrambled to satisfy in 2025. Indianapolis, by contrast, is only now confronting that choice, and it’s doing so with far larger dollar figures, a divided council and a mayor threatening a veto.

For Fishers residents, the wheel tax has been a quiet fixture for years — $25 a vehicle, folded into registration, funding the repaving schedule Fadness argued the city couldn’t otherwise afford. It’s the kind of decision that draws attention only when a neighbor like Indianapolis wrestles with the same question and finds it a good deal harder to answer.

Whether Indianapolis follows through now rests with Mayor Hogsett’s veto pen — and, quite possibly, with whether the council can muster 17 votes to override him.

Fishers-area drivers heading to or from the Indianapolis area overnight this week should be aware of planned lane and ramp restrictions on I-465 and I-69 in northeast Indianapolis.

The Indiana Department of Transportation says crews are scheduled to install pavement markings and complete bridge work on I-465.

From Monday, July 6, through Friday, July 10, eastbound I-465 will be reduced to one lane overnight from Keystone Avenue to Binford Boulevard. Those lane closures are scheduled from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night.

Additional restrictions are scheduled Tuesday, July 7, beginning at 9 p.m. and lasting until 6 a.m. Wednesday.

During that period, drivers will not have access to northbound I-69 from northbound Binford Boulevard at 75th Street. The ramp from southbound I-69 to southbound Binford Boulevard will also be closed. In addition, one lane will be closed on the ramp from southbound I-69 to southbound I-465.

The work is just south of Fishers but could affect residents who use I-69, Binford Boulevard or I-465 for trips to and from downtown Indianapolis, especially late at night or early in the morning.

INDOT says the schedule could change if weather or other unforeseen circumstances interfere with the work.