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☀️ Today's weather: Sunny with a high of 78 and a low of 51.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Adam Gibson!

Today’s newsletter is 1,082 words — a 4-minute read.

Indiana's public schools are facing a crisis, according to results of a new school funding survey.

Why it matters: Property tax cuts now reach Indiana classrooms.

Zoom in: Schools reported reductions in teachers, staff and services as property tax cuts shrink funding while utility and transportation costs rise.

• About half of the state's 290 public school districts responded to the second annual survey from the Indiana Coalition for Public Education (ICPE) and nearly all have reduced teachers or are considering it.

What they're saying: ICPE vice president Jim May says more schools are approaching what the organization considers a funding crisis and warns that eliminating property taxes entirely would worsen the strain.

• "That's likely to turn a crisis into a catastrophe."

Catch up quick: Lawmakers cut property taxes — a major funding source for schools and local governments — last year.

• Since then, many schools have reported struggling with the reduced funding.
• In response, a record-setting 38 districts have a referendum on the November ballot.

State of play: The funding pressure could intensify.

• The property tax cuts will expand annually through 2031.
• The state's Republican Party, which holds a Statehouse supermajority, added full property tax elimination to its 2026 platform.
• Conservative groups are mounting campaigns against the November ballot referendums.

By the numbers: When asked to name the greatest threat they face, two-thirds of school corporations explicitly cite funding.

• Funding-adjacent issues, school choice (17.6%), reduction of services (10.4%) and rising costs (6.4%) are next.
• Schools reported they need an 8% funding increase to provide the level of service their local communities expect.

What's next: Lawmakers will write the state's next two-year budget next spring.

While dozens of Indiana school districts are counting on community support in November, Americans' satisfaction with K-12 education has fallen to its lowest point in Gallup's 27-year trend, new polling finds.

The big picture: Only 32% of Americans are "completely" or "somewhat" satisfied with K-12 education.

• That's down 11 percentage points over the last two years alone.

Between the lines: Satisfaction among Democrats fell 19 percentage points since 2024, the largest decline among the partisan groups Gallup measured.

• Still, 35% of Democrats report being at least somewhat satisfied, compared with 25% of Republicans.

Gallup says: "Republicans and independents are most likely to cite what they perceive as a lack of teaching basic skills."

• "Roughly equal shares of dissatisfied Democrats mention a lack of teaching basic skills, lack of funding or resources, and poor quality of education or inferiority compared with other countries."

The intrigue: Parents of K-12 students are about twice as likely to say they're satisfied with their own child's education (66%) as they are with K-12 education nationally (32%).

What we're watching: If that support for your own district translates to support at the ballot box in November.

Explore the findings.

🏈 The Indianapolis Colts got their first win of the season with a 19-17 victory over the Houston Texans yesterday thanks to Spencer Shrader's go-ahead field goal with 16 seconds remaining.

• Daniel Jones threw for 235 yards and a touchdown but lost two fumbles as the Colts improved to 1-2. They now head to London next Sunday to face Washington. (WTHR)

🏀 The Indiana Fever fell 102-85 to the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in yesterday's WNBA playoff opener, putting their postseason hopes on the line ahead of Tuesday's Game 2. Indiana must win at home to force a decisive Game 3 in Las Vegas. (ESPN)

🏆 Before the big loss, Caitlin Clark was named the Associated Press' WNBA Comeback Player of the Year after averaging 22.3 points and 8.3 assists across 40 games in 2026, rebounding from an injury-plagued 2025 season.

• Teammate Kelsey Mitchell earned AP All-WNBA First Team honors after leading the Fever with a franchise-record 24.7 points per game. (FOX59)

💰 FEMA has expanded Indiana's August flood disaster declaration to include Pike, Cass and Putnam counties. The expansion also opens public assistance to local governments and certain nonprofits in 16 additional counties, while FEMA had already distributed more than $100 million to Hoosiers as of Sept. 22. (IndyStar)

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This week's news from around the region includes the end of a lengthy investigation in Carmel, an update on the next big addition to Noblesville's Innovation Mile and cancer research gains made in the memory of a Fishers man.

🎄 Carmel City Council has ended its more than yearlong investigation into the city's handling of the Christkindlmarkt board shake-up, unanimously accepting a report that largely cleared city officials of wrongdoing.

• The $125,000 investigation found Mayor Sue Finkam had the legal authority to remove two board members in late 2024 after the city and market failed to reach an agreement on issues like control of the nonprofit and its insurance obligations.
• Investigators concluded that some statements Finkam made about the market's financial transparency were inaccurate, including her assertion that the market had failed to provide requested financial records.
• Finkam has called the report "flawed," and former Christkindlmarkt chair Sue McDermott said the report confirmed the market's finances had been handled properly.

🤸 Noblesville is now expecting a March 2027 groundbreaking for the planned $100 million-plus USA Gymnastics Training & Wellness Center at Innovation Mile, a year after the city landed the organization's new national headquarters and training facility.

• The city is seeking a development team, with proposals due Tuesday and a selection expected by the end of October.
• The roughly 200,000-square-foot facility is expected to play a role in preparations for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

🕯️ The family of late Fishers resident Jeff Schwarz made a $10 million gift to Indiana University to establish the Jeff Schwarz Center for Neuro-Oncology Research at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center in Indianapolis.

• IU's School of Medicine is adding $5 million, bringing the total investment to $15 million to study brain cancers and develop new treatments while recruiting two endowed neuro-oncology researchers.
• Schwarz was diagnosed in 2022 with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma. He died in November 2023.

New Noblesville roundabout

Our picks:

🥳 Arika is wishing her dad, Dan Herron, a happy birthday! Love you, Dad!

🎵 Justin got hit with the smoothest Rick Roll ever the other day.