Carmel Clay Schools

Carmel Clay enrolled 15,913 students in 2025-26. Since 2005-06 enrollment has grown 10%; the regional peer median grew 55% and the median Indiana corporation shrank 11%. The chart indexes each series to its 2005-06 level.

Enrollment and the funding count

Indiana's tuition support formula pays on average daily membership (ADM), counted each September and again in the spring; ADM excludes pre-kindergarten, which the enrollment count includes. Carmel Clay's fall ADM was 15,982 in 2023-24, 0.99 per enrolled student.

IDOE State Tuition Support Annual Reports, Appendix A (fall count, non-virtual plus virtual ADM), and IDOE enrollment (October count).

Students, 2025-26

Home values against nearby districts

Across the five most recent Census releases (2016–20 to 2020–24), the median owner-occupied home in Carmel Clay averaged $418,580, 45% above the median of the 8 districts within 25 miles ($287,760). That ranks 2nd of 9 in the area and at the 99th percentile of Indiana districts (state median $158,850).

U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, median value of owner-occupied homes (table B25077), in nominal dollars. Consecutive releases share four of their five survey years, so the average is a smoothed level rather than five independent years. Nearby districts are those whose NCES office address lies within 25 miles of Carmel Clay's: Zionsville (10 mi, $475,780); Westfield-Washington (7 mi, $354,080); Hamilton Southeastern (5 mi, $325,800); Noblesville (6 mi, $296,760); New Palestine (21 mi, $278,760); Brownsburg (19 mi, $271,960); Mt Vernon (14 mi, $247,800); Beech Grove City (18 mi, $143,000).

Where resident students go, fall 2025

Of 16,352 students who live in the district, 15,558 attend Carmel Clay schools: a retention rate of 95.1%, 2nd of 290 statewide. 794 leave: 534 on Choice Scholarships to private schools, 118 to charter schools and 142 to other public corporations. 256 students transfer in. The largest destinations:

IDOE enrollment (October count) and fall 2025-26 transfer report. Retention = resident students enrolled in the corporation as a share of all students who live there (“settled”).

On the spring 2025 ILEARN, 70.8% of Carmel Clay students were proficient in English/language arts and 73.6% in math, against 38.2% and 40.7% for the median Indiana corporation. That ranks 1st and 2nd among 290 corporations. It is at or above the peer median on every measure below.

IDOE assessment, graduation and federal accountability files. Rank is among Indiana's public school corporations with a reported result (1st = highest). Only the 2025 ILEARN release is on file, so there is no trend line here.

In 2024-25, 6.4% of Carmel Clay students were chronically absent (missing 10% or more of the school year), against 9.2% in the peer median and 13.2% in the median Indiana corporation. That is 16th lowest of 290. Before the pandemic, in 2018-19, the rate was 4.3%.

IDOE chronic absenteeism file, 2012-13 to 2024-25. A student is chronically absent after missing 10% or more of enrolled days.

Carmel Clay spent $12,311 per pupil on current operations in FY2024, against $12,109 for the peer median and $11,831 for the median Indiana corporation. Local property tax provided 36% of revenue (peer median 33%, Indiana median 25%) and state aid 49% (Indiana median 55%).

U.S. Census Bureau annual school finance survey (F-33), current spending per pupil, nominal dollars, excluding the teacher-retirement payments the state makes on corporations' behalf (reported inconsistently in FY2023). Capital and debt payments are not current spending.

For taxes payable in 2026 the corporation certified $111.6M across its funds, at a combined rate of $0.8425 per $100 of net assessed value. The operating referendum adds $37.1M ($0.2400 per $100). Indiana's property-tax caps do not apply to referendum levies, which makes an operating referendum the one local operating revenue source outside the caps.

Carmel Clay and its regional peers, pay 2026

Carmel Clay's operating referendum rate is the 4th highest of these 9 corporations. Statewide, 66 of 290 school units levied an operating referendum for taxes payable 2026.

Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, Certified Budget, Levy, CNAV and Rate by Fund files. Operating referendum = funds 0022, 0023 and 0025; referendum debt = 0187 and 0287. Rates are per $100 of net assessed value; referendum funds are levied on a different assessed-value base from the other funds, so the rates are summed as published.

The November 3, 2026 question asks for an operating referendum tax of up to $0.4274 per $100 of assessed value for up to 8 years, raising at most $61.98 million a year. If it passes, the county auditor estimates the tax bill on a median home ($500,000 assessed value) would rise by $1,062 a year.

For taxes payable 2026, Carmel Clay levies $29.4M through an operating referendum, at $0.1900 per $100 of assessed value. A school-safety referendum adds $7.7M, at $0.0500. The question's ceiling of $0.4274 is $0.1874 above the combined $0.2400 operating and school-safety rate it would repeal.

Carmel Clay has put 4 referendum questions to voters since 2010; all passed. Statewide, DLGF records 190 operating referendum questions from 2009 through 2025, and 133 passed (70%).

Ballot terms: the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance's final determination on each question, which quotes the approved wording and the county auditor's certified median-home estimate. Past results: DLGF historic referenda records (outcome only; DLGF does not publish vote counts). Current levy: DLGF certified levy by fund.

Wherever this briefing sets Carmel Clay beside other school corporations, it uses the groups below. A group figure is the middle value across its members, each counted equally, so one large member cannot dominate it.

Peers 12 school corporations

The 12 Indiana districts (public school corporations) most like Carmel Clay on four equally weighted factors: total enrollment (compared as a ratio), current spending per pupil, students per teacher and the share of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, each difference scaled by how much the factor varies across districts, and none more than two standard deviations away on any one. The group starts with nearby districts that match closely (within half a standard deviation on average) and fills the rest from anywhere in the state. Peers carry the achievement, spending and staffing comparisons.

Regional peers 8 school corporations

The 8 districts (public school corporations) within 25 miles of Carmel Clay, straight line between district offices, whose profile on the same four factors is comparable: on average within one standard deviation. They carry enrollment, property taxes and home values, and their median sits beneath the peer median elsewhere. A district in both groups appears in both lists.

“Indiana median” is the middle value across Indiana's public school corporations. Corporations that enroll mostly virtual students are left out of both groups. Spending is F-33 current spending excluding state on-behalf payments; students per teacher is the NCES Common Core of Data count.