Michigan City Area Schools

Michigan City enrolled 4,763 students in 2025-26. Since 2005-06 enrollment has fallen 30%; the regional peer median (within 50 miles) shrank 27% 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. Michigan City's fall ADM was 4,954 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 Michigan City averaged $151,340, 3% above the median of the 6 districts within 50 miles ($146,640). That ranks 3rd of 7 in the area and at the 42nd 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 50 miles of Michigan City's: Griffith Public (32 mi, $178,380); Culver Community Schools Corp (41 mi, $160,640); Elkhart (44 mi, $147,980); South Bend (32 mi, $145,300); School City of Mishawaka (36 mi, $118,760); School City of East Chicago (31 mi, $86,400).

Where resident students go, fall 2025

Of 6,155 students who live in the district, 4,603 attend Michigan City schools: a retention rate of 74.8%, 234th of 290 statewide. 1,552 leave: 569 on Choice Scholarships to private schools, 235 to charter schools and 748 to other public corporations. 45 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, 28.0% of Michigan City students were proficient in English/language arts and 28.9% in math, against 38.2% and 40.7% for the median Indiana corporation. That ranks 245th and 246th among 290 corporations. Against the peer median it trails in science, IREAD-3, the SAT and graduation.

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, 28.9% of Michigan City students were chronically absent (missing 10% or more of the school year), against 26.6% in the peer median and 13.2% in the median Indiana corporation. That is 276th lowest of 290. Before the pandemic, in 2018-19, the rate was 18.5%.

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

Michigan City spent $16,187 per pupil on current operations in FY2024, against $13,977 for the peer median and $11,831 for the median Indiana corporation. Local property tax provided 22% of revenue (peer median 18%, Indiana median 25%) and state aid 46% (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 $30.7M across its funds, at a combined rate of $0.8241 per $100 of net assessed value. It levies no operating referendum. 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.

Michigan City and its regional peers (within 50 miles), pay 2026

Michigan City's operating referendum rate is the 5th highest of these 7 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 $0.2998 per $100 of assessed value for up to 8 years, raising at most $10 million a year. If it passes, the county auditor estimates the tax bill on a median home ($200,000 assessed value) would rise by $260 a year.

Michigan City levied no operating referendum tax for taxes payable 2026.

Michigan City's only school referendum since 2009 was in November 2013, and it failed. 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 Michigan City 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 Michigan City 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 6 school corporations

The 6 districts (public school corporations) within 50 miles of Michigan City, straight line between district offices, whose profile on the same four factors is comparable: on average within one standard deviation. Fewer than five comparable districts lie within 25 miles, so the radius was widened. 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.