School City of Whiting

Whiting enrolled 1,050 students in 2025-26. Since 2005-06 enrollment has grown 24%; the regional peer median shrank 24% 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. Whiting's fall ADM was 1,091 in 2023-24, 1.01 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 Whiting averaged $177,240, 21% above the median of the 6 districts within 25 miles ($146,410). That ranks 4th of 7 in the area and at the 61st 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 Whiting's: Merrillville (15 mi, $188,920); Portage Township (19 mi, $183,140); Griffith Public (11 mi, $178,380); Lake Station (15 mi, $114,440); River Forest Community Sch Corp (14 mi, $105,740); Lake Ridge New Tech (10 mi, $97,620).

Where resident students go, fall 2025

Of 724 students who live in the district, 583 attend Whiting schools: a retention rate of 80.5%, 180th of 290 statewide. 141 leave: 56 on Choice Scholarships to private schools, 31 to charter schools and 54 to other public corporations. 459 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, 40.0% of Whiting students were proficient in English/language arts and 34.8% in math, against 38.2% and 40.7% for the median Indiana corporation. That ranks 124th and 209th among 290 corporations. Against the peer median it trails in IREAD-3 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, 19.7% of Whiting students were chronically absent (missing 10% or more of the school year), against 20.3% in the peer median and 13.2% in the median Indiana corporation. That is 237th lowest of 290. Before the pandemic, in 2018-19, the rate was 9.4%.

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

Whiting spent $11,970 per pupil on current operations in FY2024, against $11,431 for the peer median and $11,831 for the median Indiana corporation. Local property tax provided 16% of revenue (peer median 20%, Indiana median 25%) and state aid 66% (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 $4.2M across its funds, at a combined rate of $0.8529 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.

Whiting and its regional peers, pay 2026

Whiting's operating referendum rate is the 4th 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.

Question 1. The November 3, 2026 question asks for an operating referendum tax of up to $0.3372 per $100 of assessed value for up to 8 years, raising at most $2.5 million a year. If it passes, the county auditor estimates the tax bill on a median home ($250,000 assessed value) would rise by $383 a year.

Question 2. The November 3, 2026 question asks for borrowing of up to $39.3 million for a building project, plus up to $28.81 million in interest and fees, repaid for up to 23 years by a levy of at most $3.5 million a year. If it passes, the county auditor estimates the tax bill on a median home ($250,000 assessed value) would rise by $530 a year.

Whiting levied no operating referendum tax for taxes payable 2026.

Whiting's only school referendum since 2009 was in November 2023, 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 Whiting 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 Whiting 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 25 miles of Whiting, 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.