This is an aerial view of a Penn's campus during autumn. The campus is surrounded by trees with fall colors, and there's a river in the background

Financial Stewardship

Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility

The Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation Business Office is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of financial stewardship. Our primary goal is to ensure an efficient, effective, and transparent process in support of the stewardship of our public resources to best serve our students and community. We view school finance as a strategic tool used to translate community resources into student success, serving as the “operating system” that legally fuels our district’s operations.

Stewardship Highlights:

Decorative No Referendum: P-H-M operates without a property tax referendum.
 

Decorative Lowest Tax Rate: We maintain the lowest school tax rate in St. Joseph & Elkhart County .

Decorative AA Rating: S&P Global Ratings has assigned P-H-M an “AA” underlying rating with a stable outlook.

Our Strategic Approach: Transparency & Efficiency

To ensure accountability, P-H-M utilizes a data-informed framework to manage our revenue landscape and strategic “buckets”. Our financial strategy is guided by:

  • Fund Accounting: Organizing resources into specific legal “buckets” to ensure funds are used only for their intended purposes.
  • Strategic Planning: Aligning fiscal resources with educational goals to ensure every dollar supports student achievement.
  • Resource Stewardship: Managing the balance between the “people” and the “things” required to run a premier school corporation.
  • Internal Controls: The backbone of stewardship, ensuring legal compliance and protecting the corporation’s resources.

An icon of a house with a dollar sign above it, indicating real estate or property value.Where Our Funding Comes From

Understanding the school corporation’s revenue streams is vital for transparency. P-H-M receives funding from two primary “engines”:

  1. State Funding (The People): Driven by our student count, known as Average Daily Membership (ADM). This is determined by a base rate set by the Legislature plus variables for complexity (poverty), Exceptional Education, Career and Technical Education (CTE), and Non-English language programs.
  2. Local Funding (The Things): Driven by the Net Assessed Value (NAV) of property within the P-H-M community. This local revenue is what the community pays to maintain our physical infrastructure and daily operations.
  3. Federal & State Grants (Targeted Programming): It is driven by population demographics as well as priority programming areas such as STEM, robotics, or other federal or state initiatives. This revenue source makes up less than 10% of the total district funding.

Decorative

How Our Funds Are Spent

In school finance, the “Golden Rule” is that the State pays for the people (teachers and staff), and the local community pays for the things (buildings and buses):

  • Education Fund: Fueled by State Funding: dedicated to student instruction, teachers, and textbooks. 
  • Operations Fund: Fueled by Local Property Taxes: covers facilities, transportation, and safety.
  • Debt Service: Dedicated to managing long-term obligations related to facilities.
  • Rainy Day Fund: Reserved for unused funds to be utilized during emergencies.

Expenditure Breakdown

Our spending reflects our commitment to the individuals who impact our students daily:

  • Education Fund – 81% People: Salaries & Benefits
    • 68% of state tuition support goes directly to PHM teacher support in our classrooms.
  • Operations Fund – The Things: Supplies, services, and equipment along with the best in class staff maintaining our facilities
    • P-H-M responsibly maintains 15 schools, 1.9 million sq. ft. of interior learning space, and 500+ acres of property.

decorative

Current & Upcoming Plans (2026–2027)

The following summaries outline our ongoing commitment to fiscal excellence and the strategic allocation of resources: