Polk County vs Southwest School Corporation
TN · 2,160 students • IN · 1,776 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Southwest School Corporation spends 2% more per student than Polk County after adjusting for local price levels.
- Polk County directs 8 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than Southwest School Corporation.
- Southwest School Corporation is far more dependent on local property taxes (32% of revenue vs 21%), which ties its budget more tightly to local property values.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Polk County | Southwest School Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 2,160 | 1,776 |
| Schools | 7 | 5 |
| Grades served | PK–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | Rural | Rural |
| County | Polk County | Sullivan County |
| State | TN | IN |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 88.1 | 87.8 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| Polk County | Southwest School Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $12,686 | $12,934 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $14,403 | $14,732 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $13,728 | $13,472 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Polk County
Southwest School Corporation
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
Polk County
- Local 20.7% Locked
- State 62.8% Locked
- Federal 16.6% Locked
Southwest School Corporation
- Local 31.9% Locked
- State 61.2% Locked
- Federal 6.9% Locked
| Polk County | Southwest School Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 20.7% | 31.9% |
| State share of revenue | 62.8% | 61.2% |
| Federal share of revenue | 16.6% | 6.9% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How TN funds its districts
TISA — Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement: a per-pupil base with student-specific weights.
How IN funds its districts
Tuition support: a per-pupil foundation grant with complexity funding, almost entirely state-funded.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
Polk County
- Instruction 57.5% Locked
- Instructional staff support 5.0% Locked
- Student support 5.8% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 8.0% Locked
- Transportation 4.7% Locked
- Food service 7.3% Locked
- School administration 5.0% Locked
- District administration 3.6% Locked
- Other support 3.0% Locked
- Other current 7.3% Locked
Southwest School Corporation
- Instruction 50.5% Locked
- Instructional staff support 3.6% Locked
- Student support 3.1% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 15.8% Locked
- Transportation 8.5% Locked
- Food service 4.8% Locked
- School administration 5.0% Locked
- District administration 3.9% Locked
- Other support 2.2% Locked
- Other current 4.9% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Polk County minus Southwest School Corporation. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Polk County | Southwest School Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 62.5% | 54.0% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 8.6% | 8.9% |
| Transportation share | 4.7% | 8.5% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Polk County | Southwest School Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrollment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | — | 14.2 |
| Students per counselor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Polk County | Southwest School Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Children aged 5 to 17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 17.8% | 15.5% |
| English learners | 0 | 0 |
| Students with disabilities | 0 | 0 |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -4.8% | -0.4% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Polk County
No stability flags raised.
Southwest School Corporation
- High debt burden More than 10% of total spending goes to interest and debt retirement, money that cannot reach a classroom.
- Low share reaching classrooms Under 55% of current spending reaches instruction and instructional support, low against national practice.
| Polk County | Southwest School Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -4.8% | -0.4% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
The same checklist for both districts. Every "required" below links to the sentence it came from.
Southwest School Corporation
Enrollment | Southwest School Corporation
Almost nothing could be read off this page — usually a portal that builds its content in the browser. Treat the column below as "we could not tell", and open the district's page yourself.
Read August 23, 2026.
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Polk County
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
Southwest School Corporation
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrollment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
- Required the page says so, and the sentence is quoted.
- Mentioned only it comes up, but not as a requirement — often a sentence saying the district cannot demand it.
- Not mentioned we read the page and it was not on it. That is not the same as "not required".
- Page not read we have no enrollment page for this district.
Documents to bring
| Polk County | Southwest School Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of residency | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Proof of age (usually a birth certificate) | Required “Proof of Age” | Not mentioned |
| Immunisation records | Required “Proof of Immunization” | Not mentioned |
| Physical examination | Required “Proof of Physical Examination” | Not mentioned |
| Dental, vision or hearing screening | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Tuberculosis test | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Records from the previous school | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| IEP or 504 plan | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Custody or guardianship paperwork | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Parent or guardian photo ID | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Home language survey | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Emergency contact information | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Proof of income | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Social security number Asked for by some districts. It is not required to enrol, and a school may not refuse a child who does not provide one. We list it because districts ask, not because you must answer. | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
How enrolling works
Locked 11 steps of the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments, proof of residency — are not shown. What to bring is above, and stays free.
- A blank row means the requirement did not appear on the district’s page. It does not mean the district will not ask for it — published lists are routinely incomplete, and the registrar has the final word.
- Requirements change every enrollment season. Check the district’s own page, linked above, before you gather anything.
- A district cannot condition enrollment on your child’s immigration status: under Plyler v. Doe (1982) every child resident in the district is entitled to a free public education. If a district asks for something that would reveal status, you are not obliged to provide it.
- If your family is in temporary or shared housing, the McKinney-Vento Act lets a child enrol immediately without the residency and records documents listed here. Ask for the district’s homeless liaison by name.
Comparability notes
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in TN and IN.
What these numbers are, exactly
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Polk County
The county or town levies it, not the district
This school system reports no property tax of its own. It is a dependent system: the county or city levies the tax and appropriates money to the schools. You still pay school property tax — the school board simply is not the body that sets it, and the appropriation is argued out at the county or city council.
Southwest School Corporation
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
| Polk County | Southwest School Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | — | $3,921 |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | $2,251 | — |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | — | 25.5% |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $171 | $0 |
- Southwest School Corporation: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. It records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Who sits on the board
Southwest School Corporation board of education
- Jacque Steele — Treasurer
- Jon Bobbitt — President
- JERRY WILSON — Member
- Detrich Harris — Member
- MIKE ESLINGER — Vice President
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-24. Boards change; the district’s page is the current record, not ours.
These seats are elected, and what this board decides — the budget, the attendance boundaries, the calendar — is decided at a meeting the public may attend. The district’s own board page, linked above, is where it publishes the schedule and the agenda. We do not hold meeting dates or contact details for these people.
Funding measures on the ballot
Polk County
We have not read TN’s election results, so this column is empty because of us and not because of Polk County. Whether it has asked its voters for money is a question its county election office can answer and we cannot, yet.
Nobody has read TN’s school election results yet — that is a gap on our side, not a fact about this district. Its county elections office holds what it asked its voters for and what they answered, and that is a public record you can request. What it says is worth asking about at a board meeting.
Southwest School Corporation
We hold every school funding measure the state of IN published since 2009, and this district appears in none of them.
What this state publishes: School referenda certified by the Department of Local Government Finance, November 2009 to date, from the department's four historic listings. The index states its own empty election periods, so a year with no measure is a year no Indiana school district asked. Indiana publishes the certified outcome and never the vote: no row here carries a yes-share, because the DLGF reviews ballot language and certifies levies and never sees a canvass. The ballot question and the dollar figure come from the determination filed with each referendum, and every determination before 2020 is a scan with no text layer, so most rows before then carry a district, a date, a type and an outcome and no amount.
The detailed figures for Polk County and Southwest School Corporation
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and total current spending, and the funding mix in dollars (the percentage shares stay free)
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counselor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
- the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments and proof of residency
$1.79 for both, for three months, 21 cents less than buying them one at a time.
The 3-month unlock is a single payment and does not renew; it simply ends. A subscription renews, monthly or yearly as chosen, until you cancel. No account to create: this purchase is held in this browser, so clearing site data or moving to another browser loses it, and the phone apps sell their own unlock through their own store. What to do if you lose it.
Compare something else
Polk County on its own · Southwest School Corporation on its own