Charter schools have emerged as the big winner from Indiana’s latest session.

Indiana’s newly signed property tax relief law, Senate Bill 1, includes a major funding shift that will benefit charter schools for the first time by requiring public school districts to share a portion of their local property tax revenue.

Starting in 2028, districts with significant student enrollment in charter schools, more than 100 students or 2% of their population, will have to share operations fund revenue, which covers expenses like transportation, building maintenance, and utilities. The revenue sharing will be phased in over four years and is expected to initially provide $4.7 million to charter schools.

This is a significant departure from the way that charter schools are typically funded. Normally charters have access to headcount money but not property tax money. For years charter school advocates have wanted a piece of these funds. However public school officials say that their schools already underfunded and that just because a school’s nominal headcount decreases doesn’t mean that a school is necessarily cheaper to run.