One in Three Indiana School Corporations Is Now Majority-Minority

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Ten years ago, Avon Community School Corp^↗ in Hendricks County was 70.4% white. It is now 43.4% white. The district added 1,453 students over that period, but the composition of its classrooms transformed. And Avon is not an outlier. It is the pattern.

Across Indiana, 134 school corporations now enroll a student body that is less than half white, up from 79 a decade ago. That is 31.2% of all 430 corporations, compared to 20.6% of 383 in 2016. Part of the raw increase reflects new charter schools entering the dataset, but the share tells the same story: majority-minority status went from one in five corporations to nearly one in three. The shift is not confined to Indianapolis or Gary or the urban cores where majority-minority enrollment has been the norm for decades. It is remaking suburbs, manufacturing towns, and first-ring townships that were overwhelmingly white within living memory.

The suburban ring flips

The most consequential crossovers are not happening in downtown Indianapolis. They are happening in the townships and suburbs that ring it.

Perry Township Schools^↗, the largest traditional corporation to cross the threshold, went from 53.5% white to 30.9% between 2016 and 2026, a 22.6 percentage-point drop. Perry crossed in 2018 and has continued to diversify since, with its total enrollment holding roughly steady at 15,726. The shift was driven by growth across all non-white groups: Black enrollment more than doubled from 998 to 2,287, Hispanic enrollment rose from 2,191 to 3,129, and Asian enrollment grew from 3,255 to 4,617.

MSD Decatur Township^↗, also in Marion County, saw the steepest white share decline of any crossover corporation: 29.2 percentage points, from 72.4% to 43.3%. Its Black enrollment more than tripled, from 652 to 2,069. Anderson Community School Corp^↗, in Madison County, crossed in 2023 after a steady 12-point slide. Portage Township Schools^↗, in Porter County near the Lake Michigan shore, crossed in 2025.

In Hendricks County, Avon's transformation stands out because the district was simultaneously growing. A 2024 demographic study presented to the Avon school board projected continued modest growth. But the composition of that growth has shifted fundamentally: Avon's Black enrollment tripled from 1,036 to 3,402 students between 2016 and 2026, while white enrollment fell from 6,536 to 4,657. Avon crossed below 50% white in 2024 and is now at 43.4%.

What is driving the shift

Statewide, white enrollment fell by 93,606 students between 2016 and 2026, a 12.9% decline. Every other racial and ethnic group grew. Hispanic enrollment increased by 42,137 (36.1%), Black enrollment by 12,836 (9.9%), Asian enrollment by 10,964 (48.7%), and multiracial enrollment by 9,861 (20.1%). The combined effect compressed white share from 69.3% to 61.4% statewide.

The demographic math behind each crossover varies by community, but two broad mechanisms are at work.

The first is the suburbanization of diversity. Research from the SAVI Community Information System at Indiana University Indianapolis documented that low-income student populations were falling in central Indianapolis while growing in Marion County's outer townships, including Perry, Lawrence, and Warren. The same outward movement applies to non-white families. Between 2016 and 2026, the 15 traditional corporations that crossed the threshold collectively gained 6,198 Black students, 5,132 Hispanic students, and 1,566 Asian students. Black suburbanization was the single largest driver in the Indianapolis ring, while Hispanic growth dominated in smaller cities.

The second mechanism is immigration. Indiana's population grew by 44,144 people in 2024, its largest annual increase since 2008, with 70% of that growth coming from international migration. The enrollment data reflects this. Seymour Community Schools^↗, a small corporation in Jackson County, went from 21.6% Hispanic to 48.2% Hispanic in a decade, adding 1,526 Hispanic students while its white enrollment fell by 932. Seymour's overall population is now approximately 24% Hispanic, drawn over the past two decades by manufacturing jobs at Cummins and other employers. Logansport Community Sch Corp^↗, in Cass County, followed a similar trajectory, dropping from 54.3% to 38.2% white as its Hispanic enrollment grew from 1,637 to 2,155.

Fifteen crossovers, fifteen stories

The 21 corporations that crossed from majority-white to majority-minority between 2016 and 2026 include 15 traditional school corporations and six charter schools. The traditional crossovers span Marion County suburbs, Lake County steel towns, a Tippecanoe County university city, and rural manufacturing communities.

The pace has not been uniform. Nine corporations crossed in 2023, the single busiest year, while 2021 and 2022 each saw only one. Two reversed course: Inspire Academy and Excel Center-Anderson were majority-minority in 2016 but majority-white in 2026, though both are small charter programs.

Not every crossover corporation is shrinking. Perry Township, Avon, Seymour, and Logansport all maintained or grew total enrollment through the transition. The demographic change in these corporations is not a decline story. It is a composition story.

Who is next

Franklin Township Com Sch Corp^↗, on Indianapolis's southeast side, is the largest corporation sitting exactly on the threshold. Its white share in 2026 was 50.0%, down from 76.4% a decade ago, a 26.4 percentage-point slide. With 11,572 students, Franklin Township is virtually certain to cross within a year.

Behind it are Muncie Community Schools (52.3% white, 5,102 students), Greater Clark County Schools in Jeffersonville (52.4% white, 10,627 students), and Kokomo School Corporation (52.6% white, 5,232 students). Brownsburg Community School Corp, another fast-growing Indianapolis suburb, dropped from 77.1% to 56.9% white and is on a trajectory to cross before 2030 at its current rate of decline.

The voucher blind spot

Indiana operates one of the nation's largest school voucher programs. In 2024-25, approximately 76,000 students received a Choice Scholarship worth a combined $497 million in state spending. Because voucher recipients attend private schools that do not report to the IDOE enrollment file, the demographic composition of public school corporations partly reflects which families are exercising private school choice. White students account for 64% of voucher participants. Some of Avon's demographic shift may reflect white families exiting to private schools as much as non-white families entering the district.

Franklin Township is next

Five corporations with more than 1,000 students are within three percentage points of the 50% white line. Franklin Township, at exactly 50.0%, will almost certainly cross in 2027. Brownsburg, at 56.9% and falling roughly two points per year, is on track by 2030. These are districts where the school board members, coaches, and PTA presidents grew up in a different version of the community than the one they now serve. The enrollment data records the shift. What it does not record is whether the adults running the system have caught up to the students sitting in the classrooms.

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