Local
Modoc school district wins court fight against state-ordered closure
A Randolph County judge struck down part of an Indiana law that would have dissolved Union School Corp. after the 2026-27 school year. The ruling is a major victory for the rural district, which argued lawmakers added the closure provision to a tax bill without a public hearing.
A Randolph County judge has blocked Indiana from dissolving Union School Corp. under a law that would have forced the Modoc district to close after the 2026-27 school year.
Special Judge Brian Hutchison granted the district’s request for summary judgment in Randolph Superior Court, deciding the case without a trial. The ruling invalidates part of the law enacted in 2025 and is a major win for a school community that has spent more than a year fighting to remain open.
Union officials sued the state and Gov. Mike Braun, arguing lawmakers violated the Indiana Constitution by inserting the district’s dissolution into a property-tax bill without holding a public hearing. The court’s decision came after the Legislature added the provision to Senate Enrolled Act 1 during the final weeks of its 2025 session. Braun signed the measure days later.
Under the law, Union’s students and funding were to be divided between Monroe Central Schools in Randolph County and Blue River Valley Schools in Henry County.
“I feel like I can breathe again,” school board member Christa Ellis told fellow board member Christie Ogden after the ruling. Union Elementary School Principal James Widmer said the community’s response to the fight had been deeply meaningful. Board President Ogden said the decision reinforced her belief that the district belongs in the community.
Union operates a single school building in Modoc. This academic year, 259 students attend its in-person schools, up from 249 the year before, while about 4,033 students are enrolled in its three virtual programs.
State Rep. J.D. Prescott, a Republican from Union City who wrote the closure amendment, cited low test scores and declining enrollment as concerns when the law was debated. Union leaders have disputed the picture presented by districtwide test results, saying in-person students perform differently from students in the online programs. The district said all 13 of its in-person third-graders who took the state reading test passed last year; about 63% of students at its virtual elementary school passed.
Union was among Indiana’s early adopters of district-run online schools, which brought in state per-pupil funding. The district contracts with for-profit company Stride Inc. to operate the programs. Enrollment in the virtual schools has fallen from about 7,500 when the closure law passed to roughly 4,000 today.
The ruling leaves Union’s future in the community intact, reversing the state-mandated plan to divide its students and funding. Braun’s representatives and Prescott did not immediately respond to requests for comment.