Us vs. Them is a No-Win Situation

Elected officials in Lincoln seem content to stand by and watch the battle for property tax relief drive a dagger between farmers/ranchers and school folks. What a shame it is that too many people in this great state blame schools for their high property taxes. What a shame it is that our state leaders sit back and let school board members and school administrators take the hits that they cause when they know the true culprit is really how they fund K-12 education.

We do have a property tax problem. School districts are too reliant on local property taxes. School leaders have been saying this for several years and it has only been accelerated with the massive swells in land valuation we’ve seen over the past 4-5 years.

School board members and school officials want to be able to provide property tax relief more than you can imagine! That’s why we’ve begun to make sure the public understands that Nebraska ranks 49th in the nation for the percentage of its state budget allocated to K-12 education. We’ve seen the percentage of the state budget dedicated to K-12 education dwindle from 32% in 1998-99 to 27.6% today. There’s a lot of property tax relief in that 4.4% reduction of state budget towards K-12 education!

Yet, some state leaders seem content to sit by and blame high property taxes on “school spending.” Collectively, Nebraska public schools had an average annual spending increase of just 3.5% for the last decade. School spending has not caused the property tax crisis. The way the state funds schools is the problem, especially when land prices soar. York is a great example of what numerous school districts are dealing with. Our total annual revenue has only increased by an average of 2.5% since 2008-09 despite our property tax request increasing by over 45%. Our total spending has only increased by an average of 1.8% annually.

Total State Aid for York Public Schools
• Was $3.7 million in 2008-09
• Was $2.2 million in 2014-15
• Is $1.56 million in 2015-16
• Is projected to be $560,000 for 2016-17

Total Property Tax Request for York’s General Fund
• Was $6,472,903 in 2008-09 (46.5% of our total revenue that year)
• Was $9,395,581 in 2014-15 (58.5% of our total revenue that year)

The dirty little secret is that when local school districts have valuation increases, the state funding formula reduces state aid so more of the burden can be passed on to large landowners. The numbers speak for themselves.

Mike Lucas
York Public Schools