The more and more involved I get with "school funding" and "property tax reform" the more convinced I am that we have a huge lack of trust between school districts and the legislature. Let me explain...for decades, schools have been accused of spending too much money, of "manipulating the system" to earn more equalization aid from the state, etc. You will hear some current and former state senators lament that "schools will spend $10 to earn $1 more in equalization aid." On the other hand, schools will be quick to point out that we've been promised "adequate" and "sustainable" funding many times in the past only to have the carpet pulled out from underneath us on a very routine basis. Trust is broken on both sides and it's not easy trying to build it back up.
School districts aren't able to operate as proactively as we would like because we have no idea what our revenue will be from year to year. Think about it, being able to reasonably project revenue with which you create a budget around for this year, next year, and two years down the road can help you become much more efficient. You can be strategic about large-ticket purchases like school buses, curriculum adoptions, technology upgrades, etc. Being proactive is always better than reactive. School boards get lambasted in the court of public opinion when they deal with a valuation increase but don't drop the levy and local tax request. Perhaps many school boards do that because they are terrified about what the next year will bring on the revenue side. You see, us "school folks" know that TEEOSA, the funding formula used here in Nebraska, has only been fully funded 3 times in the past 16 years. We know the system and how "the game" gets played legislatively and that when the state is short of money, they reduce their support to public education knowing good and well that local property taxes will fill in the gap they've created. Trust is broken on both sides and it's not easy trying to build it back up.
Many of us K-12 leaders are working hard through our local school boards and "Nebraskans United for Property Tax Reform and Education" to come up with viable solutions that will cut down on our over-reliance on local property taxes and allow for more sustainability when it comes to adequately and consistently funding high quality public schools in our state. It's a difficult and landmine filled task. Our state has an addiction to local property taxes to pay for local services. Several powerful people and organizations want to keep it that way while the vast majority of "regular Nebraskans" are literally begging for a new method of funding K-12 education and the bullets below show why!
** Nebraska K-12 schools receive 49% of their funding from local property taxes while the national average is 29%.
** YPS receives about 72% of our funding from local property taxes.
** Nebraska K-12 schools receive 33% of their funding from state sources while the national average is 47%.
** YPS receives about 18% of our funding from state sources.
Here in York, we're working towards wrapping up the 2016-17 fiscal year on August 31st. It's a fiscal year that will have us spending less than we spent in 2015-16 or 2014-15. Unfortunately, it's also a year that will see our revenue decrease by $800,000 from 2015-16 and $700,000 from 2014-15.
As we look ahead to 2017-18, the picture gets even worse. Our revenue is projected to "rebound" back up by $100,000; leaving us still way behind what we received in 2014-15 or 2015-16. Our valuation has flat-lined which is great news for our property owners but we aren't receiving any state money to fill in the gap. In fact, our total amount of state equalization aid will be $166,556. We were at $3.7 million in 2009. Keep in mind that in 2017-18, we will educate about 150 more students in 2017-18 than we did in 2009.
Our average annual spending increase will be 1.3% over the past eight years with a 0% increase since 2014-15. Curriculum adoption will be delayed again. We'll try to get another year out of our 28-year old bus.
"Trust" and "sustainability of adequate school funding" are two things I'm working hard on with my colleagues and elected officials. We have to improve both if we're going to make the monumental improvements necessary here in Nebraska.
One parting shot I would like to address is the importance of "economic development" in each community across our state. I know I sound like a "homer" but to me, K-12 education is about as big of an economic development force that any community can have. If a community doesn't have a highly effective K-12 school system, they're not going to make it. They're not going to attract new businesses or retain existing ones. They're not going to attract families to move in or to stay. In many small towns, the school district's activities are THE economic stimulus that they rely on. When I lived in Franklin, there wasn't much that brought folks to town like our awesome concerts, plays, and athletic contests. Those were the best revenue nights for our one restaurant, The Black Powder. Those were the days that our three gas stations were busy and even ol' Rightway Grocery got some extra business.
The Nebraska State Chamber of Commerce continues their negative take on Nebraska's K-12 public schools. They are quick to point out how much property tax revenue we use, how much education costs, etc. They send out one-sided info on our student assessment scores leaving the perception our schools are under-delivering and over-spending. It's a downright shame they're not proud of the fact that Nebraska's public schools have one of the highest graduation rates in the nation. It's sad they're not promoting the fact that Nebraska's public schools have the highest average ACT score in the nation for the 15+ states that have 80% or more of their kids taking the ACT. It's unfortunate the State Chamber doesn't understand the tremendous gains made all across the state on the Nebraska State Assessments since 2010. It's unbelievable they don't celebrate the extremely innovative "career education programming" in place in numerous school districts/communities across the state. Little 'ol York has 14 career academies, internship programming, work certification offerings, multiple business partnerships, and a manufacturing class. There's LOTS to be proud of!
York Public Schools has an amazing relationship with our local Chamber of Commerce. We partner up for numerous events. We appreciate each other. Many other communities and local Chambers enjoy the same level of respect and partnership. It's too bad the State Chamber of Commerce doesn't do the same.
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