“The State Doesn’t Levy Property Taxes”

Now that ANOTHER legislative session has ended with no viable solution for Nebraska’s extreme over-reliance on local property taxes to fund K-12 education, some of Nebraska’s elected leaders continue to somehow blame school districts for causing high property taxes. They love to say “the state doesn’t levy property taxes” as a way to pass the buck on to locally elected school board members that put in countless hours to ensure their school systems are living up to the mandates and guidelines established at the state level.

These “pass the buck politicians” love to imply local property taxes are insanely high due only to local spending instead of the outdated and ineffective way we fund our schools.

For some reason, even a few leaders within the Nebraska State Chamber of Commerce like to pile on and seem to take joy in blaming K-12 education for high property taxes. That’s sad because many, many others believe that K-12 education is an integral part of this state’s economic development.

The truth is the state of Nebraska forces school districts to live off property taxes. Right at 72% of Nebraska’s school districts don’t receive any equalization aid from Nebraska. They have nowhere to turn other than property taxes.

Over 70% of York’s revenue this year comes from local property taxes. The national average is just 29%.

It’s like a restaurant requiring its chef to make a nice dinner but they don’t give him/her money to buy the necessary groceries. The chef then has to go charge the items needed at the local grocery store and then gets ridiculed by the restaurant for “over-spending.”

York hasn’t had a spending increase since 2014-15 and only an average annual spending increase of 1.3% since 2009.

Since 2014-15, our local property taxes have increased $1 million but our total revenue has DECREASED by $720,000. That’s right, the increase of $1 million in property taxes isn’t even keeping up with our lost revenue from the state.

As a state, Nebraska ranks 49th in the nation for the percentage of school district revenue it provides from the state level.

You be the judge…does York Public Schools have a spending or a funding problem?