The debate over school property taxes in Pennsylvania is heating up as Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Republican lawmakers try to balance the authority of school boards to increase taxes against a budget deal that would raise the state sales tax to finance reductions in school taxes.
School boards, teachers' unions and other organizations that want an apolitical formula to distribute state aid to schools are pressing state officials against further restricting school board autonomy.
In a Monday letter to Wolf and top state lawmakers, the Campaign for Fair Education Funding said further restrictions would worsen already large funding inequities between Pennsylvania's richer and poorer school districts.
"Why would we lock in those inequities when we are just about to begin an unprecedented long-term effort to finally solve them?" the coalition questioned.
Wolf first proposed a property tax cut in March financed by an increase in state taxes as a way to help correct funding inequities.
Under an overdue state budget deal still in negotiations, the state sales tax would rise from 6 percent to 7.25 percent to cut residential property taxes by $1.4 billion, or about 15 percent. Public schools also would see a record increase of $350 million, or about 6 percent, in state funding.
However, Senate Republicans have attacked a state-financed property tax cut. It could create a permanent state tax increase in exchange for a reduction in school taxes that could be quickly swallowed up by rising property taxes overseen by school boards, they say.
"If we're going to do that, our caucus is going to demand taxpayer protection" against local tax increases, said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre. "Now, what that's going to look like remains to be seen. We're still discussing it."
Possibilities under discussion include requiring every school budget to be passed by voter referendum or limiting exceptions that allow certain tax increases without voter approval, Corman said.
Current Pennsylvania law requires voters to approve school property tax increases, but allows certain exceptions to that requirement: when the proposed increase is below an inflation-adjusted benchmark or when it is needed to cover costs related to special education, school construction, pension obligations or debt service.
On Wednesday, the governor's office said Wolf opposes a requirement to expose every school tax increase to a voter referendum. His office did not say what kind of change Wolf supports, however, and Wolf has declined to answer reporters' questions on the proposed budget deal since it became public Monday.
The proposed increase in state aid and property tax cuts would put Wolf about halfway to his goal of raising the state's share of the school funding burden to 50 percent of the total, up from about one-third currently.
Members of the Campaign for Fair Education Funding raised the specter of public schools facing growing state requirements for student performance, but with no guarantee of adequate state aid and no ability to raise enough money to satisfy those requirements.
"If school boards start cutting programs, they'll be pointing their fingers back at the state Legislature," said David W. Patti, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Business Council, a Harrisburg-based business advocacy group. "That could be the thing that haunts you in the future as a state lawmaker, and it's also bad politics."
David Broderic, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, warned that the state is risking the next school funding crisis, undoing local control and shortchanging children.
"It's probably one of the worst ideas we've heard in a long time and that's saying a lot," Broderic said.
