OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — Public schools are expensive, but Nebraskans expect them to be funded well.
Almost every state senator or candidate running says they want to find a way to shift the burden off the backs of property owners and instead have the state pay for more of the public school costs.
So how do we get there?
First, let’s look at the problem.
Any homeowner knows paying property taxes is annoying but for large landowners, it can be crippling.
“About $51,000 a year,” said Merilyn Nielsen last year, explaining his property tax bill to 3 News Now. Numbers show the state pays for less than one-third of the cost per student with local taxes making up more than half.
That's the average, but more than half the school districts get absolutely no state equalization aid. Candidate for Governor Jim Pillen, a Republican, has called to balance that in some way.
Republican senator Kathleen Kauth, running in Millard, said the formula used, known as TEEOSA, is outdated and the state has used band-aids to fix problems in the past.
“That I personally would prefer to just set it aside, put it in a sandbox and say, 'Okay, if we did this, how would it affect everything?' And figure out a better way to do it,” said Kauth.
Now, the Unicameral has made fixes. The Legislature put property tax credits in two separate funds in recent years, one of which is more than $500 million dollars, for which property owners must apply.
Senator Machaela Cavanaugh, a Democrat who’s seeking re-election, wants to take that money from tax credits, currently around $575 million and use it for state education funding.
“So there isn’t a new tax to create here. It’s about re-allocating funds in a more thoughtful and strategic and purposeful way that is much more transparent for the people of Nebraska to see,” said Cavanaugh.
Her Democratic colleague Senator Wendy DeBoer, also facing re-election, said those tax credits passed are nothing to scoff at.
But she said to find solutions to this very big problem we need experience, a commitment to education, and she’d like to rework the formula to get more schools more state dollars.
“Lowering the amount that the public schools have to raise from property taxes before the state kicks in, its fair share,” said DeBoer.
Republican candidate for Legislature in Bennington Christy Armendariz said school administrators also have a role in tightening their belts, in her experience working in hospital administration, that doesn’t always happen.
“First and foremost is to find out: are we actually spending what we need to be spending and are there areas that we could spend less?” said Armendariz.
A problem with no simple solution with a lot of competing interests.
Download our apps today for all of our latest coverage.
Get the latest news and weather delivered straight to your inbox.