In 1991 the state of Minnesota established an equalization program which provides tax relief to districts that have higher tax burdens due to their low property wealth. It’s a “match” of state money that makes local levies more affordable for citizens in low property wealth districts. Equalization provides tax fairness and helps ensure that all school districts have equal opportunity to generate additional revenue for their schools.

The graphs in this section look at the ratios of state aid versus local levy for voter-approved referendum in SEE school districts from 1995 to 2008. The ratios in 1995 were necessary so that all local taxpayers paid approximately the same per levy dollar based on their property value regardless of where they lived in Minnesota. However, since the state has not adjusted the equalization factors since 1993 to reflex current market values, the state has shifted more of the burden onto the local property taxpayer. This shift is particularly confusing to the local property taxpayer that sees the school levy portion of their property tax bill increase yearly. It is not clear to the taxpayer that the shift only reduced the state’s obligation by increasing their local property tax burden, yet their school district did not receive any additional funding.

Taxpayers in property poor districts can now pay as much as 2.8 times more than the same taxpayer in a property rich district. SEE strongly advocates for the Minnesota legislature to increase the equalization factors to provide tax fairness and reduce the opportunity gap for students living in districts that struggle to pass referendums.

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