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The Minnesota Legislature is failing to fulfill its Constitutional duty to establish a “general and uniform . . . thorough and efficient” system of public schools. This is especially apparent in the area of property tax policy, where increasing reliance on local levies imposes unequal and unfair burden on taxpayers in low property wealth school districts, cities and counties. To resolve the growing inequities in funding education and the quality of education provided in different parts of our state, SEE recommends the following:
- Re-establish the general education levy.
Governor Ventura’s 2001 Property Tax Reform eliminated the general education levy, reducing school levies in Minnesota from $1.9 billion to $924 million. The general education levy was the single fairest levy in the education funding system, as it was fully equalized, meaning the tax burden on property with similar market value was uniform throughout the state. Over the past decade, school levies have grown to an estimated $2.3 billion, an increase of more than 150%. Furthermore, the resulting property tax burden from these increasing local levies varies greatly from one district to the next because it is based on the individual property wealth of each district. To generate similar revenue for their schools, taxpayers in low property wealth districts pay relatively higher taxes than those in high property wealth districts. Re-establishing the general education levy would be a significant positive step toward returning property tax fairness to the education funding system.
- Update the equalizing factors for all education-related levies.
Because a new state revenue stream was not created to account for the elimination of the general education levy, two separate, yet related, dynamics took place. First, the absence of adequate state revenue prevented steady and predictable increases in the general education formula. This has caused nearly all school districts in the state to attempt to pass local levy referendums to make up for the lack of state funding delivered through the basic formula. This current system is random and inequitable, as property wealth levels affect both the chances of passing a local levy and the amount of revenue that can be collected. The situation has been made even worse by the state’s failure to significantly update its equalization programs over the past 20 years, creating large disparities in tax effort and burden between high and low property wealth districts. Some local levies (career and technical, lease and capital projects) are not equalized at all, causing further disparities.
- Reduce mandates and further streamline regulatory processes.
While progress was made in reducing mandates in the 2011 session, there are additional mandates and regulations that do not improve education and should also be eliminated. These include unnecessary special education paperwork and regulations that, if eliminated, would not negatively impact the educational benefits and rights of students in these programs. In addition, the cost/benefit analysis of maintaining certain reports (i.e. comparable worth) should be measured and, if little or no value exists, the report should be repealed. The Legislature should also provide funding to support the new teacher evaluation framework it is mandating and give districts full authority over the distribution of staff development revenues to accommodate the differing needs of different districts.
All public school students must have equal access to a high quality education
regardless of where they live in Minnesota.
