Pa. house to consider property tax freeze for 2020-2021

STRONG LOBBYING BY SCHOOLS IN OPPOSITION UNDERWAY

MANY SCHOOL DISTRICTS ALREADY CONSIDERING LARGE TAX INCREASES

There is an amendment filed to House bill 974, that would freeze property tax increases for the 2020-2021 year. The House is in session today and tomorrow to consider some of these issues.

Many School districts are claiming that they are losing revenue due to the shutdown. They believe that it will be an opportunity to raise property taxes. Their wages and benefits always take priority over the taxpayers who are not able to just raise someone else's taxes to make them whole.

While it is true that schools may be losing revenue, they also had an opportunity to cut their costs. Much of the school system is shut down and they could have made some management decisions to reduce their expenditures. Sadly, that is seldom how this system works. There is little consideration for efficient operation, but much consideration for increasing revenue and expanding facilities and raising taxes.

It seems they intentionally paint themselves into a box by borrowing money, building extravagant sports facilities, refusing to cut staff, even when enrollment declines, and then cry for increased taxes as soon as there is a downturn.

It is time to consider a reorganization of the whole school board management approach, which is  nothing more than a group of yes individuals elected by the activist educational establishment.  

Many of the states school districts are already being funded by the state to a large degree, it is time to scrape the property tax and school board system and replace it with a state tax system controlled by elected representatives who may have more of an incentive to represent all the people, not just the Education Industry.