WOW. You guys did not hold back and gave me a lot of great feedback on property taxes in the survey I sent out last week. The survey got over 700 responses.
88% of respondents said they believe they pay too much in property taxes. And, when asked, “What level of certainty do you feel that you have in the predictability of your property tax bill? The biggest segment of respondents (35%) answered 0.
Thank you to everyone who participated. Property taxes are a tough issue. With your feedback, I can consider the perspectives of all stakeholders as we work to find a solution that delivers relief and certainty to the taxpayer.
Final Agreement on School Funding
The biggest news out of the Statehouse this week was the final school funding agreement passed through the House and Senate and sent to the Governor’s desk for her signature. This bill is a result of months of negotiations. While our original proposal included more money for schools, this final agreement includes a couple of key wins secured by the House Republican caucus.
This final agreement includes:
- A 2% increase in SSA for Fiscal Year 2026 plus an additional $5 per student. This results in more than $105 million more in school aid.
- This year also brings phase two of the teacher salary increase. This will include almost $35 million additional dollars for public schools.
- The State Cost Per Pupil amount increases to $7,988 per student which includes an additional $5 for per pupil equity, which was a key component fought for by House Republicans. This is an increase of $162 per pupil.
- The operational sharing cap increases from 21 to 25, an additional $942,087 for public schools.
- An additional 3% increase in transportation equity, in addition to the 2% increase. This equates to $1,554,938 more for public schools.
Altogether, these increases equate to a 2.8% increase in state funding to public schools. House Republicans secured more than $4.7 million in additional investments for public schools through our negotiations.
False Claims on School Funding
We continue to hear the misleading claim that we are increasing ESA funding by more than we are increasing public school funding for the next fiscal year’s budget. I touched on this in a previous newsletter which you can read here, so I won’t belabor the point. I’ll just remind everyone that the full picture requires you to consider the dollar amounts rather than just the percentages the minority party continues to highlight.
The cost of the ESA program does not even come remotely close to the amount we spend each year on public schools. I’ve provided an updated graph below with the side-by-side comparisons. And keep in mind that in the FY 2025 budget, state aid to public schools accounts for 43.62% of the entire state budget. That’s the biggest piece of the pie by far. ESAs, meanwhile, account for 2.01% of the total state budget.
