Bill would boost state aid to schools

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

McCOOK, Neb. — A bill introduced at the state level would increase state aid to Nebraska school districts to a minimum of 25 percent of each district’s fiscal year budget.

During his weekly legislative conference call with the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce, District 44 State Sen. Dan Hughes said the bill comes with a sizable price tag that supporters hope to cover via fee increases.

“There is a bill that will be dropped [introduced] that plugs into the current TEEOSA formula and gives a certain amount of money to every student in the state, as a basic, to cover the cost of basic education. Of course, there’s a fairly sizable price tag that’s going to come along with that,” said Sen. Hughes, adding a phased-in approach to implement the legislation was possible.

The Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act, passed over a veto in 1990, is designed to provide tax equity for taxpayers and schools, and equity of educational opportunity for students, according to the Nebraska Council of School Administrators.

Preliminary discussions among state lawmakers indicate they are leaning towards fee increases, rather than a tax increase to fund the bill.

“We’re certainly looking at increasing some fees, kind of across-the-board in different areas. It’s not my legislation, I’ve just been in discussions with my colleagues with things like that. That bill won’t necessarily have a tax increase with it but it’s probably more of a fees increase. Yes, there’s going to be more money coming out of somebody’s pocket to pay for it. But it certainly will help equalize the state’s responsibility to educate our children,” said Sen. Hughes.

State lawmakers supporting the measure are banking on combining the fee increases with a mix of tax-relief measures to make it more palatable to constituents, according to Sen. Hughes.

“That, along with the 50/50 deal of giving you an income tax rebate for 50 percent of your taxes paid to your K-12 education; the governor’s plan of taking the property tax relief fund and splitting it between homeowners and ag real estate; and then having the income tax cuts stay certain. Nobody I talk to is complaining about their income tax.

“All I hear is about property tax. As it unfolds, there will be some things gain traction and die out and other things you don’t think have a chance will come along and get legs,” said Sen. Hughes, adding it’s an interesting process and certainly needs to be monitored closely.

The bill, LB 1103, was referred to the Education Committee earlier this week and is scheduled for a hearing on Feb. 5, 2018. According to the introduced copy for the proposed bill, state aid distributed to each school district would be the greater of 25 percent of the basic funding calculated for the school district for the fiscal year or the amount determined by the TEEOSA formula.

Asked whether it was true Nebraska already ranked high nationally in spending on education, Sen. Hughes said the source of education spending for the state sometimes varied along with the source of national ranking reports.

“We do spend a lot of money on our kids. But it depends on which survey or which report that you look at. The amount of money that is spent from general fund dollars, which are state money, versus the amount of money that is spent by the local taxpayer. Depending on who issued the report and what type of information they were trying to get out. Overall we do spend quite a little on our kids for K-12 education,” said Sen. Hughes.

Legislation proposed at the state level to increase Nebraska’s interstate and highway speed limit generated a lot of discussion during Gov. Pete Rickett’s “State of the State Fly Around” earlier this month. The governor indicated most favored the proposal, according to Sen. Hughes.

Hughes said he was interested in results from related studies underway by the Department of Transportation, but would most likely support the change.

“I am certainly in favor of that. The roads we have are better than they’ve been in the past, the vehicles are certainly safer,” said Sen. Hughes, adding “I think I’m going to be in favor of that.”

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