Max the tax.
That was the advice from superintendents in 11 metro area school districts Thursday on how high to set the learning community common general fund property tax levy.
All except Papillion-La Vista Superintendent Rick Black voted to recommend that the Douglas-Sarpy County learning community council set the rate at 95 cents per $100 of property valuation — the maximum allowed by law.
Some superintendents whose districts stand to lose more money at that rate said they would agree to that rate this year, if the council adopts it, but they hoped the council would review the decision next year.
At 95 cents, the Omaha, Bellevue and Ralston school districts would be winners, drawing more money from the metro’s pooled resources and less from their own taxpayers. The South Sarpy, Douglas County West and Papillion-La Vista school districts would lose, sending more into the pool.
The 18-member learning community council is scheduled to set the common general fund levy and two other levies Aug. 27. The Nebraska Legislature created the common levy as a mechanism to redistribute wealth in the metro area with the aim of helping better educate disadvantaged kids.
Gretna Superintendent Kevin Riley, representing the superintendents, told the council his own district would lose money at 95 cents, but to go any lower would be a “bait and switch.”
Over the past few years, Riley said, state lawmakers tweaked the learning community law to reduce the funding losses some districts would have suffered under the common levy.
Those changes were based on assurances from superintendents that the levy would be set at the maximum, he said.
Lawmakers agreed to provide more funding for Westside’s option enrollment program, for fast-growing districts like Gretna and to assist districts such as South Sarpy that faced a steep decline in property taxes, he said.
“The Legislature’s already helped us, and helped us based on 95 cents,” he said. “For us to go in now and say we want 90 cents, that’s the classic bait and switch.”
The money gathered from the learning community’s common levy will be distributed to districts according to need — by the same formula used to distribute state aid to schools — so districts with more kids living in poverty or facing language barriers and other limitations get a bigger share.
Chuck Chevalier, superintendent of the South Sarpy School District, said he was comfortable with levying the maximum amount, even though his district stands to lose up to $500,000.
“This isn’t a hill that our district needs to die on,” Chevalier said.
He told council members the taxpayers would hold them accountable to make sure the extra money flowing out of his district actually serves needy students.
Black said he voted against the recommendation because it would take money from kids in his district and because of continued concerns that Sarpy County residents would pay more because of valuation practices that are different from those in Douglas County.
The superintendents also recommended imposing a 1-cent common building fund levy, which would be distributed to districts according to their enrollment.
The council has authority to levy up to 2 cents.
Some superintendents said they were against imposing that levy because some districts don’t need any more building funds and there should be more specific spending plans.
The 95 and 1 combination also won the endorsement of the learning community council’s own Budget, Finance and Audit Committee.
Wherever the levels are set, each individual school district can then levy additional local property taxes to supplement their budgets, but the total cannot exceed $1.05, which is the state levy limit for schools.
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