Public Education Funding: Property Taxes vs Equal Distribution

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  • ChristianPatriot

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    I know in recent history, states have moved further away from using property taxes to fund the majority of public education. Just looking for general pros and cons. On the surface, equal distribution makes more sense but I’m open to other ideas.
     

    HoughMade

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    What do you mean by "equal distribution"?

    I see no reason why those who pay higher amounts of property taxes should not have some of that increased amount of the money spent in their community.
     

    JettaKnight

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    What do you mean by "equal distribution"?

    I see no reason why those who pay higher amounts of property taxes should not have some of that increased amount of the money spent in their community.

    Get out what you put in?


    Seems equal to me.
     

    ChristianPatriot

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    I guess I should put a precursor. We homeschool so I have no skin in the game other than I pay taxes. How can inner city schools get the quality of education more closely in line with the more affluent areas? Restructuring of teacher’s unions? Abolishing public sector unions?
     

    JettaKnight

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    I guess I should put a precursor. We homeschool so I have no skin in the game other than I pay taxes. How can inner city schools get the quality of education more closely in line with the more affluent areas? Restructuring of teacher’s unions? Abolishing public sector unions?


    I see what you're saying; take a pot and spread it out... question is how far do you make that circle? I.e. is it an even distribution in the district, the city, the county, the state?


    Not so much here, but in large municipalities the real estate market is heavily influenced by school districts. Being on the other side of the street could drastically change the value of your home.


    I got no kids, but a wife that part of the ed. bureaucracy. Needless to say, we don't always see eye to eye.
     

    ChristianPatriot

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    I see what you're saying; take a pot and spread it out... question is how far do you make that circle? I.e. is it an even distribution in the district, the city, the county, the state?


    Not so much here, but in large municipalities the real estate market is heavily influenced by school districts. Being on the other side of the street could drastically change the value of your home.


    I got no kids, but a wife that part of the ed. bureaucracy. Needless to say, we don't always see eye to eye.

    Yep that’s a better way of asking. How far should that pot be spread? Where should the pot be filled from? To what extent should your putting more into the pot mean you get more out of it?
     

    HoughMade

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    I guess I should put a precursor. We homeschool so I have no skin in the game other than I pay taxes. How can inner city schools get the quality of education more closely in line with the more affluent areas? Restructuring of teacher’s unions? Abolishing public sector unions?

    Education funds are not distributed 1:1 with property taxes paid (or income taxes paid). All in (all education funding sources), more is spent in poorer areas per tax dollar paid in those areas than in higher income places.
     

    jamil

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    I know in recent history, states have moved further away from using property taxes to fund the majority of public education. Just looking for general pros and cons. On the surface, equal distribution makes more sense but I’m open to other ideas.

    I'm kinda torn on how to fund schools. I think it's a problem that poor school districts under-fund schools, and then under educate kids, and then they grow up to be poor adults, and then they send their kids to the same ****ty schools they went to, and the cycle continues. I'd like to see the education system become more consistent across school districts. I lived in Missippi for 8 years and I'll tell you their public schools are ****. They're one of the poorest states in the nation and they have one of the worst public school systems. It's not the kids fault that they have ****ty schools. They don't have a lot of choice but to grow up under-educated.

    That sounds like something that really needs fixed. But how do you fix that? As you move the financial responsibility up the government levels, you cede more control over what your kids are taught to those higher levels. Do we want those decisions left to federal, state, or local governments? There's something to be said for nationwide consistency, but then that comes at the expense of local sensibilities. I think it's a hard problem to solve.
     

    jamil

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    I see what you're saying; take a pot and spread it out... question is how far do you make that circle? I.e. is it an even distribution in the district, the city, the county, the state?


    Not so much here, but in large municipalities the real estate market is heavily influenced by school districts. Being on the other side of the street could drastically change the value of your home.


    I got no kids, but a wife that part of the ed. bureaucracy. Needless to say, we don't always see eye to eye.

    Here property values around Georgetown are heavily influenced by school districts. Across the bridge in Louisville, they bus kids all over the city. It's kinda like a lottery where your kids will go. Many parents who can afford it put their kids in private schools. Or, because schools in our district are well funded and rated very high, people from across the bridge like to move here to raise their kids. So that drives up our property values, which means higher property tax assessments, and even more money for the schools. Homes in my area don't stay on the market long. Meanwhile, New Albany schools, also in Floyd County, are kinda ****ty. And there's not much anyone can do about it as long as the situation remains. They don't get the funding that our schools get.
     

    ChristianPatriot

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    I'm kinda torn on how to fund schools. I think it's a problem that poor school districts under-fund schools, and then under educate kids, and then they grow up to be poor adults, and then they send their kids to the same ****ty schools they went to, and the cycle continues. I'd like to see the education system become more consistent across school districts. I lived in Missippi for 8 years and I'll tell you their public schools are ****. They're one of the poorest states in the nation and they have one of the worst public school systems. It's not the kids fault that they have ****ty schools. They don't have a lot of choice but to grow up under-educated.

    That sounds like something that really needs fixed. But how do you fix that? As you move the financial responsibility up the government levels, you cede more control over what your kids are taught to those higher levels. Do we want those decisions left to federal, state, or local governments? There's something to be said for nationwide consistency, but then that comes at the expense of local sensibilities. I think it's a hard problem to solve.

    Right. Inner city kids having to go to crap schools is not their fault. I’m NOT saying it’s racism. It’s clearly more about socioeconomic status than race. There’s crap schools in poor white areas too. So what can be done about it? Is there sufficient data to suggest that increased funding in “poor” schools would actually result in better education?
     

    HoughMade

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    Yeah that seems like a problem.

    That poorer areas get more back than they pay in?

    I don't have a problem with that. I just think that when a person pays more, there is nothing wrong with them getting more to some extent.

    I used to live in a lower-priced subdivision that was frequently a "first stop" for people moving out of apartments when they could afford their first house. One of the prime movers for them was better schools. I lived there for 15 years and saw it time and time again. I don't see that as a bad thing.
     

    Leadeye

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    I've always wanted to see how spending of that tax money is broken down. At my old house there was a big funding referendum and district meetings. For wanting 150 million and change I couldn't get anybody to give me a solid breakdown on where all the money went. The referendum failed, but was back the next year for less, and continued to drop each year after.
     

    ChristianPatriot

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    That poorer areas get more back than they pay in?

    I don't have a problem with that. I just think that when a person pays more, there is nothing wrong with them getting more to some extent.

    I used to live in a lower-priced subdivision that was frequently a "first stop" for people moving out of apartments when they could afford their first house. One of the prime movers for them was better schools. I lived there for 15 years and saw it time and time again. I don't see that as a bad thing.

    My fault. I read that as a higher percentage of local taxes goes to those schools, not more taxes from outside their area.
     

    printcraft

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    Property tax on one’s home is bad.
    Change my mind.


    giphy.gif
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    I'm kinda torn on how to fund schools. I think it's a problem that poor school districts under-fund schools, and then under educate kids, and then they grow up to be poor adults, and then they send their kids to the same ****ty schools they went to, and the cycle continues. I'd like to see the education system become more consistent across school districts. I lived in Missippi for 8 years and I'll tell you their public schools are ****. They're one of the poorest states in the nation and they have one of the worst public school systems. It's not the kids fault that they have ****ty schools. They don't have a lot of choice but to grow up under-educated.

    That sounds like something that really needs fixed. But how do you fix that? As you move the financial responsibility up the government levels, you cede more control over what your kids are taught to those higher levels. Do we want those decisions left to federal, state, or local governments? There's something to be said for nationwide consistency, but then that comes at the expense of local sensibilities. I think it's a hard problem to solve.

    I'm not sure that is true across the board. I believe Indianapolis Public Schools spends more per student than any other school district in the state, and compared to the township schools, it has lower per-capita income/home values. It also has a lower academic performance rate.
     

    HoughMade

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    This is why I referenced education funding from all sources...because that's what I think the issue really was.

    ...but people who pay more income taxes have a tendency to pay more property taxes too. So the discussion is more wealthy (or average) income areas versus poor areas for education funding.

    And if anyone thinks that more money somehow automatically means a better education....
     
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