The tee time for Gov. Jim Pillen’s property tax mulligan will apparently be sometime in the next month. The state’s CEO is hoping to get a do-over on his attempt to reduce property taxes in a special session of the Legislature, something he was unable to do in the Unicameral this spring.

In the run-up to the special session, he’s also mentioned a couple of other issues that might be included in “The Call” — the governor’s proclamation which gives public notice as to which subjects the special session will be addressing. According to Nebraska statutes, the governor can also amend the call during the special session, “adding a subject not designated in the original proclamation.”

Clearly, the special session will be the governor’s agenda. But not necessarily his ball game. For that he will need votes.

He’s been kicking around two other issues: One revives the oft-tried idea that Nebraska should become a winner-take-all state in presidential elections. The other would create a sea change in public education financing: the state taking over the entire property tax portion for K-12 public school funding.

This space has argued the winner-take-all is a reaction to two presidents — Barack  Obama in 2008 and Joe Biden in 2020 — who won the state’s 2nd Congressional District electoral college vote in redder than red Nebraska. Rather than try to win the district with good candidates and better ideas that translate into more votes, Pillen and the state GOP want to change the rules. Republicans have failed in recent Legislatures but might have the votes to make it happen in a special session.

None of which makes it a good idea, but there it is.

The governor is also floating an idea — although unclear if it makes the special session call — that local school districts hand over the purse strings of K-12 public education to the state. That would mean zero property taxes funding public schools.

Even among us tax law neophytes, brows are furrowing.

Aside from time to vet such a revolution in funding, we must also remember that any discussion of property tax reduction should always be balanced with the impact it would have on public education. While the governor professes his plan would benefit the state’s public school children, some have a hard time squaring that with his support for “Opportunity Scholarships” (Legislative Bill 1402), which uses taxpayer money for private school tuition.

If Nebraska went to zero, we would join Vermont at the low end of states where K-12 public schools depend on property taxes, followed by Alaska, New Mexico, Alabama, and Kansas. According to a number of rating services, only Vermont’s public schools are, like Nebraska’s, ranked in the top 10 nationally. Indeed, Forbes magazine had Kansas at 29, Alabama 44, Alaska 48 and New Mexico last.

Perhaps that’s more correlation than causation, but education quality should always be front and center when the formula by which we fund public schools is the topic — whatever the session: bull, regular or special.

Of surely greater concern for many school districts is the ceding of local control because no matter how you dress it up, the keeper of the aforementioned purse is the shot caller. The specter of local districts, hats in hand, trundling off to Lincoln to present a PowerPoint to the Appropriations Committee for more funding is rather grim.

Plus, in a state whose districts are truly diverse in needs, geography and demographics, the attendant standardization that comes with centralized financing appears to be out of character for Nebraska. What works in Bridgeport may not work in Beatrice. The needs of a city district such as Lincoln surely differ from the needs in rural Loup County.

What exactly is the magic property tax formula? A 40% reduction? Zero for schools? How much would eliminating sales tax exemptions — squarely on the table to offset revenue loss — create further financial strain on low income Nebraskans who pay more than any other income level as a percentage of their earnings? What’s the correct combination of revenue and cuts to pay the bills while we provide services to those paying the freight in the first place?

These are longstanding, complex questions, all of which, appropriately, have had lengthy study and debate. If an extra gathering by the Legislature is truly needed — yet to be determined — then the session should focus solely on property taxes. Adding a political mechanism to elect a president and making a foundational change in school funding would unnecessarily clutter the call.

And make the session anything but special.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/07/08/single-subject-makes-it-special/

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