Panther Valley School District is one of a number of school districts that sued the Commonwealth over its school funding formula. The argument was that children in districts with low property values will never be able to get an equal education compared with students in property-rich districts. The plaintiffs have an excellent case, since they can use the exam results from tests now required by the state.
It is obvious that legislators are not about to address this problem. Republicans controlled both houses of the Pennsylvania state legislature and the governor’s office for two years and did nothing but posture and blather. Now that Democratic Governor Wolf has actually proposed a plan for more equal funding, Republican legislators like Jerry Knowles and Doyle Heffley continue to posture and blather about eliminating property tax, proposing nothing to eliminate the disparities in funding.
The only way this will happen is if the Pennsylvania courts force the legislature to act. Unfortunately we live in a state where the courts are just as craven as the legislature. The Commonwealth Court on Tuesday said this issue was a “political” issue to be decided by the legislature, not the courts.
Courts do that when they don’t want to deal with a case. Of course it is a political issue. It is also very clearly a legal issue, with constitutional implications.
According to an article in the Times News, Panther Valley Superintendent Dennis Kergick said an appeal will be filed. Mr. Kergick understands that his students are getting an unfair deal under the current system. He knows they are starting out at a disadvantage. He sounds like a reasonable and frustrated man. Unfortunately he (and his students from Lansford, Nesquehoning, Summit Hill, and Coaldale) are dealing with unresponsive posturing legislators and a responsibility-dodging Pennsylvania court system.
Since nothing will ever get done with creating an equal standard I feel the only solution is the passage of SB76 (Elimination of property taxes). Thereby it becomes the responsibility of the state to fund all school districts equally. A great problem is then solved by us property owners. WE get to keep our homes into retirement. I will gladly pay higher sales taxes on everything that I purchase, it will be far less than what I pay in property taxes. Pennsylvania's way of school funding is in serious trouble. Every year approx. 10,000 homes go up for sheriff's sales with no end in site. There are many home owners that just walk away and let the bank's foreclose. These homes rarely ever are sold since no ones wants to take on annual property taxes that are greater than what a mortgage would be. I could go on with many more reasons why we need to eliminate property taxes and that's why I am a fighter for SB76 passage. Latest count is that there are 26 state senators in favor. That's enough for passage in the senate. The problem is in the legislator where there are on 89 in favor and need 102 legislators for passage. If the present funding was equal those area's in the state with present high funding would be lower and they would be paying higher property taxes and would be pressuring there legislators to eliminate property taxes.
ReplyDeleteI think the better answer is have a truly graduated income tax--so much more fair than a sales tax. The problem is that in Pennsylvania we have a flat income tax, so the guy who receives (I won't say "earns") $10 million a year pays the same percentage as I do.
ReplyDeleteThe other problem with the property tax is that there is no upper limit. If it were one percent on each piece of property, with a circuit breaker for those property owners below a certain income, no one would be losing homes.
I don't believe many Penna. legislators really want to solve the problem. They want to use it as a campaign issue to win reelection.