Critics of Gov. Bill Ritter’s plan to expand preschool and kindergarten programs by “freezing” school property taxes are insulting the intelligence of local voters – most of whom have already approved just such a freeze.
Anti-tax fanatic Douglas Bruce was quick to asssail Ritter’s plan to hold property tax rates steady as a “tax increase,” based on his familiar claim that failure to cut taxes every year is the same as increasing them.
Bruce’s logic reminds us of a game we played as a kid called “backwards land,” where the object was do everything “sdrawkcad.” The adult viewpoint on taxes was better represented by Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, who argued simply, “If I pay $100 this year and $100 next year, I don’t see that as a tax increase.”
White’s sensible outlook has already been embraced by voters in 174 of Colorado’s 178 school districts. They have ready approved proposals that allow their schools to keep all the money their existing property taxes will raise – even if a growing tax base means those existing rates bring in more revenue. Often referred to as “de-Brucers,” such elections are authorized by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and suspend other TABOR provisions that otherwise would require cuts in tax rates when strong economic growth pushes revenues above TABOR formulas.
But even though TABOR, passed in 1992, includes this sensible provision allowing local voters to freeze their tax rates, a school finance law passed by the legislature in 1994 effectively revoked that right. As a result, most school districts are now forced to cut their taxes after every biannual property tax reassessment. This boneheaded law thus denied local voters the right to forego tax cuts to pay for improved school programs like the ones Ritter is now trying to finance.
In compensation for slashing local revenues, the 1994 law required the state to pick up a rising share of total K-12 costs. As a result, the state share of the total K-12 budget has soared from 44 percent in 1994 to 62 percent this year. Without a change in the current law, it would likely reach 72 percent by 2017 – starving other vital state programs including higher education. Inevitably, this massive shift in school funding to the state has been accompanied by a loss of local control over our schools.
The Senate Education Committee Thursday moved this year’s school finance bill to the Appropriations Committee without the property tax freeze proposed by Ritter because of qualms voiced by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder. But the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, plans to include Ritter’s freeze plan when the bill reaches the full Senate.
We commend Windels’ vision. Ritter’s plan won’t raise one dime in extra revenue in the four districts that have not already voted to freeze their taxes. But for the voters in the 174 districts who have said they’re willing to forego future tax cuts in return for better schools, it’s time for Colorado to keep its part of that bargain.
