A setback for sensible funding reform
Tuesday, June 3, 2008Written by: Captain Haddock
Our state suffered a setback for school funding this week: A district judge ruled Friday that Governor Ritter’s mill-levy freeze is unconstitutional. The Post reports:
… The mill-levy freeze amounted to a change in tax policy and, thus, should have been approved by voters under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR amendment. She said earlier votes in the vast majority of school districts to shed TABOR revenue limitations were not sufficient to have approved the freeze.
"Because the undisputed fiscal impact of (the freeze) was to increase the size of state government, in this court’s view, this requires compliance with the ‘voter approval’ requirements of TABOR," Habas wrote.
The freeze was passed last year as part of Senate Bill 199, the annual school-finance act. It holds mill levies — the rate at which taxes are charged — in place when they normally would fall, allowing local school districts to collect more tax money. The state, in return, can use the money it saves for other purposes.
The freeze would have brought in $117 million this year, and nearly $3.8 billion over ten years, money which, if spent sensibly, could help hundreds of thousands of children. Opposition to this urgently needed reform was brought by the Independence Institute, always at the ready to protect taxpayers against those citizens who foolishly attempt to pool our resources to help disadvantaged children. It has been said, and can be said again: TABOR simply doesn’t work. It hasn’t improved our economy, it hasn’t improved our schools, and it hasn’t improved the lot of most Coloradans. The ruling itself, and its pending appeal, are based on varying interpretations of the requirements of TABOR and on whether the freeze would result in an increase in property tax revenue collected and thus be subject to TABOR voter-approval requirements. Whatever the legal technicalities behind the ruling, the fact is that Ref C was not enough: more needs to be done to surgically excise this financial cancer from our state’s economy.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:34 am
“…money which, if spent sensibly, could help hundreds of thousands of children.”
That’s a major qualifier, and a huge leap of faith.
Or maybe not. If it’s an easy and obvious sell, Ritter could have asked - still could go back and ask - the voters for the extra money, so the state doesn’t have to backfill the State Education Fund as much.
So, TABOR “hasn’t improved our economy, it hasn’t improved our schools, and it hasn’t improved the lot of most Coloradans.” I understand it also hasn’t found the cure for cancer, brokered world peace, or put a man on Mars. What it has done (to a lesser extent since Referendum C) is instill some fiscal responsibility in state government and ensured officials are accountable to taxpayers. I would say TABOR has improved our economy and the lot of most Coloradans by ensuring our government didn’t load itself up with debt and overspending. And did you know that Colorado school per-pupil funding increased by 17 percent (after inflation) from 1992-93 to 2005-06?
If you want to pay more in property taxes, please volunteer the funds. Or organize a statewide ballot campaign to approve the “mill-levy freeze.” But please don’t hand over my pocketbook, too. I’d like to see more accountability and transparency from officials first.