Property taxes, Pre-K, special education talks highlight education committee hearings

Over the past few weeks, the Legislature’s Education Committee held public hearings in Hastings, McCook, Dunning, Omaha, Crete and Macy as part of its study of Nebraska’s K-12 funding system.

Reliance on property taxes was the focus of testimony during the Education Committee’s public hearings in Hastings, McCook, and Dunning.

Testifiers at each of these hearings said reliance on property taxes to fund education was too high. Nebraska presently ranks 49^th in the nation in terms of state aid to schools. We rank fourth in terms of reliance on property taxes to fund schools.

Several testifiers throughout the state called for more state funds to support special education and pre-K education. Another common theme at each hearing was that the state should work to provide consistent, predictable and stable aid to schools.

In Omaha, testifiers from the Learning Community called upon the state to alter the funding distribution of the common levy that is used for all school districts that are members of the Learning Community.

OpenSky testified in Omaha and we noted that the committee faces a tough task as it aims to balance the various priorities and needs of our state’s school districts. In our testimony we:

Reiterated our support for increasing state aid for K-12 education;
Joined those who called for increased investment in pre-K education, citing research that per-capita earnings of a state actually increase almost $3 for every $1 invested;
Encouraged the state to look at all forms of support it provides to schools to make sure it is going to where it is most needed; and
Called on the state to provide funding for capital construction and renovation.

Sen. Sullivan, chairwoman of the Education Committee and member of the Tax Modernization Committee, indicated the feedback from the LR182 hearings will be shared with the Tax Modernization Committee.