School finance review commission bill on today’s agenda, forecasting board to meet at 1 p.m.

A measure on today’s Legislative agenda, LB 132, would create the School Finance Review Commission.

LB 132 presents a common-sense solution to Nebraska’s high reliance on property taxes. The issues contributing to our high reliance on property taxes are complex and difficult to address in the context of a single legislative session.

This school funding review would serve a similar purpose to the School Finance Review Commission, created in the late 1980s. The product of that commission was our current K-12 funding formula, which in its initial years did help reduce our reliance on property taxes. The formula, however, has been tweaked multiple times in the years since, often resulting in reduced K-12 funding and increased reliance on property taxes.

Taking another comprehensive look at how we fund schools in Nebraska can help lawmakers determine what steps can be taken to address this long-standing issue in a meaningful and sustainable way.

Also today, the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board will meet to revise the state’s revenue forecast.

An increase or decrease in the forecast would change the amount of funds lawmakers have to enact new legislation this session and this could dramatically affect the fate of the many bills with fiscal impact that are still being considered by legislators.

The forecasting board meets at 1 p.m. and OpenSky will provide updates from the meeting on our Twitter page.