Property Tax Reform...More complicated than using gaming revenue

With my 12 years of experience serving on the Hempfield School Board I have become familiar with the inherent problems in our funding of public education through our property taxes. It is much more complicated than simply using gaming revenue to offer relief. Over the past few years, we have seen a decrease in the State Government's funding of public education yet inflation at a rate of approximately 3% per year (not including the increase in the price of gasoline) has continued to raised costs for the school districts. Couple that with the fact that school districts continue to compete with each other to attract people to their district and it's easy to see how the burden of cost has been placed in the laps of the taxpayers. All that being said, my plan for property tax reform is a four-part plan which is outlined below. Keep in mind that we need to provide relief to our seniors first.

1. 50% Cost Share: The State needs to fulfill its promise of a 50% cost share for education. Twenty years ago the State contributed 50% to public education. Now, it contributes 34.4%. If the State would own up to its promise, the people of the 39th District could see a 15.6% discount in property taxes.

2. Regionalization: Regionalization of schools for business purposes will increase buying power and level the playing field of the school districts. Right now, there is too much competition between school districts. With regionalization, instead of school districts competing against each other, the regions would negotiate together. This would make public education more cost effective resulting in a discount in property taxes.

3. Eliminate Unfunded Mandates: The State needs to stop the unfunded mandates. If the State is going to mandate educational programs to the school districts, it needs to pay for them.

4. Gaming Revenue: My opponent has continued to pitch that gaming revenue will offer the relief needed with property tax reduction. Gaming revenue will offer some relief, but it is overestimated and is simply a Band-Aid fix. Specifically, with gaming revenue we will only see an approximate decrease of a few hundred dollars per year. That's not enough and there is no guarantee that the relief will continue beyond a couple years. Again, it's a Band-Aid fix. We cannot gamble our children’s education on gaming alone.

If you have any further questions or you want to offer input with regard to my plan to reduce property taxes please contact my campaign headquarters at (724) 837-3900.