Essay # 6

Our schools only ½ the challenge

Better than ½ of the average Hoosier’s property tax bill pays for local schools.  In my community where commercial and industrial property is non-existent, the cost for local schools accounts for better than ¾ of our residential property tax bill.  Ironically, ~¾ of the taxpayers do not have children in school.

In response to my local government improvement proposal, many argue that city, county, township and all other taxes combined do not equal the local school corporation’s share of our property tax bill and feel we should put schools on a diet first. Good idea?

What would happen if we demanded that our school corporation’s annual budget be divided into halves?  The first half would detail the investment directly associated with academics and the second half would detail the cost associated with “everything else.”  “Everything else” would include things like football, baseball, soccer, swimming, golf, tennis, track, cross country, softball, theatre arts, marching band, orchestra, poms, cheerleading, dance team, choir, show choir, hockey, assorted clubs, stadiums, field houses, parking, and utilities/insurance/transportation/labor/facility costs associated with all the “extra” in extra-curricular activities.

A strong case can be made that each and every “extra” listed above is worthwhile and contributes to student success.  But, are they required to assure academic achievement?  We measure the effectiveness of our schools (our return on investment) through a student’s academic success as measured by test scores, college placement, and gainful employment.  Every student we are paying to educate will use their academic skills each and every day of their lives irrespective of career or calling.  In contrast, a fortunate few will actually earn a living from a career arising from an extra-curricular activity.  But even those fortunate few will use their academic skills at some point in their lives.

I think it’s unfair to make our schools the property tax “whipping boy” de jour.  We have high expectations of the “extras” in our schools and those “extras” come at a high price.  We demand winning sports teams, the most accomplished theatre presentations, programs that will showcase the best of our young talent and the facilities we proudly built.

Excellent schools mean increasing property values, increasing property values mean higher property taxes. Increasing demand for property increase property values.  Excellent schools increase demand drawing people with children to a community.  The new children increase demand for finite existing resources which forces… you guessed it… the need for expansion.  Expansion requires cash raised through property taxes which drives up property tax bills.  It’s a lot like the book “If you give a mouse a cookie.” It’s a spiral of cause and effect – victim of one’s own success. 

We’re not building schools, we’re building towns!  Which explains why schools are so expensive and consequently tax bills are so high.  Place to park, place to learn, library, landscaping, transportation system, medical services, social services, athletic & entertainment venues, television/radio station, food service, and security.  Sometimes I think that Disney should be designing & building our schools, not some local contractor.  If we were just building classrooms, hiring teachers, and providing transportation our investment would be a fraction of what it presently is.  Add Federal & State mandates to the needs, wants and desires we’ve imposed on our schools and our whopper bill should not be surprising.  No child left behind and no money neither.

I excluded school corporations from my improvement plan for good reason.  There’s much room for improvement, but in many ways the challenge is more complex and more demanding.  Let’s focus first on fixing local government where prospects for success are high and more immediate.