Indiana’s tax revolution coming to education
By BRIAN A. HOWEY
INDIANAPOLIS - I heard the news today, oh boy. Michigan City Schools could lose $1.4 million in 2009 if Gov. Mitch Daniels’ cap’n'cut tax reforms pass. Indianapolis schools could lose $14 million. South Bend could lose $6.84 million, Hammond $13 million, Gary $8.2 million. Wayne County schools could lose $1.2 million in 2010.
Centerville Supt. Phil Stevenson told the Richmond Palladium-Item, "It’s a killer." It knocked the wind out of me. It’s just another blow for education."
And yet this plan passed the Indiana Senate. It voted 41-7 for Senate Joint Resolution 1 on the constitutional caps for property taxes. It voted 47-1 on SB12 on the circuit breakers. Similar legislation passed the Indiana House 93-1. So is the governor and the legislature sticking the shiv into public education?
What I didn’t understand is how public schools could be losing all this money when the House legislation, for instance, calls for the state to fund 100 percent of school operation and transportation costs. Currently, the state funds 85 percent and your local property taxes pay for the remaining 15 percent. If the state is paying 100 percent of the operational costs, how come we are hearing about teacher layoffs?
"The governor’s plan provides that the remainder of school operating and transportation costs are picked up by the state," said Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski. "The figures the school corporations are discussing are the effects of the circuit breakers on remaining spending from property taxes once the plan is implemented. The latest Legislative Services Agency report on the Governor’s plan as introduced shows collectively that the impact to school corporations is about $153 million less statewide once the circuit breakers are fully implemented in 2010.
"The shortfalls come in places like debt service and capital projects," Jankowski adds, "Even with that circuit breaker impact, schools will still have 7 percent more in 2010 than in 2007." The governor’s plan does not include an offset to the cap for schools. Limiting local government and school spending is one of his core plan elements. Or as he described it to the Association of Indiana Counties, taxpayers don’t need to be funding "exploding scoreboards and edgeless swimming pools."
"The plan includes the ability for schools to move money among funds, so school corporations will be able to use operating and transportation dollars to manage the circuit breaker," Jankowski explained. Budget Director Ryan Kitchell told HPI, "The governor has been pretty clear that what he wants to try and achieve is a tax cut. We want to take care of schools. We’re going to pay for all the school costs, the bus drivers, the fuel. One thing we think is real important is in all these different funds, you’re locked in. There might be $10 million in one fund and we wanted to reduce some of the barriers. There will be a lot more flexibility there. We think it will help them manage and not just squeeze."
Andrew Norris, policy analyst for Senate Republicans, explained, "School districts must continue to pay their debt service obligations, which means any loss in funding due to implementation of the circuit breakers will force school districts to make cuts to their capital projects fund. The superintendents do not want to see their ability to build new schools impaired by a lack of funding due to the circuit breakers. They are also not in favor of the governor’s plan to offset any losses by transferring monies from other funds, namely the operating and capital projects funds."
The Indiana State Teachers Association opposes the state assuming 100 percent of the general fund. It says that property taxes have been a stable funding source, economic forecasts are predicting an economic slowdown, and 950 schools have not made the Adequate Yearly Progress mandated by the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind. "Demanding more of students while providing less instructional support is unfair, especially for students most in need of additional assistance," said ISTA Executive Director Warren Williams.
"School general fund property taxes are not the cause of the current property tax issues," said the ISTA’s Nathan Shnellenberger.
There are points where the ISTA appears to approach the governor’s perspective. It advocates separating school construction projects into "learning facility" and "auxiliary facility" components, and urges "local units of government to collaborate on the construction and use of auxiliary school and community facilities.
"In my school district, taxpayers are paying for a $14 million swimming pool (it was originally proposed at $20 million) while there is a YMCA across the street that just went through major renovation. Daniels is asking school districts to start sharing football and basketball stadiums. He is urging districts to consolidate, as did the Kernan-Shepard Commission. There is legislation, for instance, that would pool school construction blueprints so that each new school project doesn’t start from scratch. A middle school in Lawrenceburg might just look like one in Auburn. "I understand the logic behind having a common set of blueprints to use, and I think that would save money, and in many cases that would be reasonable," ISTA’s Schnellenberger said.
Derek Redelman of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce explains that the ISTA wants to control the general fund rates. "That hits right at the problem with property taxes," he said.. "They’ve seen the property tax as the guarantee for the amount of money. They could get whatever money they needed. Taxpayers are saying, ‘We’re not going to take that any more."
Redelman predicts that when the caps pass (and they almost certainly will), "the immediate focus will be on cutting teachers." When Daniels was asked recently about teacher cuts, he responded by asking why would teacher cuts be the first option?
"Everyone focuses on teachers," Redelman said, adding that half of school employees in Indiana are not teachers. "Why not the janitorial staff or assistant superintendents? If schools end up facing cuts, we’ll see story after story about teacher cuts," he said.
There’s a revolution underway in Indiana and it’s about to hit the schools.
From Howey Politics Indiana
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
THE HOWEY REPORT: "THERE'S A REVOLUTION UNDERWAY IN INDIANA AND IT'S ABOUT TO HIT THE SCHOOLS."
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
PROPERTY TAX REFORM & REFERENDUMS UP FOR COMMITTEE VOTE FEBRUARY 19
Referendums on all major local government building projects, including projects for growing school districts, will most likely be included in the property tax reform package now being considered in the Indiana Senate.
Senator Luke Kenley, Chairman of the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee, has said the Senate will make alot of changes to the legislation passed by the House. Kenley also said a key change will be to restore the referendum proposal giving voters the final okay on any new major building projects including growing school districts.
Lobbyists for teachers and schools testified for five hours on Tuesday, February 6, in support of the amendment exempting all classroom-related projects saying the existing petition and remonstrance system is adequate and all that is needed. Kenley said the public has lost confidence in the government's ability to make these kinds of decisions, and referendums are needed to give the voters a direct voice in municipal building projects.
The Senate will continue debating changes to House Bill 1001 before Kenley and his committee vote on February 19. The bill will then move to the full Senate for debate. All changes made by the Senate must be approved by the House. If they cannot agree, the bill will move to a joint House-Senate committee who must then hammer out a final version before the legislative deadline of March 14.
Other changes the House made to House Bill 1001 include increasing the earned income tax credit for the working poor from 6 percent to 9 percent and doubling the renter's deduction on state income taxes from $2,500 to $5,000. It is unlikely the Senate will keep the earned income tax credit increase in the current legislation. Kenley and Senator Robert Meeks, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, both feel the earned income tax credit will have to wait until next year when the new state budget is crafted. Part of the reason is the state's current fiscal position is not very good at the moment. Tax collections have been slumping, and the state has taken in $43 million less this fiscal year than was expected. The Senate will continue to look at the renter's deduction because Kenley feels help for renters is tied to property taxes.
FLIP: THIS STATE HOUSE
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
Why should legislators keep their seats while Hoosiers lose their homes? The answer to Indiana's property tax crisis is for citizens to "flip" as many seats as possible, come May and November; again and again, election cycle after election cycle, until we have people in government who aren't familiar to any of the lobbyists.
All incumbents, belong on the "Git List." We can't do any worse than the current crop, who has steered us straight into the perfect storm and tax increases, coded as tax relief. There is absolutely no reason to vote anyone back into office.
Who exactly, has consistently and actively taken a public stand for open process, and an open floor vote, in both houses, for repeal? Many, so called supporters for repeal, have been ineffective, as they cave to special interests, and "leaders" who threaten them with dollars for their districts (House), or committee chairmanships (Senate). Sounds a bit clubby doesn't it; for people who are so busy making "tough decisions" and doing "grownup work?" What does it take to get the decoder ring?
The best hope for Hoosiers, regardless of party affiliation, is to register and vote in record numbers; to flip incumbents out of offices, where their presence actually makes life worse for the people they refuse to "represent." Flip voters, will organize and be the first fifty or one hundred, to vote at select polling sites, passing out literature and encourage fellow voters, to flip: this state house.
When IN doubt, flip 'em out!
The Indiana Voter's League
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
IT PAYS TO BE A DEPARTMENT HEAD IN HAMMOND
For a city claiming to be in dire financial straits, we just have to wonder where Mayor McDermott is getting all this money to give his department heads and legal counsel nice pay raises.
The latest department head is Fire Chief Dave Hamm, who because of a parity clause in the firefighters' contract, will receive a pay raise equal to that received by Police Chief Brian Miller. Both Hamm and Miller will see their salaries jump from $64,772 to $80,000 annually. Because of the parity clause, nine other firefighters also received pay raises last summer. Hamm said he was not aware of the Police Chief's raise and had not asked for a pay increase for himself. Apparently, he didn't read The Times the day the article was in the paper.
Corporation Counsel Joe O'Connor is also getting a $10,000 pay raise. O'Connor is to be compensated for taking on additional duties as corporation counsel. He will also continued to be insured under the city's self-insurance fund.
Good thing these city employees don't work in the private sector. Like most of us, you would have to take on more duties for the same pay and still be thankful you had a job!
TEAM NEW ALBANY: "YOU THINK YOU'VE GOT IT BAD?"
We received this message today from Freedom of Speech Team, our activist friends in New Albany.
Our city is a train wreck about to happen. Our new mayor is our old mayor of 12 years ago. He is a crook and a bigger CROOK now. You cannot imagine what all he has done over the last 30 days- an $11,000 raise for himself. We now have 2 deputy mayors a 118 take home cars. In 16 years we have spend around $60 million dollars on sewers and we now have another $47 million to spend. They have been giving like $32 million dollars in 2007 in tax abatements. They have borrowed $5.3 million from sewer utility to cover our general fund and never paid it back. We have been to the city prosecutor, Indiana atty. general and even the governor and been told is too political.
You think you have it bad in other counties. Listen to this one:
My sister is the assessor for our county. I worked for her for 5 years. During the entire time I worked there she was cutting peoples' property taxes to get re-elected.
Her first deputy works doing income taxes for 3 months out of the year. She not only collects a salary FROM doing taxes but a nice check from City. It took me 2 years to figure out what was going on and then I started making copies of time sheets and everything I could get my hands on. I mean boxes of paper work.
Well to make a long story short, my sister came to my new home (I purchased Sept. 2003 and moved into November 2003) on Martin Luther King day 2004 and handed me my termination papers. And told me she didn't have to give me an excuse to terminating me. So we got a bunch of citizens and current employees together and created Freedom Of Speech, IN 2005. Of course I am the only person who knows who everyone is. People know I'd not tell if someone put a gun to my head. Our cars have been trashed, gasoline poured on my porch. Spray painted "Bitch " on my garage door. On my birthday there was a box on my porch wrapped in a telephone cord with a bullet tied to it. Of course I deny being with Freedom of Speech.
My entire family has turned against me because I promised my dad before he died if she ever fired me to take her down. Well, I have been sitting with all this information, video tapes, time sheets. They also collected comp time and are making a fortune in local government.
I couldn't afford to fight her over being fired. I could not afford an attorney. This entire town is a house of cards. It would be so easy to expose this corruption and all if someone would help. I have even considered going to the FBI. You folks think you have it bad you ought to be living here. We have cops following us everywhere.
They are playing a shell game with our city money. Our state board of accounts audits is down right criminal for 4 years. Employees have been overpaid, our parks department ran up a $10,000 cell bill in one month. State Board of Acccounts tell us they have no power.
We don't have money to fight them. People are scared and won't even attend council meetings. I wish someone had some ideas or answers how we can fight back. We're the little people, working class citizens and have no recourse. We just keep plugging along but what can we do?? I'd be willing to go into protective custody to blow the whistle on these crooked "bastards".....
No one will touch this I swear, I have been trying for 4 years....
BTW, I guarantee this could turn into a movie deal. This is nothing but pure corruption, ghost employment, criminal crap and all we want is help to put all these crooked bastards in jail.....!!!
I have all these documents and no one to help us!!!!!!!! We need more than a Tea Party in our hometown, trust me.
Freedom of Speech Team in New Albany
From Hoosiers for Fair Taxation
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
