Who should fund schools in Alaska?

May 14, 2006

VELLEY VOICES/Harry Yost

The special election for increased bonding to fund new school construction in the Mat-Su Borough is history. A few voters (approximately 17 percent of those registered) have saddled the majority of property owners with more taxes.

Despite the Alaska Constitution mandating the state pay for schools, we're still using the outmoded 19th century system of financing schools on the backs of local property owners instead of all of the taxpayers of Alaska. Also, given the bragging of our legislators about how big the state budget surplus is, having them guarantee (?) to pay 60 to 70 percent of the cost of the new schools might be considered just a little disingenuous. Why not 100 percent? They have the money and we don't.

Since we seem to be enjoy the 19th century model for funding schools, why not go back a little farther and use the 18th century model? In that model, only property owners had the right to vote on items which would impact their property values.

That would do away with the present system of letting everyone vote on property tax issues, even if they don't own property. A question: How many of the approximately 17 percent of registered voters who voted on the bond issue are actually property owners?

I know, taxes are included in rent, but they pay the full amount only on a single-family dwelling. The more renters per building, the lower the share of the taxes each renter pays.

Another small part of the 18th century model, prior to the 1790s, was the inclusion of church support as a part of the property taxes. Before the adoption of the First Amendment to the Constitution, it was a fairly common practice in some of the original 13 states.

This was the main reason for inclusion of the so-called &#8220separation of church and state” clause in the First Amendment. (&#8220The Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”) And yes, the local sheriff could (and sometimes did) seize property for nonpayment of that portion of the taxes.

School taxes weren't actually included in property taxes in the early days of this country. Only people who had kids in school contributed to the operation of the schools. (How discriminatory!)

Speaking of discrimination, the state funds schools in most of the unorganized boroughs at 100 percent, both construction and operation. And then we are regaled with tales of how much the cost per student is there as against how much the cost is in the organized boroughs. (Depending on the source, two to three times as much.)

Perhaps the time has come for a change in the system of school funding. Maybe the state should take over the whole thing, and fund it from a statewide tax - either an income tax or a sales tax. (An income tax would get some of those &#8220windfall” profits from Big Oil.)

Oh, we would lose our &#8220local” control over the schools? Ask any school board member or school administrator how much of their time is spent complying with state and federal regulations and laws. Local control over the education system at this point in time is a joke. &#8220Bush” schools often have a local board, too, but Š

Further, the retirement systems for both teachers and other school employees operates at the state and federal level, not the local level. There is a squabble right now about TRS and PERS both being underfunded.

Since the state and the federal governments regulate those systems, whose fault is that? (Or did they take a lesson from Congress and Social Security and &#8220borrow” from those funds?)

Perhaps the time has come for the voters (property owners) of Alaska to put a solid limit on property taxes (like California's Proposition 13). Limiting property taxes only to those things which benefit the property, (fire and police protection and some road maintenance), would be a good start.

Limiting the amount of property taxes would cause the financial collapse of the borough government? The Mat-Su Borough operates on 15 to 20 percent of the property-tax money now. That would only need to increase slightly if the borough actually had a police department. So Š

Palmer resident Harry Yost is a regular contributor to these pages. His Valley Voices column appears every four weeks.