Posted on 02/18/2021 6:53:42 PM PST by george76
In Naperville, Illinois, the school board announced it would distribute $10 million back to taxpayers this year. Yes. A tax refund.
In a news release, Superintendent Dan Bridges told residents that he "understands the great burden many of our families have faced during the COVID-19 Pandemic and hopes that this reimbursement lessens that burden." The typical family will receive a refund of $200 to $500. Good for Naperville.
The 10-month pandemic shutdown generated a savings of roughly $20 million, or about 6.5% out of a $300 million school budget. The Naperville Sun reported that the district's expenses for everything from transportation, utilities, staffing needs, and so on have been much lower while the doors have been shut.
Naperville school board member Paul Leong, a local businessman, told me: "It's amazing that we are the only school district in the area or in the state that has given taxpayers some of their money back."
Or in the whole country, for that matter.
Why aren't more school boards in areas where school buildings were shut down providing families and businesses with property tax rebate checks?
Heritage Foundation education analyst Lindsey Burke, who first suggested the tax rebate idea many months ago, said that if schools aren't open, the taxpayers who fund the schools deserve a break. But the National Taxpayers Association said it hasn't found any other school districts that have done so.
Why not? Lost revenues squeeze some low-income school budgets due to the economic effects of the pandemic. But in suburbs where property taxes primarily fund schools, the savings should be similar to what Naperville saw. The near-record 12% nationwide increase in home values over the past year means more, not fewer, revenues for schools.
Perhaps it is time for flash-fire local tax revolts led by homeowners demanding some of their money back. If school authorities claim no budget savings, school boards and mayors have a fiduciary obligation to require full audits to determine where all the money went. For example, we know that many school districts scandalously continued to waste millions of dollars of tax money running school buses for months.
The Naperville story is also instructive because it points to the fiscal lunacy of the President Biden "stimulus" proposal for the federal government to give up to $225 billion to the nation's public schools. Hundreds of private and Catholic schools in some of the most impoverished areas have kept their doors open without extra financial help. Why do schools that have closed their doors for nearly a year need MORE money?
The people who deserve a break are the tens of millions of taxpayers who paid for public educational services not rendered.
Shirley, you jest.
Its a joke, right?
It took a year to bring it up?
Education budgets are a way to keep eggheads on welfare.
the funds should be refunded in the form of school vouchers to be used for private school tuition.
killing fossil fuels, taking away our guns, letting illegals invade our country, and continuing to kill babies....
Shut and pay, peasant.
I sent an email to my county’s superintendent of schools last May asking why I wasn’t refunded my property tax assessment for schools since they were closed. No response. Surprise, surprise.
20 million in savings and they toss 10 million to the plebes. We should be grateful for 200 dollars per household.
What are they doing with the balance of 10 million in windfall savings? Why doesn’t that money go back to the taxpayers?
There is so much to be seen in this window on the soul of this school district
That’s a great question! It’s complicated.
Can I circle back to you on that?
I would fire all of them including the 2 in my family.
Bbaaaawwwaaahhhhhh...
> I sent an email to my county’s superintendent of schools last May asking why I wasn’t refunded my property tax assessment for schools... <
A superintendent will often speak for a district. But I don’t think he has any power when it comes to tax issues. I’d suggest that you contact your school board instead.
There aren’t that many variable costs in a school. Most costs are fixed and many costs are going way up.
Districts are spending huge unplanned sums for PPE, sanitizing, shields, sanitizing stations, etc. Classes, when they resume, are half-full, so double the number of classes and hence double the number of teachers. Certain professions like school nurses must be on site whenever any children are there, so with double the number of classes, you have double the number of nurses. With double the number of classes, costs for utilities actually double and do not go down.
Many districts provide computers to their students for remote learning and also provide the Internet connectivity for low-income students.
People who think there are savings in all of this mess aren’t familiar with what it takes to run a school and haven’t thought through school budgets very clearly. My wife manages purchasing at a medium size K-8 school district and it’s been a trying year for everybody in the district, but there sure aren’t any savings.
The Corsicana (Texas) ISD had the football stadium lights on last night. That has aggravated some people. Me included since so many were told to conserve.
I think they should do this everywhere!!
Well online private schools only cost about 45% per student of what a public school district costs. The reason there is no money to refund is because public school district employees get full pay whether they have any work to do or not. I have a neighbor who works for a school district in the transportation department who is out in his yard doing landscaping projects every day. He said since there is no transportation going on right now so he doesn’t have any work to do but still gets paid.
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