this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2025
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How does a school property tax increase just happen without it being voted on and passed by the community?
This is a case of FAFO: the school system took on huge liability (in payment of the judgement) and the school system is funded by property taxes.
I get that, but every time the school district in my area wants more money it gets voted on for a property tax increase.
Those would be optional, before the expense, votes for the choice to spend the money or not.
This is a case of necessity, they'll be in violation of various laws and judgement decrees if they don't raise the money.
Also the city was clearly woefully underinsured with only $1m liability coverage. Most cities should have 10-100x that these days
Because they voted to elect these people as representatives and do it for them.
I'll be honest, I'm not sure how funding for schools works.
The school says to the city, "I need more money because properties are getting more expensive here" and the city bills the residents? Where does federal funding come in? Why do the residents pay for this?
Federal funding is just a drop in the bucket compart to local and state taxes that support public schools. 30 billion from the Fed to 13000 districts would be only 2 mil before accounting for federal staff to audit and distribute. And for a school 2 mill is only about 10-25 staff depending on district.
The military gets a cool Trillion a year.
When they don’t misplace it.
is "30 billion from the fed" the amount they are currently getting? and is it every year?
what is that compared to? ie. how much does a school get from local residents?
It is highly dependent on local, state, and federal funding sources, usually in that order. Property taxes are usually where most of the money comes from in most places, but that is not universally true. For example, in Colorado property taxes are not as much of a direct source of funding for schools as they are in other places. So despite having some of the most expensive property values in the country, Colorado has some of the worst funded schools and worst paid teachers in the country as well.
I live in one of the highest property value areas anywhere in the entire country, and the local district’s primary source of funding is municipal sales taxes. It’s truly absurd.
At the state level, many states use lottery money from any given area to supplement other funding. Which sounds great on its face, but the reality is that the lotto is effectively a regressive tax of sorts. Areas that have high property values save money from lotto contributions. Areas with low property values tend to have more people playing the lotto, but that money is rarely enough to make up for a lack of funding. What most people dont understand about those programs is that they dont take the lotto money from rich areas (or pool it) and provide it to poorer area schools that need it more. The money is geographically limited to the areas it comes in from
Why is this absurd?
Because when every property is worth millions of dollars, and even a parking space goes for half a million, the school could easily be funded using property tax well beyond what it even needs.
Instead, the school never has enough money to fund education. Teachers get paid below national averages. Test scores are below state and national averages. And then the school district asks for more money by placing the burden on everyday working class people just buying food or whatever (who dont own property worth millions of dollars) and tourists (who can be discouraged from visiting under increasing taxation) to primarily educate the children of the people who own property worth millions of dollars.
If you dont find that absurd then I dont know what to tell you
No I do, I just came in with limited understanding, appreciate your response
Sales taxes are regressive by design, and are ultimately a way to fuck over poor neighborhoods if you drop it to the municipal level.
The only time sales taxes tend to serve the local citizens well is when there's a large tourist or traveler population and even then it usually mostly goes to making sure their required infrastructure isn't a burden because if it's too high then they just don't spend money.
Why is @ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 's experience of local schools being funded sales taxes absurd?
Because when it exists in wealthy districts it not only primarily serves to makes sure none of the filthy poors in other districts benefit from their taxes, it's even targeted within the district, as the middle and lower class residents will be using public schools and the truly wealthy will be sending their kids to private schools and demanding a tax credit for doing it, even if the local area is funding it with the sales taxes they don't even pay into.
Plus it's just a self defeating tax scheme in the first place. You don't want to discourage local spending or encourage people traveling to other areas to avoid it.
.. are you @ToastedRavioli@midwest.social ???
I see my choice of reaction pic was fairly accurate
...because you're perplexed by common social situations? I don't mean to be rude, but you should have known from my response that my question was directed at a particular person... because it was about their personal experience. Honestly, having to explain this is kind of embarrassing. : / With all the love and respect due,
~ ~ <3 stinky