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Governor misleads public on
school funding measure
Gov. Gary Locke is
misleading citizens about his education funding plan in an implicit
attempt to increase local property tax levies, according to
Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City.
In a written statement
today, the governor pledged his support for House Bill 2044, a measure
that would increase the amount of local property taxes school districts
are allowed to collect. The governor claimed the measure would allow
school districts to avoid “levy rollbacks” by allowing them to collect
the full amount of local voter-approved levies, even if it exceeds the
state the levy lid. Anderson called the governor’s statement blatantly
misleading and dishonest.
If HB 2044 is signed into law, at least 16 school districts, including
Seattle and Issaquah, would still be required to rollback levy
collections because they exceed the statutory lid. Anderson said the
governor's claim that "This legislation is needed to authorize the
collection of the full amount of voter-approved levies" is false.
“There is not a single syllable in this bill that would allow a school
district to avoid rolling back local levy collections when they exceed
the lid. This bill has never had any such language,” said Anderson. “I
am extremely disappointed in the governor for using this type of
misinformation to further his agenda. He is undermining public
confidence, not only in education, but in government as a whole.”
Anderson acknowledged that HB 2044 would increase the size of school
levies because the bill would allow districts to use knowingly
fictitious data to calculate the amount of state funding they receive.
The effect would be to artificially inflate the schools’ “levy base” and
thereby allow districts to collect higher local property taxes with no
public knowledge.
“House Bill 2044 is
nothing more than a backdoor attempt to raise property taxes by
implementing fictitious accounting schemes,” said Anderson, who has been
a vocal advocate of reforming the state’s education funding formula.
“It is dishonest to
increase property taxes, even for the best cause, using knowingly false
assumptions. If there is no integrity to the tax formula, then there
will be no public confidence in the way we put these taxes to use,” he
said. “We’re fostering a school funding formula that creates winners and
losers. This proposal would take a funding formula that is already
corrupt and make it worse by giving some school districts an advantage
over others. It’s dishonest and it undermines the principle that every
child from every community in Washington should have access to the same
quality education.”
Anderson is the prime sponsor of House Bill 3161, which would
standardize levy formulas and salary schedules for all school districts
in Washington.
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For more information, contact:
Bobbi Cussins, Public
Information Officer - (360) 786-7252
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