House Education committee advances strike‑all amendment to H.454, outlines new statewide education tax and local supplemental levy

The House Education committee on April 9 continued its review of H.454 as amended by the House Ways and Means Committee, voting in a committee straw poll to advance the strike‑all amendment. The amendment would create a statewide education property tax to fund the Education Fund and a locally raised, equalized supplemental district spending (SDS) tax for school districts that choose to raise funds above the statewide Educational Opportunity Payment (EOP). The committee counted a 7‑4 straw vote in favor; the measure will face floor action and final votes there.

The amendment replaces several features of the existing formula and property tax structure. Under the proposal, SDS is the amount a district enacts above its EOP, subject to a cap of 10% of the district's EOP. Per‑pupil SDS is calculated using long‑term membership (LTM), not weighted LTM. To set local tax rates consistently, the bill defines a "yield" based on the hypothetical revenue per LTM in the school district with the lowest taxing capacity; a district's supplemental district spending tax rate equals its per‑pupil SDS divided by that yield. Any revenue raised by a district in excess of the amount it voted (recapture) would flow first to a SDS reserve within the Education Fund to fix calculation errors and then, after those contingencies, into the School Construction Aid Special Fund.

John Gray, Office of Legislative Council, described the mechanics: "the commissioner shall determine that supplemental district spending tax rate by dividing the school district's per pupil supplemental district spending by that yield." Gray told the committee the SDS reserve would be used…