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Bill would end WPU value rate, pausing an automatic property-tax increase tied to WPU growth
Summary
House Bill 110 would eliminate the weighted pupil unit (WPU) value rate currently embedded in the basic levy; presenters said the measure would stop the property-tax component that grows in step with WPU increases and would produce roughly $32 million in property-tax savings in the first affected year if enacted in 2026.
Dale Frost explained a separate measure that would remove the WPU value rate from the basic levy beginning in the 2027 school year.
"So these are dollars that as the legislature increase the WPU value, if you didn't increase on the property tax side over time, income taxes would outpace property taxes," Frost said while describing the purpose of the earlier WPU value rate. He said the WPU value rate added a small increment to property taxes to help maintain parity as the state adjusted WPU values.
Under House Bill 110 — referenced in the briefing as HB 110 — the WPU value rate would be eliminated for the next school year in the bill’s timeline; Frost said if the change applied in 2026 it would yield about $32,000,000 in property-tax savings that year and would prevent future automatic growth tied to WPU increases. Frost said the change would not cut existing program dollars outright but would stop the additional property-tax growth that would otherwise feed the Teacher and Student Success Account (TSSA) over time.
Board members asked whether the rollback would reduce existing program dollars. Frost said it would not be a direct cut to current TSSA funding, but that it would stop an expected annual increase in property-tax revenue dedicated to that account, thereby reducing the program’s future growth compared with current law.
Frost noted the savings per household would be small: "It would be in the tens of dollars a year for your average" taxpayer, he said, and that the effect would be one of slowing growth rather than a year‑to‑year reduction in amounts already appropriated.
