Committee debates who keeps excess SWEP funds as several bills seek to reclassify or remit the money

Lawmakers spent the work session debating how the statewide education property tax — commonly called SWEP — should be treated in the school funding formula, with competing bills and court cases shaping conflicting options.

Representative Spilsbury framed one side of the argument, saying the committee is “moving towards the inevitable that we need to call for the excess to be remitted to the DRA,” and noting a version of the RAND litigation that would require remittance. Representative Fellowes, who sponsored a bill to reclassify SWEP amounts as a local contribution, described SWEP differently: “The state has no business declaring part of their property tax to be a state tax,” she said, arguing the amounts are local revenue and should remain with municipalities for education spending.

Why it matters: the treatment of SWEP changes how much actual state cash flows to districts and whether municipalities retain or remit excess collections. Committee discussion centered on roughly $363 million in SWEP allocations statewide and an estimated $28 million of “excess” in current years that some proposals would remit to the…