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State Rep. Jeff Shiffley urges local advocacy on property-tax, special-education and licensure issues during Fairfield board visit
Summary
State Rep. Jeff Shiffley met with the Fairfield Community School Board on Jan. 19 to review state education priorities including property-tax proposals affecting SAVE funds, special-education costs, teacher licensure and proposed changes to at-risk funding. He urged local advocacy at February forums.
State Rep. Jeff Shiffley, who introduced himself as "state representative, District 87," told the Fairfield Community School Board on Monday that property-tax reform and school funding will be prominent topics during the 2026 legislative session.
"The property tax conversation is a big one at the capital," Shiffley said, listing curriculum updates, math and reading standards, and a forthcoming review of computer science standards as items the legislature is addressing. He also cited a recently passed cell-phone restriction law and raised concerns about rising insurance and facility costs that weigh on local budgets.
Shiffley told the board that some rural districts are under pressure from expensive out-of-district placements for students with significant needs, saying Van Beern County pays about $50,000 per student for placements such as Blakeberg, Eddieville or Fremont. He framed that cost pressure alongside a broader question of how federal special-education requirements interact with classroom realities.
Board members pressed for clarity about specific funding levers. Shiffley said there is a governor's proposal under discussion that would move roughly 30% of current SAVE fund balances into the state general fund, a change he warned could reduce local bonding capacity and complicate timing for district construction projects.
"If something were to change, then I think that's going to lower the capacity that we have," he said, urging district leaders to attend February forums and to provide concrete, line-item examples of inflationary pressures (insurance, construction, food service) to help shape the House and Senate negotiating positions.
He also explained the effect of arbitration law on district budgeting: wage-arbitration outcomes are capped by a 3% or CPI trigger, a constraint districts factor into their SSA assumptions. That, he said, is part of why some districts budget conservatively for salary growth.
Rep. Shiffley encouraged ongoing contact between the board and area legislators, saying local testimony at legislative forums can influence outcomes: "Please also pay attention to those local forums... that's really the best time to really interact with your legislature and get some things on the record."
What happens next: board members said they will follow up by email with specific cost items to inform the representative's work and plan to attend the February forums he highlighted.
