Issue Position: K-12 EDUCATION FUNDING

Issue Position

The Legislature has not fully funded the state aid to education formula known as the TEEOSA (Nebraska Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act) based on what the formula itself called for in funding without adjusting the formula downward, resulting in a corresponding shift from state income and sales taxes to local property taxes. Currently, 178 out of 244 of Nebraska's school districts or 72% do not currently receive state aid equalization aid from the state for 95% of their school operating budgets, and are forced to rely on property taxes to fund their mostly rural and mostly smaller schools. Only 7% of the total TEEOSA support goes to Class B schools of below 2,000 students including Class C, and Class D schools, clearly indicating a funding inequity. Nebraska is 49th in the nation in the percentage (32.5%) of income and sales taxes used for total educational funding. Tom understands that our children are our greatest asset and he strongly believes in fairly and equally funding the education of all of our states children.

Source