Overhaul Pennsylvania's Failing Education Model
After decades of talking but not doing, Pennsylvania finally appears ready to reform public school financing.
Both Gov. Wolf and Republican legislators agree the state should boost its share of school funding by substituting increased state income and sales taxes for local real estate taxes. With a bipartisan vote, the House passed such a bill Wednesday, which the governor praised as the beginning of a conversation on substantive property tax relief. This is a critically important breakthrough.
Local school property taxes are an enormous burden on Pennsylvania’s cities and towns, and the primary impediment to their revitalization. For most of the last 60 years, urban property values have declined as ever-rising real estate taxes have driven residents and businesses out of traditional towns and into the suburbs. The urban exodus has left behind increased concentrations of poverty and the need for costly local services, perpetuating a downward spiral.
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