Analysis: What happens when school districts fail to pass tax increases?

As you heard Tom Ackerman say just a few minutes ago, the Parkway School District is going to be raising or asking rather for an increase in revenue this November on the November ballot. Good morning. Brad Young sitting in this morning for Megan Lynch. And essentially, Parkway School District says that they've got a structural operating deficit. And what they proposed, and this is what I wanted to. figure out and to give you this morning because when you hear that there's going to be a tax increase, for example, this is going to be approximately 46 cents out of every $100 of assessed valuation. What does that really mean for your pocketbook? How can you vote on something unless you know what exactly it's going to cost you? So I did some quick math and found out that for every $100,000 of your property, if you're in the Parkway School District, one of the largest school districts in the St. Louis region, for every $100,000, that's going to amount to about $87 per year or $7 per month. If you have a home that's worth $400,000, that's going to raise that up to about $349 or $29 per month. And here's the reason why I wanted to talk about this this morning, because think about every time that you hear a school district asking for money. What's the first thing that comes to your mind? What's the first thing? Because I'm not suggesting that the Parkway School District doesn't need this money. I mean, we all know expenses are going up. Fuel costs are going up. Salaries are going up. That's what inflation is. But what always tends to rub me the wrong way is that when school districts are asking for additional money, what do they do? They typically say, if we don't get this tax increase, the first thing we're going to do is to lay off the teachers. Now, I haven't heard Parkway do that in this particular instance, but we've all heard school districts take that position in the past. And while certainly personnel costs are always the greatest cost of any operation. It always seems to me to be a little bit disingenuous when a school district says, if you don't vote for this tax increase, we're going to have to lay off teachers. Why does that seem disingenuous? I think it's because of this, that that strikes an emotional chord in our hearts. If you've got kids in that school, the last thing that you want to do is to see the teachers laid off. Those are the teachers who help your kids who not just teach them, but are there for them, that help them to deal with the changes that are going on all around us at light speed. So we don't want to lose those teachers. We develop relationships with those teachers. And yet I always feel like slightly I'm being manipulated. And I know that you do too when a school district comes out and says, vote for this or we're going to have to lay off teachers.

because you never hear a threat of if you don't vote for this, we're going to have to lay off school administrators. We're going to have to lay off the bureaucrats of the school district if you don't vote for this. Why do they not say that? Because who would then vote for the tax, right? So I'm always a little bit leery when it comes to being manipulated. And in this particular instance, it seems to me that oftentimes... we are being manipulated. Now, as I looked into this in more depth, Parkway actually has described a very plausible long-term problem. And it's not that they have a deficit right now. Currently, Parkway School District is doing quite well. As one of the largest school districts in the area, they're financially solid. They're not running a deficit. But they're looking at an approximate 10-year projection. to try to determine where will our revenue stream need to be 10 years from now. And so a forecasted deficit is not the same as a present financial emergency. In addition to being and having a balanced budget, they also have a AAA credit rating. They have substantial reserves. And so the issue is not that the school district is failing at the present time. The issue is how do we deal with a revenue stream going 10 years forward? So as you evaluate, whether or not you, if you're in the Parkway School District, and as many, many of our listeners are, as you evaluate that, that cause, that request to pay more taxes, that's why I gave some of those numbers just to show you what this actually costs out of your pocket. And if you have a home that's worth $300,000, that's going to cost you approximately $21 a month if you vote for that. Is that a lot? Is that not a lot? Obviously, everyone's budget is different. But when you go to the store, you see the price and you know what you're going to buy because the price is marked. And yet when we're asked to vote for these tax increases, telling us that there's a 46 cents of an assessment on every $100 of assessed valuation on your home or property. That doesn't tell me anything about what it costs us. And so I wanted this morning to spend just a couple of minutes to break down what those numbers are so that you too can be an informed voter. And also next time, I want you to listen. And again, Parkway has not done that in this instance. But the next time you hear a school district asking for a tax increase, I want you to listen. I want you to listen to hear and to see if they're going to threaten the firing of teachers. Because I don't like to be manipulated. You don't like to be manipulated. I would much rather see what like the Parkway School District saying, here's our cash flow. Here's where we are. We're doing great. But we need this for 10 years. To me, that is ideal in terms of the way to pitch this. But if you hear a school district threatening to lay off teachers if you don't vote for them.

Remember, it sounds like you're being manipulated.