Dive Brief:
- Pennsylvania's Senate hit the pause button on a proposal to replace $14 billion dollars worth of school property taxes with higher state sales and income taxes.
- This isn’t the first proposal of its kind, as WFMZ reports a similar bill failed two years ago.
- Overall, the state has been in the midst of a budget impasse for five months, and this particular proposal is folded into that quagmire.
Dive Insight:
Although the greater budget is currently described as a “stalemate,” the proposal regarding school property taxes also “conflicts with a week-old agreement between House and Senate Republican leaders and Gov. Tom Wolf on legislation to reduce property taxes by an additional $1.4 billion,” according to WFMZ.
Previously, a government audit revealed a “series of management issues” in the state. Education Dive reported, “In Pennsylvania, as elsewhere, budget crises go hand in hand with partisan divides. As the audit found, that can leave administrators at the district and state level without clear guidance or oversight.”