This is a local control debate that is sure to heat up as we stumble through the current financial crisis, with more and more proposals to increase the centralization of school governance and financing.  (See Lou Gerstner’s 70 super districts proposal.)

According to an Associated Press report on the Kansas decision,  allowing individual jurisdictions to set their own tax “could bring down the state’s entire school financing system.” The parents in Shawnee Mission wanted just the right to ask local voters if they wanted to pay more. The court said No. (Read the 21-page order here.)

As the pressure to hold down school costs mounts, property tax caps have become a favored option because they remain a favorite form of funding local government agencies, including school districts.  But the objections from wealthier communities, which can afford to pay more, are also mounting.  Twelve towns in New Jersey have announced plans to have votes on exceeding the Garden State’s new property tax cap, a local opt-out option that the new cap law allows.

http://educationnext.org/school-funding-do-we-have-to-be-as-poor-as-our-neighbor/