{"id":766,"date":"2022-01-25T08:32:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T14:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/?p=766"},"modified":"2025-02-27T09:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T15:23:13","slug":"107b-lb890","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/2022\/01\/25\/107b-lb890\/","title":{"rendered":"107B LB890"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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January 25, 2022<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Sen. Lynne Walz, Chairperson
Sen. Jen Day
Sen. Lou Ann Linehan
Sen. Terrell McKinney
Sen. Adam Morfeld
Sen. Dave Murman
Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks
Sen. Rita Sander<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Legislative Bill 890 represents extraordinary work by Senator Walz and the team involved in drafting the bill.\u00a0 This bill represents a genuine effort to bring the education community together and advance ideas that monumentally change TEEOSA.\u00a0 LB 890 reduces our reliance on property taxes and will provide property tax relief if fully implemented and funded.\u00a0 Various mechanisms in the bill offer solutions to the challenges we have been discussing for decades.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Lincoln Public Schools offers this testimony in support of LB 890.\u00a0 There are components of the bill we would not traditionally support, however, at the end of the day LB 890 dramatically increases the state\u2019s investment in PK-12 education.\u00a0 The most powerful element of the bill for equalized school districts is lowering the local effort rate.\u00a0 Through lowering the local effort rate from $1.00 to 85 cents and then 75 cents, the state will fund a larger portion of the school district formula needs.\u00a0 Lowering the local effort rate results in more state funding for equalized school districts and decreases the required funding necessary from property taxes.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>

Equalization aid is a balancing tool that ensures every child\u2019s access to quality education in Nebraska.\u00a0 The importance and prioritization of equalization must remain at the forefront of the formula even as new components are introduced and funding is shifted. \u00a0Lincoln Public Schools would like to see the section defining the process to reduce state aid in the future if necessary, as defined in LB 890 section 29, amended to protect equalization.\u00a0 This can be done by replacing the second priority adjustment to the local effort rate with an adjustment to the allocated income tax percentage.\u00a0 A reduction in the allocated income tax funding would impact every school district.\u00a0 An adjustment to the local effort rate would only impact equalized school districts.\u00a0<\/p>

In addition, LB 890 introduces a district-specific maximum levy. \u00a0This is an important concept and an update to the formula to match the realities across the state.\u00a0 School districts\u2019 property value per student at $1.00 of taxing authority ranges from approximately $3,200 per student to $62,000 per student.\u00a0 The highest being roughly 20 times the lowest.\u00a0 District-specific maximum levies offer a response to the widely varying valuation across the state.Funding to support the education of our state\u2019s children must be sustainable and reliable.\u00a0 Property taxes are a stable revenue source.\u00a0 School districts are understandably cautious in embracing the shift to state funding proposed in LB 890. \u00a0Dedicating twenty percent of state income tax revenue is a big lift.\u00a0 It is imperative that revenue sources are dependable and local taxing authority is available if state funding falls short.\u00a0<\/p>

Sen. Walz should be commended for her collaborative leadership and commitment to listening throughout the process of developing LB 890.\u00a0 She truly embraced the education community in a positive and productive way.\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Sincerely,<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Liz Standish MBA, EdD
Associate Superintendent for Business Affairs<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Testimony on LB890 – Change the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act \u2014 by Associate Superintendent for Business Affairs, Liz Standish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338,1],"tags":[82,85,23],"class_list":["post-766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimony","category-uncategorized","tag-107b","tag-lb890","tag-liz-standish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4043,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions\/4043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}