Fuzzy math in school funding bill

The legislative gymnastics over school funding this past week have been mind boggling.

Consider how a once innocuous House Bill 63 was transformed in a matter of days into the major vehicle for school funding over the next biennium. The Democratic majority saddled the bill with a series of amendments that will unbelievably require a statewide increase of $50 million in local property taxes, and there is potential for an additional $41 million in property taxes that could easily materialize in the form of levies that local voters will have no say on.

Senate President Jon Tester, D-Big Sandy, said some of the tax increases were needed to comply with the state's problem-plagued school funding formula. But there are also provisions in House Bill 63 that require local voters to contribute to retirement funds associated with federally funded school positions. And there are provisions that allow school boards to approve permissive levies (without voter approval) for increases in health insurance costs.

The explanations go on and on.

But they are irrelevant, especially if one considers that Democratic legislators campaigned in practical unison on a platform calling for statewide property tax relief.

If Montanans are instead faced with property tax increases in the range of $50 million to $91 million, there will be a price to pay. Those Democratic legislators should take heed, and so should Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

How this spending plan fits in with Schweitzer's pledge to veto new or increased taxes remains to be seen. So far, the governor has been quiet about it.

We appreciate that lawmakers may consider themselves in a bind, considering the governor's promise. But we also know that when the legislative session started, the state general fund had a surplus of close to $300 million, and that revamping the school funding formula was one of the major tasks at hand.

Now it appears a special session may be necessary to address the funding formula.

And if lawmakers vote to approve significant tax increases, a special election may be necessary, too - so we can vote out anyone who forgot about the taxpayers.

What has transpired raises the question of who is being served by House Bill 63. The pat response, which has been beaten into meaningless submission, is that the additional funding is needed "for the kids."

We don't think so. If property owners have to cough up $91 million in additional taxes, and the state's contribution to schools increases by $70 million, and federal spending on Montana schools increases by $35 million as projected, that should translate to $1,351 more for each and every one of the state's roughly 145,000 students.

But that's not what's happening. Much of the additional money is being spent on curriculum development and an expanded Office of Public Instruction, and several of the provisions that directly increase property taxes are aimed at improvements for retirement programs.

The Senate majority is being driven like a car by the education unions. And they don't seem to be putting on the brakes for anything.