The following article appeared in the Oct. 15 print edition of the Jordan Independent:

When Jordan school district residents look at their tax forms they might wonder about the dollars they pay to the schools.

The only operating levy the district has is $1 per pupil, which nets the district about $2,000 a year. But property owners are paying more than that in taxes.

The school district portion of the tax statement includes voter-approved levies and other local levies. Voter-approved levies include the $1 operating levy and building construction debt. Other levies are nonvoter-approved levies that provide community education, maintenance, safe schools, integration, health and safety, postemployment benefits, and other similar funding.

EQUITY REVENUE

Jordan Public Schools are not entirely dependent on local taxpayers for their funding. The district is projected to receive about $12.5 million in state aid in 2010, compared to the $2.8 million that local taxpayers are expected to pay.

On the preliminary levy authorization, however, the school board approved a nearly $3.4 million tax for 2010.

Why the difference?

Included in the board’s authorization is almost $500,000 in equity revenue, which comes from the state.

Providing equity revenue to districts with operating levies is the state’s way of evening out the distribution of funds across districts of varying property wealth.

“It is extra money given to the lowest-funded schools to close the gap between the lowest- and highest-funded,” State Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan, said.

Jordan’s $1-per-pupil levy enables the district to receive equity funding.

School districts with higher populations or that contain higher property values receive more money through local property taxes than districts that contain lower property values or lower populations.

“It takes more tax for smaller communities and smaller schools to get the same amount,” superintendent Kirk Nelson said.

The state ranks the districts according to general revenue and then calculates how much equity revenue each district gets based on where it fits between the fifth and 95th percentiles.

For 2010, Jordan is on the low end, in the ninth percentile.

The more revenue a district has, the less equity revenue it gets from the state. And the higher the property value, the higher the tax.

If a district passes a referendum and increases its general revenue, the equity funding changes.

“There will be an offset if the referendum passes,” Buesgens said.

If Jordan school district voters approve the first operating levy request for $375 per pupil, the district’s equity revenue will be reduced by about $150,000.

But it’s more beneficial for districts to pass their referendums than to rely on equity revenue, Buesgens said.

“It’s a help, not a one-for-one match,” he said.

In Jordan’s case, the total revenue would increase by about $570,000 if the first question passes, even with the loss in equity.

If both questions pass, Jordan Public Schools’ revenue would increase by about $877,000.

EFFECT ON TAXPAYERS

Although the district has to report equity revenue with its levy revenue, local taxpayers don’t pay the full amount.

“This is state dollars,” Buesgens said.

What taxpayers will see is a lower tax than they would pay without equity revenue.

“It reduces the taxpayer’s amount,” Nelson said.

The $375 per pupil referendum question would cost the owner of a $200,000 home an extra $111 in 2010. If the district did not receive equity revenue, that same homeowner would have to pay $140 to net the district the same amount.

If both questions pass, the owner of a $200,000 home would pay $171 in 2010, compared to $205 if both questions pass.

The referendum request is for 10 years of increased funding.

A DATED SYSTEM

While the equalization program was established with good intentions, it’s not without its faults.

“It’s really broken right now,” Nelson said.

Established in 1991, the equity funding formula hasn’t changed its equalization factors since 1993.

Meanwhile, market values have changed, and the changes have shifted more of the state’s burden onto local taxpayers, according to a document written by Brad Lundell, executive director of Schools for Equity in Education (SEE), for the organization’s Web site.

Lundell’s article explains that while taxpayers may have seen an increase in the school portion of their property taxes, the local schools themselves aren’t getting any more money.

The state legislature has talked about updating the formula, but the complexity of the program could lead to more problems, Buesgens said.

“It’s very difficult to do,” he said.

(Katrina Styx is a staff writer for the Jordan Independent. She can be reached at kstyx@jordannews.com.)