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School board backs statewide effort to seek taxing authority

By Lynn Hotaling

"It's an accountability issue." So said the chairman of the school board Monday (Nov. 29) to other local school officials as she introduced a resolution asking the state's General Assembly to grant taxing authority to school leaders.

The resolution passed unanimously. "School boards are being held accountable by the Legislature and by parents," said Board Chairman Martha Queen. "How can we ensure school accountability when we can't get the funds we need?"

The effort to obtain taxing authority for local school boards is gaining momentum across the state, Queen said. Results of a recent poll show some 70 percent of local boards favor the plan.

Nationally, some 80 percent of school boards have the power to levy taxes, she said. Local funding for school districts in North Carolina currently is at the discretion of county commissioners, Queen said.

"For (school officials) to get money, we have to go and educate the commissioners to our needs. That's an issue across the state," she said.

As a result of school leaders having to ask for money and justify budgets, animosity sometimes develops between school officials and county commissioners - animosity that shouldn't be there, Queen said.

With regard to Jackson County, events of the past year seem to validate such concerns. Tensions between local school and county officials ran high this past summer as the two boards attempted to hammer out financing agreements for additions at four county schools. Prior to that incident, school board members and commissioners were at odds over the percentage of county funds earmarked for education needs.

Board member Ali Laird-Large, who said she felt taxing authority would be beneficial to the school board, suggested tabling the resolution to give school leaders an opportunity to gauge community response.

However, Mary Jane Dillard, a member of the Jackson County School Board and a member of the board for a statewide organization of school boards, said leaders of the state organization are anxious to have resolutions from local boards as soon as possible. The school boards' group hopes to get the proposal before the General Assembly within two years, Dillard said. "I think that, as a board, if we recognize that need (taxing authority), we should send that message on without delay to Raleigh," said board member Ray Trine. "If we're going to be accountable for education, we need control," Queen said.

The resolution approved Monday listed a number of reasons why local school boards should be granted taxing authority. School officials need the power to levy taxes, the resolution states, because:
  • The present system often puts elected members of the board of education at odds with the budgetary and taxing decisions of county commissioners.

  • Decisions concerning school system needs should be made by those who are most knowledgeable of the school system's needs.

  • County commissioners "have no special expertise in education matters."

  • Members of local boards of education are "elected to be the educational leaders and decision-makers in their communities and have the legal duty to provide adequate educational services to all children."

  • Members of local school boards "have a wealth of expertise in educational matters and should not have to educate and justify to a group not familiar with educations issues as to why a school system needs local funds for particular purposes."

  • School boards can't fulfill their obligation to provide basic education without the ability to raise necessary funds.

  • Until local school boards "are granted tax levying authority, they cannot reasonably be held accountable if their school systems are not fulfilling the needs of the children in their districts."

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