Dollar Disparity Riverside And Other Rural School Districts Feel Shortchanged By State Funding System Based On Property Values

Riverside parent Steve Drake and Mead parent Linda Griego say the education of their children is their top priority, and each year they shell out four-figure sums in local school taxes to back up that belief.

But Drake is concerned that his tax dollars don’t buy as much for his child as Griego’s dollars do for hers.

Because other taxpayers in the Riverside School District pay considerably less, on average, than those in the Mead School District, Riverside gets only about half as much local levy money money per student as Mead. Riverside gets $455 per student; Mead collects $909.

The state provides levy equalization funds to compensate for the difference, but even with the extra state money Riverside still receives $300 less per student than Mead.

“It doesn’t seem to make sense,” said Drake, father of a Chattaroy Elementary third-grader.

Critics of the state’s school funding system, such as Riverside Superintendent Jerry Wilson, charge that the discrepancy violates a 1976 state court decision requiring an equal education for every student.

“The whole idea that levies should be based on property value is a very questionable proposition,” Wilson said.

Many legislators, school administrators and state education officials acknowledge that the local levy system discriminates against students in the state’s poorer school districts. But changing the system would require years in court, hundreds of thousands of dollars and radical change, they said.

“This is an inequity, and one that has been with us for years and will be with us for years,” said Chris Thompson, a spokesman for the state office of public instruction.

The crux of the problem with levies is that rural areas generally have significantly lower land values than urban areas.

School tax rates in 1995 were about the same in the Mead and Riverside school districts - about $4 per $1,000 of assessed property value. However, because the total land value in Mead is double that of Riverside, according to figures from the state office of public instruction, Mead collects far more from local taxpayers than Riverside.

Rural districts like Riverside with low property values and no large industries have grumbled for years that the system is unfair. Lawsuits against the state have routinely been discussed, but so far no lawsuit has been filed.

Four states with funding systems similar to Washington - Montana, New Jersey, Texas and Kentucky - have had their state Supreme Courts rule the systems unconstitutional.

Last session, the Legislature made an attempt to level the economic playing field. But rather than coming up with money to help the “have-not” districts, legislators, listening to frustration over high property taxes, lowered the amount the “have” districts can request from voters.

As a result, taxpayers in District 81 and Mead will see their school tax bills drop in 1998. That will result in a 1998 budget at least $1 million smaller in Mead and $6 million smaller in District 81 than in 1997.

“We intend to ask the Legislature for revenue to make up the lost levy money,” said Walt Rulffes, business manager for District 81.

Rep. Dennis Dellwo, D-Spokane, said school districts are unlikely to get reimbursement because of the financial restraints of the anti-tax Initiative 601 and business tax cuts just passed by the Legislature. He thinks the reduction harms District 81 schools while giving taxpayers minimal relief - about $30 for the owner of a $100,000 home.

“Here’s the question: should we cut down the ability of the voters to fund a district, a program, because voters in another area choose not to?” said Dellwo. “Do we damn Spokane because some other district didn’t do that?”

“Our lives will drastically change in terms of the programs and activities we can provide kids,” said Al Swanson, business manager for the Mead School District.

Riverside’s Wilson, a long-time advocate for school funding equity, says the change is of no help to his students. “It’s not going to help any school districts if you have less money,” Wilson said.

For some upset with high taxes, any reduction is good. Those sentiments are particularly strong in Riverside and Nine Mile Falls, where a levy failed two years ago.

Drake, a small business owner, says many people in Riverside and Chattaroy feel they pay enough - even for the schools.

“Schools are important, (but) you have to draw the line somewhere,” said Drake, a member of a citizen’s committee which set the levy amount.

Others who are willing to pay more for schools are left in the unaccustomed position of being concerned about a drop in their tax bills.

“As a tax-paying person, as a check-writing person, of course I am happy the taxes are going down,” said Griego. “I just feel so strongly about schools. I would vote yes (on a larger levy).”

Local levy money makes up only about 20 percent of school budgets, with the rest coming from state and federal coffers. State and federal funds go to all schools evenly, on a per-student formula, and are supposed to pay for all costs of basic instruction.

Levies pay for anything above basic classroom instruction - including sports, buses, counselors and teaching aides. But many educators say the levies also help pay for basic classroom costs.

“I don’t think there is a superintendent in the state that would say they don’t have levy money tied up in basic education,” said Wilson.

Even with the extra state help, Riverside has the lowest per-student local levy funding Spokane County school districts. And when compared statewide, larger discrepancies appear: each Seattle student gets about $1,660 from local levies, while their parents pay less than half the rate of a Riverside parent.

Having an area with high property values - boosted by a big industrial plant or major commercial center - also helps. Kaiser paid $322,500 in property taxes to the 7,600-student Mead School District in 1995; the 2,200-student Riverside School District’s biggest tax benefactor was Washington Water Power, with a $28,280 tab.

Of course, Riverside, Nine Mile Falls and other rural districts could propose a larger levy, but rural voters have historically been reluctant to pay up. Riverside and Nine Mile Falls, also a district with relatively low land values, both failed levies in 1994.

“The general population would say if you can reduce taxes, you should,” said Drake. “It’s like putting salt on a wound. The bigger the tax, the bigger the wound feels.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo