Sample Op-Ed/Editorial on Federal Funding & NCLB

The Hidden Taxes Congress Does not Want to Talk About 

It's tax season again. You may not know this, but you are paying a hidden tax when you pay your local taxes.  Your tax bill is larger than it needs to be, despite extraordinary efforts by your school board to cut costs.  The reason for this is that two federal laws (No Child Left Behind and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) are not receiving the funding that Congress promised when they passed the legislation.  This means, that our community pays this portion of the federal share to remain in compliance with the federal law.  If that isn't ironic enough, now, as we pay our federal taxes, the Congress is deciding how much more to increase our local property taxes to support our schools.

What is this tax? For educating disadvantaged children, Congress is providing roughly 67 cents for every dollar promised. Our school district must make up the additional 33 cents. For the education of children with disabilities Congress provides 50 cents for every dollar they promised, leaving the local school district to pay for renaming 50 cents of every federal dollar, in addition to the local share.  For [insert your school district name] school district this is [Title I and IDEA shortfall number here] for the next school year.  Nationally, the hidden tax is $18.2 billion.  This is $18.2 billion that Congress promised to pay under these laws, yet has not paid.  Instead, our community has to pay for these unmet costs and mandates and is only able to do so through taxpayer support.  This unfortunate fact is the direct result of Congress' failure to keep its promise.  

Now, with the campaign season coming, Our Representatives in the U.S. Congress will talk about how much education funding has increased in Washington.  They won't talk about how much our local school taxes have increased because Congress won't provide the money they promised. Congress wants us to think states awash in federal education dollars. But they won't tell you about how much money they have not provided to comply with the laws they passed. They will talk about anything but the school tax we have to pay, because Congress won't.

The good news is we can send this bill back to the Congress.  Tell them as they decide how much funding to give schools next year, they have the opportunity to eliminate this tax by providing the funding they promised.  Please call, fax, e-mail or write Senators [type in names] and Representatives [type in names] and tell them to stop raising your local taxes.  When Congress promises to pay for something they should pay; not pass the payments and accountability along in hidden taxes. 

Prepared by
NSBA's Advocacy Office
March 12, 2004
Contact Kathleen Branch