As voters nationwide head to the polls for next week’s midterm elections, they’ll be confronted with a wide range of dilemmas over where school funding should come from, how much schools should spend, and which priorities should be the focus of schools’ investments.
Many of those questions appear in the form of state-level ballot measures. Some mention schools directly, while some have significant implications for schools even though they’re not mentioned in the ballot language.
The questions touch on some of the biggest overarching issues school finance experts and practitioners have been thinking about in recent years. Politicians—particularly Republicans—are responding to a surge of frustration among homeowners with the growing burden of property tax bills. Some measures reflect a desire to have high earners take on a greater share of the tax burden. And the debate over whether schools are spending money on the right things for students is also the driving force of several measures.
Here’s a look at some of the key state-level questions related to education funding that voters will consider—and for observers to track once results start flooding in Tuesday night.
What would change if it passes: Roughly half of Arizona’s 200 school districts—those with at least 7,500 students and all those in the state’s three most populous counties regardless of enrollment—would be required to spend at least 60% of their annual operating budgets on “direct instructional expenses.” Districts that fall short would lose certain state funding in future years.
How K-12 schools would be affected: According to state data, many districts that would be subject to these requirements currently spend significantly less than 60% of their operating budgets on the category of expenses called “direct instruction.” Meanwhile, some expenses that fall under the broader category of “classroom” would likely not count as “direct instruction,” including special education providers and instructional coaches.
Also worth watching: New Hampshire voters will consider whether to restrict school districts from devoting more than 6% of their operating budgets to administrative costs (see below).
What would change if it passes: The homestead exemption for most property taxes would increase, and the maximum annual rate of increase for nonschool taxes on commercial buildings and rentals would drop from 10% to 5%.
How K-12 schools would be affected: Property taxes for school districts themselves wouldn’t change—but the reduced property tax revenue would affect other school-related priorities funded with public dollars, including libraries, child care centers, and before- and after-school programming. Proponents of a separate measure to renew a tax levy for the Miami-Dade County school system are also concerned that the presence of the broader property tax measure on the ballot could depress support for the levy renewal as well.
Also worth watching: Property and income tax revenues that flow to public schools could be reduced if voters approve measures on the ballots in Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.
Support needed to pass: A simple majority of local school district voters
What would change if it passes: Unlike the above items, this isn’t a single statewide measure. Rather, every voter in the state will face the question of whether to cap local taxes and administrative costs for the school district where they live. For school districts where the measure passes, annual taxes could only increase by the current rate of inflation—far lower than the rate of increase many districts implemented earlier this year.
How K-12 schools would be affected: Districts where the measure passes would first be required to reduce their administrative expenses to just 6% of their overall budgets. They might also have to make further cuts to avoid raising taxes beyond the rate of inflation. The local cap would expire in two years, at which point voters would have to decide whether to renew it.
How K-12 schools would be affected: Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, has floated using revenue from the tax to cover, among other expenses, free school breakfast and lunch for all the state’s public K-12 students. A similar tax in Massachusetts, meanwhile, has raised billions of dollars for schools and other priorities since taking effect in 2023.
Also worth watching: California voters will consider, among a slew of other measures with tax-policy implications, whether to impose a one-time tax on billionaires, equivalent to 5% of their net worth.
