As MEA reported last week, a new threat has come up in lame duck which could cost schools more than $400 million next year.
Being billed as a “technical fix” to how tax refunds are paid, this legislation (which has yet to be formally introduced) would use a back-door way to drain school dollars to help pay for tax refunds. Right now, if you get a tax refund, it is paid from General Fund dollars only — the School Aid Fund has been protected from being used for this purpose. This is a way to raid the SAF and take money from our kids without it being obvious. The per district cost would be $273 per student next year alone!

Pressure is mounting by legislative leaders on State Representatives to pass this in lame duck. We need to contact State Representatives immediately and urge them to oppose this cash grab from our students. Lame duck isn’t the time to address tax policy, and lawmakers should not sneak through huge cuts to school funding. 

To help with your lobbying, see what this new School Aid Fund raid would cost your district in this MEA breakdown of the damage. 

Why make this change? Just like when lawmakers started to pay for higher education out of the School Aid funds meant for K-12 schools, they want to tap into school funding to pay for other things. The GOP agenda of aggressive tax breaks has left the state cash-strapped and some lawmakers see the SAF as an attractive pot of money. Please contact lawmakers today to stop this cash grab!