Agenda - 05-25-2017 - 1.B Public School Forum Local School Finance Study

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ATTACHMENT B > LOCAL SCHOOL FINANCE STUDY 2017: GAPS AND TRENDS The primary source of revenue for county government is local a real estate capacity of$354,630 per student. This gap of property taxes, and this year the study once again revealed $1.54 is marginally larger than last year's gap of$1.52 million. wide variation between the property values of the state's The gap had decreased for the previous four years of the Local wealthiest and poorest counties,and resulting disparities School Finance Study(there was a $1.69 million gap in 2012-13). in revenues generated. This year also saw the continuation Major factors that contributed to the narrowing gap included of marked differences in spending per child between North reductions in real estate wealth in the wealthiest counties,some Carolina's highest-and lowest-spending counties. counties' 2011 revaluations, and increases in student enrollment in several counties. POOREST COUNTIES TAXED THEMSELVES AT HIGHER RATES, BUT STILL GENERATED The ten poorest counties taxed themselves at nearly double the SUBSTANTIALLY LESS FROM PROPERTY TAX rate of the ten wealthiest counties -$0.83 compared to $0.44, Coastal and mountain counties have the highest real estate a 39-cent difference. In spite of this, because of the disparity in wealth capacity in the state. In 2014-15,every county in the real estate wealth capacity, the revenue the poorest counties top ten had a per student real estate wealth capacity above could generate, even at the higher tax rate,was substantially $1.6 million,and together had an average five times greater lower than what the wealthier counties could generate at than the bottom ten counties.The ten wealthiest counties had lower rates. The poorest counties continue raising their tax an average real estate capacity of$1,890,059 per student, rates, while the wealthiest counties lower theirs, and yet the compared with the ten poorest counties, which had,on average, substantial revenue disparity persists. LOW- VS. HIGH-WEALTH COUNTIES TAXABLE REAL ESTATE WEALTH PER CHILD SPENDING PER STUDENT 2,500,000 3,000 2,500 $3,026 2,000,000 $1,890,059 2,000 1,500,000 1,500 1,000,000 1,000 500,000 $710 500 $354,630 TEN TEN TEN TEN WEALTHIEST POOREST HIGHEST-SPENDING LOWEST-SPENDING COUNTIES COUNTIES COUNTIES COUNTIES The wealthiest counties have more than five times the taxable Annual per-student county spending on programs and personnel was property wealth per child available to the ten poorest counties.As $2,316 higher in the ten highest-spending counties than in the ten a result,even though the ten poorest counties tax themselves at lowest-spending counties.This gap is wider than last year,when it double the rate of the wealthiest counties,the revenue they generate was$2,211 per student. through taxation is substantially lower. >10