The National Education Association
January 2003
The National Education Association is nothing if not predictable in its hunger for education funding and its blindness to the sources of wealth that makes such funding possible. This 55-page "research working paper" on "property tax abatements, tax increment financing and funding for schools" argues that state and local tax breaks for businesses to locate, remain, or expand in their jurisdictions cost the public schools a lot of revenue that would come to them were such breaks not conferred, and that this is a bad thing. To wit, "This study suggests that today's development subsidies may be enriching corporations at the cost of the education of tomorrow's work force." Actual data are skimpy and dated in the five state case studies and the conclusions are elusive, since states typically try to compensate school budgets at least partially for revenues lost via such abatements and concessions. What's most striking, though, is how oblivious the NEA research team seems toward the fact that economic development in a community or state is a healthy thing that, provided it succeeds, will strengthen the economic base that sustains public education over the long haul. One supposes the NEA's perfect tax system would redirect 100 percent of the private sector's wealth into the public sector via taxation. How long could that last? You probably don't want to see this paper unless you collect NEA arcana, but you can find it at http://nea.org/presscenter/images/protectingpubliceducationfullreport.pdf.
