CHESTERTON | Property tax relief is good and needed, but it should not come at the expense of educating children.
Several state lawmakers and shakers riffed on that theme in talking to teachers, parents and school administrators at a legislative update Saturday at Chesterton High School.
Stiff public pressure for tax relief -- including calls for elimination of property taxes -- means there will be significant action on the issue in the current session of the General Assembly, but a stable source of revenue for schools must be maintained, state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, said.
Every two-year legislative term will see a "battle royale" over funding for school instructional costs, if the stable source of property taxes is taken away, state Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, said.
"We've got to make sure there's dollars for education every two years," Pelath said.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson said property taxes provide a funding source for education that doesn't fluctuate, but they must be fair.
Income and sales taxes are much more susceptible to economic downturns, several speakers said.
State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, sounded a caution about proposed amendments to the state constitution that would make some tax caps permanent, saying the constitution ought to be a stable document.
Soliday, too, said tax solutions should not be specifically addressed in the constitution because of the potential for changing economic circumstances.
Despite the focus on tax relief's effect on education, other educational issues should not be overlooked, Soliday said. Full-day kindergarten must not fall victim to tax-cutting pressures, and the state can't keep testing special education students to the same standard it does other students, he said.
State Rep. Greg Simms, D-Valparaiso, said he was pushing for a change in Indiana's interpretation of provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act that require students to perform at an age-appropriate level. Simms said he would have mildly mentally handicapped students take tests aligned to their mental age rather than their chronological age.
Simms also said Portage would be one of six Indiana practice sites for an alternative test designed for special education students.
