Patricia Ehrensal
Cabrini University
Patricia A.L. Ehrensal, Ed.D. is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Cabrini University. Her research focuses on the discourses in and around school organizations. Particularly, it examines how social constructions of these organizations and the actors therein shape and are shaped by these discourses.
On 22 December 2017, President Trump signed into law the GOP Tax Plan, which has be touted as the most comprehensive tax reform in over 30 years. While the Republican supporters of the Tax Plan claim that it offers real... [ view full abstract ]
On 22 December 2017, President Trump signed into law the GOP Tax Plan, which has be touted as the most comprehensive tax reform in over 30 years. While the Republican supporters of the Tax Plan claim that it offers real relief to the middle class, the purpose of this paper is to offer a critical discourse analysis the impact of the Tax Plan on funding of public (state) schools. The two provisions in the Tax Plan of concern here are the extension of the tax-free college savings plan to include savings for private K-12 school tuitions and the elimination of the deduction of state and local tax on federal income tax.
In the US, public schools are funded primarily through local property taxes, and secondarily though state level income taxes. The elimination of the deduction of state and local taxes will have a major impact on school funding, as (less wealthy) local school districts will feel pressure to reduce the level of property taxes, consequently reducing the revenues available to pay for education. Additionally, states, particularly “high tax states” (such as New Jersey), will also feel pressure to reduce the “tax burden” and subsequently funding of public schools. The loss of this deduction prompted one New Jersey State official to quip that the State should look into making school districts charities, allowing for taxes to become charitable deductions.
Critics of U.S. public school funding have been emphasizing the inequity of the system for more than four decades. In the paper I will argue that the two school funding related provisions of the Tax Plan further exacerbate this inequity. Poorer school districts will have their insufficient funds reduces, while wealthier school districts will have the support of communities who want both quality education for their children and to maintain the high property values of their homes. Further, wealthy families who can already afford to “opt out” of the public school system will take advantage of the tax-free savings plans to subsidize these personal expenses, and will also have a disincentive to pay for public schools through state and local taxes in absences of the deduction on federal income taxes. I conclude that the Tax Plan critically jeopardizes not only the sustainability of public school funding, but also the construct of education as a public good, leaving the quality of education to parents’ willingness or ability to pay for it.
