By: Rhett Uleman
When a state accounting error causes a major budget shortfall in Omaha’s largest public school district, local taxpayers and educators are concerned about being left to foot the bill.
The Omaha Public School District is working with a roughly 50.6-million-dollar reduction in state aid this year, due to an accounting error at the state education department. In late September, the school board approved an 8.2 cent increase in property tax levies to help address the shortfall. That change means owners of a 100-thousand-dollar home will be paying about 80 dollars more in property taxes over the course of a year, and a 250,000-dollar home will pay about 200 dollars more over a year’s span.
Homeowners like Kris Klanderud express frustration with what they feel is state level mistake coming out of their pocket
‘We already pay for OPS through our taxes, right? You know state tax, city tax; and now they’re going up additionally? For the mishandling of money?” Klanderud said.
OPS has stated in recent presentations that one of the reasons that the budget is being adjusted, rather than being reduced, is partly because of the success of their district-wide moonshot initiative, which aims to have 100% of students reading at or above grade level by 2030. But budget adjustment has another effect: reductions in salary raises for teachers and educators.
Kathy Poehling is a para in the OPS district, and the president of the Omaha Education Association. She says that the ever-growing demands placed on teachers combined with the reduced pay raises mean that teachers are feeling intense pressure.
“When you’re put into a situation where they’re really setting you up for failure. You don’t have the support you need; you don’t have the resources you need, but the expectations are even higher than they were before,” Poehling said.
