School districts can anticipate funding chaos in the coming months stemming from an unprecedented lack of enrollment data as students switch between private and public schools. As Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Pensacola) told @politico.com:

This special session, while thoughtful, was not the last word on property tax reform in DE. Lawmakers can do more to assist low-income renters & homeowners by creating circuit breaker credits that reduce their tax bills & improving administrative processes. www.cbpp.org/blog/targete...

State legislators in 2023 also passed legislation mandating that reassessments occur every five years, helping to make sure this situation doesn’t happen again. However, ideally, reassessments should occur every 1 to 2 years. spotlightdelaware.org/2024/11/25/e...

Since the last assessment in the ‘80s, taxable values in New Castle Cty quadrupled on average. But frequent assessments result in gradual changes in values & tax bills that reflect the true property value, making budgeting easier & fairer for homeowners. www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2...

The session was responding to New Castle County’s (DE’s largest county & home to Wilmington) first full reassessment in decades, where homeowners’ property tax bills increased dramatically due to home values increasing more rapidly than commercial property values.

While property taxes fund impt services like schools, historically, high late payment penalties & predatory tax sales have stripped low-income families & communities of color of their wealth. DE’s reform is a step to prevent this history from reoccurring. itep.org/tax-history-...

One new law also gives homeowners more flexibility by allowing payment plans for bills increasing by $300 or more. It also suspends late payment penalties for homeowners on payment plans and substantially reduces these penalties for anyone not on payment plans. news.delaware.gov/2025/08/13/g...

The state legislature passed laws last month that allow cities, counties, and school districts to set separate property tax rates for residential & commercial properties, helping them rebalance the scales and ensure that businesses are paying their fair share to support schools.

Instead of using a tax shelter for the wealthy to weaken the public schools that serve 90% of kids, lawmakers should invest in students and take us one step closer to the promise of an excellent public education for every child.

See this piece from @npr.org for a deeper dive into 9 things to know about the federal school voucher proposal: www.npr.org/2025/05/23/n...

Vouchers are often unpopular, incl. in red states, b/c voters prefer to spend public $ on public schools: Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure last fall in all 120 counties that would have amended the KY constitution to allow school vouchers. @kypolicy.bsky.social kypolicy.org/kentucky-vot...

Experts at @floridapolicy.bsky.social warn a federal voucher cld explode in cost over time if expanded, as happened in Florida. FL’s vouchers now eat up more than 25% of the state’s K-12 budget, w/ most $$ subsidizing students who already attended private school www.floridapolicy.org/posts/federa...

The House’s national school voucher would reduce federal revenue by about $20B per Congress's JCT and state revenue by over $450M per @itep.org. Costs would increase if extended beyond 2029 like the Senate version or if the program expands as they have in many states. itep.org/house-tax-bi...