(Council Bluffs) — KMAland school officials are among those bracing for potential property tax reform in the upcoming Iowa Legislative Session.
Lewis Central School Superintendent Brent Hoesing gave an update to the Lewis Central School Board at its latest meeting on possible proposals coming down from lawmakers in the 2026 Iowa General Assembly, which gavels into session on January 12th. As outlined in the financial report presented at that same meeting, Hoesing notes that property taxes help fund several areas of a school district’s budget in Iowa, including the general fund, debt service, management fund, and the Public Education and Recreation Levy. Hoesing says one proposal from state lawmakers he has heard to provide some property tax relief is to shift more of the burden to Supplemental State Aid, the state’s per-pupil funding granted to public school districts.
“Now that’s great when the state’s running a surplus every year, which they have been for a while,” said Hoesing. “So they’re running these big surpluses so to say, okay, we’re going to take the surplus and we’re going to spend that money on your schools and then you’re not going to have to spend as much locally on your schools. However, that’s not the case this year and it wasn’t the case last year because now that we’ve shifted to a 3.8% income tax for everybody and we’ve lowered income tax pretty significantly. That means the state’s not bringing enough money.”…