Ag2School property tax credit helps Greater Minnesota schools
By: Sen. John Jasinski

Note: this column originally ran in the Owatonna People’s Press

The 2017 legislative session was fantastic for K-12 schools across Minnesota. The Republican-led legislature showed its commitment to public education by increasing funding for schools by $1.3 billion from the last budget, including 2% annual increases to the per pupil funding formula. Most of this money is going right to the classrooms, where it is needed the most. Every school district in our area will benefit from more funding, and some are taking advantage of new options for early childhood learning.

I was proud to support our bipartisan, student-friendly education budget, but when it comes to giving our children the best possible education, state funding is only part of the solution. Often, districts have to ask local voters for help with projects specific to their district.

By the end of 2017, more than 60 school districts across Minnesota will have had bond referendums on the ballot for things like technology and security improvements, facilities maintenance, renovations, and other upgrades. Some of these have already been decided, but many more will be on the ballot in November. This includes districts in our area — like Faribault, which is asking for $86 million for a new kindergarten center, a new high school event center, and other renovations.

In previous years, Faribault’s referendum would have faced an uphill battle. Historically, referendums in the metro area stand a far greater chance of passing than those in Greater Minnesota, where the burden for funding bond referendums has fallen disproportionately on farmers. In fact, according to the Minnesota Farm Bureau, farmers in some rural districts are paying ten times as much as other taxpayers!

The old approach did not work for children, it did not work for schools, and it certainly did not work for farmers. This session, Republicans prioritized figuring out a better way: the Ag2School property tax credit.

Here is how it works: in simple terms, it is a tax credit available to property taxpayers who own agricultural land to help offset the costs of school bond referendums. The tax credit reduces the impact on agricultural property taxpayers by at least 40%, making those referendums fairer for farmers, and giving school districts a better chance at securing the funding they need for critical upgrades. A farmer that once paid $25 per acre, for example, now will receive $10 from the state as a credit on their property tax bill. The credit will take effect on January 1, 2018. Almost a quarter of a million properties will qualify.

There is a reason this credit received overwhelming bipartisan support – it benefits school districts in every corner of the state. According to the Rural Education Association, half the schools in Minnesota were built before 1976. The average lifespan of a school is only sixty years, so every year there are a lot of schools in desperate need of upgrades.

The Ag2School tax credit is a win-win for Greater Minnesota. It is a much better deal for farmers who have been shouldering more than their fair share of the burden, and it gives school districts a better opportunity to pay for important upgrades and renovations.

It is the responsibility of every voter to learn about the issues that are on the ballot and evaluate them as best we can. Going forward, farmers will be able to judge school bond referendums strictly on their merits, without worrying about the result having an outsized impact on their property tax statements. That’s good news for everyone.