- Bubbling paint mars some walls, evidence of leaks spreading inside the aging building.
- The lack of funds is a result of tax breaks Kansas City lavishes on companies that do business there.
- The program is supposed to bring new jobs but instead has starved schools.
Property tax drain
In Kansas City, for example, nearly $1,700 per student was redirected in 2022 from poorer public schools, while between $500 and $900 was taken from wealthier schools. Other studies found similar demographic trends elsewhere, including New York state, South Carolina and Columbus, Ohio.
The result
- All told, tax abatements can harm a community’s value, with funding shortfalls creating a cycle of decline.
- Researchers agree that a lack of adequate funding undermines educational outcomes, especially for poor children.
- The study estimated a 21.7% increase could eliminate graduation gaps faced by children from low-income families.
- Perversely, some of the largest beneficiaries are politicians who boast of handing out breaks that inflict so much pain on poorer communities.
- In Philadelphia public schools, asbestos is a major problem, and the district needs $430 million to clean up such environmental hazards.
A tale of two cities
Baton Rouge is a tale of two cities, with some of the worst outcomes in the state for education, income and mortality, and some of the best outcomes. “It was only separated by sometimes a few blocks,” said Edgar Cage, the lead organizer for the advocacy group Together Baton Rouge. “Underserved kids don’t have a path forward”
- Dawn Collins, a district school board member from 2016 to 2022, said that with more funding, the district could provide targeted interventions for academically struggling students.
- The campus of Exxon Mobil, which has received $580 million in tax abatements since 2000, sits not far from schools in desperate need of maintenance.
- The company received its latest tax exemption, $8.6 million, to install facilities at the Baton Rouge complex that recycle plastic and purify isopropyl alcohol.
- Meanwhile, school bus drivers staged a sickout in protest of low pay and a lack of air-conditioned vehicles.
- Christine Wen worked for the nonprofit organization Good Jobs First from June 2019 to May 2022 where she helped collect tax abatement data.
- Nathan Jensen has received funding from the John and Laura Arnold Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.