FINANCING EDUCATION REFORM

WHEREAS, most states continue their overreliance on the property tax as the main system of financing edu­cation; and

WHEREAS, this overreliance continues to provoke 1ocal opposition to the expenditures necessary to reduce class size, eliminate nonprofessional duties and implement professionalization; and

WHEREAS, retired citizens on fixed incomes are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of the regressive property tax because such tax takes very little account of income; and

WHEREAS, most opposition to educational expenditures has as its roots the hostility generated by the property tax; and

WHEREAS, archaic laws still require most boards of education to get voter approval for educational expenditures, while other forms of public expenditure remain exempt of this political procedure; and

WHEREAS, the federal government, despite a valuable rhetorical commitment to excellence in education, continues to shirk its responsibility to bear a fair share of educational costs; and

WHEREAS, the business community has demonstrated its increasing support for school expenditures directed toward meaningful reform:

RESOLVED, that AFT make increased federal funding for education a major objective for the next decade.