Urban Institute reports focus on Nebraska K-12 funding, state revenue trends
The Urban Institute has recently published two reports pertinent to Nebraska’s fiscal debate.
One report, “School District Funding in Nebraska,” provides historical information about how Nebraska supports local school districts through its school funding formula — the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act. The report is part of a series of publications the Institute has composed regarding school funding in the U.S. Before releasing the Nebraska report, Urban Institute researchers published a series of reports and data visualizations titled:
- “How Has Education Funding Changed Over Time?”;
- “How Do School Funding Formulas Work?”; and
- “School Funding: Do Poor Kids Get Their Fair Share?”.
The Urban Institute will release reports on school funding formulas in Massachusetts, Texas and Virginia later this year.
The Institute also recently published a report on state revenues. The report found state revenues have increased this year but that tremendous uncertainty exists moving forward. Both the revenue increases and the uncertainty are caused in part by the recently-passed federal tax cuts, the report found.
Total state tax revenue from all sources showed strong growth in the final quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018 with revenues growing mostly in response to income shifting due to the federal tax cuts, the report noted. The report also found it will be hard to predict how state revenues will fare going forward because of uncertainty regarding:
- The ways states continue to adjust to federal tax changes;
- The impact of the federal tax cuts’ repatriation provision;
- A Supreme Court ruling that enables states to collect sales tax on internet purchases;
- Another court decision legalizing sports betting; and
- The effects of tariffs on trade.