School supports efforts to redirect school land funds

    There is a movement across Nebraska that believes the current distribution of school land lease payments is not following the original intent of the law.
    Members of the board of education at Chase County Schools (CCS) discussed a letter last week from James McNally of Neligh, Deputy Wheeler County Attorney.
    In it, McNally said Chase County is losing $1,394,762.68 each year in tax revenue due to the way school land money is distributed.
    The lease payments in Chase County total $1,512,561 and CCS received $117,798.32 back in school aid the past year. That leaves the $1.394 million deficit.
    Because the school land lease money is redirected as school aid based on student population, 52 of Nebraska’s 93 smaller counties receive less in return than the lease-holders pay, according to McNally’s research.
    “That means that the counties with a large enrollment receive the most payments,” McNally wrote.
    Noting the original school land idea was formulated by Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president, it was embodied in legislation in 1861.
    McNally cites this line from the law: “The monies generated by the school land should be returned to the townships from which it was generated.”
    He hopes to get a Nebraska Attorney General’s opinion that agrees that the present distribution formula is contrary to the intent of the founders.
    McNally has been in contact with Omaha attorney David Domina to do the research and generate an opinion that supports a change in the distribution formula, with possible efforts toward a change in federal and state law.
    At their April 9 meeting, CCS board members voted 7-0 to support the effort.
    Supt. Randy Klooz said it was a good idea to lend support to the effort.
    “Shifting school money to the east was maybe not the intent of the law,” he said.

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