Property tax rates for public schools

From a press release by Matt Shelby, Portland Public Schools:

“Portland Public School’s property tax rate rose this year after Portland voters approved a five-year local option levy with a 63% vote in November 2006. At $6.53 per $1,000 of assessed value, Portland Public Schools’ tax rate is still low compared with its neighbor districts, ranking 14th of 20 school districts in the Portland metro area.” Bold emphasis added, showing school districts with significant numbers of students living in the City of Portland. Riverdale and Gresham-Barlow also serve a few Portland residents – AF

1) West Linn-Wilsonville $9.24
2) Gladstone $9.13
3) Sherwood $8.92
4) Forest Grove $8.28
5) Hillsboro* $8.14
6) Corbett* $7.66
7) Tigard-Tualatin* $7.59
8) North Clackamas $6.89
9) David Douglas $6.86
10) Lake Oswego $6.85
11) Beaverton $6.74
12) Canby $6.73
13) Centennial $6.65
14) Portland Public Schools $6.53
15) Gresham-Barlow* $6.53
16) Oregon City $6.53
17) Riverdale $5.92
18) Parkrose $5.92
19) Reynolds $5.83
20) Oregon Trail $4.64

“All figures are for the tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value, and include property taxes for operations, local option taxes where voters have approved them, and existing capital bonds.

* Some school districts levy capital bonds over only part of their territory (due to previous school district mergers and other complications), so tax rates may not be uniform across the school district.“

The raw numbers, of course, don’t take into account many other factors. The David Douglas and Lake Oswego rates are almost the same, for example, but both the assessed home values and family income levels are likely to be greater in LO. The amount of money raised from area property owners may not translate into effective education of the children in a district. Most public school funding now comes from state income taxes rather than local property taxes. And the cost of educating children depends in part on the challenges faced by each one, including physical/mental disabilities, language learning needs, family stability/frequent moves, and so on. The numbers in the press release do seem to show that Portland’s school districts aren’t totally out of line in their property tax assessments compared with other Metro-area districts, however.