A retired couple living in Dallastown bought their home 40 years ago for $45,000. Their pension income is $30,000 per year. In the latest assessment, their home was valued at $315,000. Following the latest reassessment, the Dallastown Area School District just set its tax rate at 18.81 mills. As a result, this couple faced a school tax bill of $5,925.

This is almost 20% of their retirement income. Adding county and municipal taxes, their total property tax bill will exceed $7,346 – more than 24% of their retirement income – with no hope of a decrease in sight. This couple is typical of thousands inYork County who feel as if they are merely renting their property from their school district, the county, and their township.

In the current school year, York County schools have budgets that total almost $800 million. The cost per student will exceed $10,000. Except for York City, most of the money will come from local school property taxes.

Regardless of the source of funds, however, taxpayers deserve a reasonable educational return in the form of academic achievement by students at all levels in the system. Here in Pennsylvania, student performance is measured through the annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), a standards-based battery of tests used to measure a student's attainment of the academic standards while also determining the degree to which school programs enable students to attain proficiency of the standards. Every Pennsylvania student in 3rd, 5th, 8th and 11th grade is assessed in reading and math.  Every Pennsylvania student in 5th, 8th and 11th grade is assessed in writing.

The No Chlid Left Behind Act requires that 100% of the student body must attain "proficiency" by 2014 in both math and reading (Proficiency is roughly equivalent to a letter grade of C or better). To help our members evaluate the return on our investment in education, YCTC has compiled PSSA results for all 16 York County school districts for the past 4 academic years. You may view the report by clicking the PSSA Results link on the left side of the screen.

Overall, performance has been relatively flat, even though expenditures have increased by 25% or more during the same period of time. Please take a hard look at the results in your district and make your school boards and administrators aware of your concerns.