‘Independent Taxation Authority’ for Regional Schools? Massachusetts Auditor Suggests Ways To Provide More Tax Dollars

BOSTON — An exhaustive state study exploring the state's problems meeting regional school district funding needs suggests enacting a pilot program to test whether a uniform tax rate spread out across member towns — in which the regional districts are granted with "independent taxation authority." The 68-page report, the product of a study conducted by Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump, acknowledges the hurdle known as Proposition 2 ½, the state law barring municipalities from raising loc

BOSTON — An exhaustive state study exploring the state's problems meeting regional school district funding needs suggests enacting a pilot program to test whether a uniform tax rate spread out across member towns — in which the regional districts are granted with "independent taxation authority." The 68-page report, the product of a study conducted by Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump, acknowledges the hurdle known as Proposition 2 ½, the state law barring municipalities from raising loc…