Louisiana school boards warn Amendment 6 could cut local funding

(The Center Square) − Louisiana school officials are raising concerns about a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow local voters to give older homeowners larger property tax exemptions, warning the measure could reduce school funding without giving school boards a say.Amendment 6, which will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot, would allow parishes and municipalities to hold elections on additional property tax exemptions for homeowners age 65 and older who qualify for Louisiana’s existing special assessment level.The Louisiana School Boards Association is concerned because school systems rely heavily on local property taxes, said Danny Garrett, the association’s executive counsel.Under the proposal, the exemption would grow as a homeowner gets older. Louisiana already exempts the first $75,000 of a qualifying home’s market value from certain property taxes. The amendment would increase the total exempt value to $135,000 for homeowners ages 65 to 68, $195,000 for ages 69 to 72, $255,000 for ages 73 to 76, $315,000 for ages 77 to 80 and $375,000 for those 81 and older.The change would not happen automatically. Voters in an individual parish or municipality would have to approve the additional exemption.That local option is at the center of the school boards association’s concern.Garret said a municipality that collects relatively little property tax could approve the exemption even though another taxing body covering the same area, such as a school board, depends much more heavily on those taxes.”They could put it on the ballot,” Garret said. “It would have very little impact on them, and have a very significant impact on us.”Garret saidthe association reads the amendment to mean that once voters approve the exemption, it would reduce the taxable value available to other taxing authorities covering that property, including school boards.That could also produce different tax treatment within the same parish, he said. If voters in one municipality approve the exemption but neighboring municipalities do not, similarly valued homes could be taxed differently depending on where they are located.”We don’t believe it’s good tax policy,” Garrey said.The amendment also says taxing authorities must absorb any revenue loss caused by the exemption. Other taxpayers could not be charged more through later property reappraisals or millage adjustments to make up the difference.Garrey said that provision raises questions for school districts that have already taken on debt based on expected property tax collections.”We still have to make our bond payments,” he said. “You have a contractual obligation. So I’m not exactly sure how that’s going to work.”The Legislative Fiscal Office also expects the proposal could have a significant effect on local governments, although the statewide cost cannot be determined because individual communities would decide whether to adopt it.Nearly 185,000 Louisiana taxpayers received the existing age-based special assessment in 2025, according to the fiscal note. As an illustration, analysts estimated that if each received just $1,000 more in exempt assessed value, local governments statewide would lose roughly $19.4 million annually.The fiscal office specifically noted that lower property tax collections could also affect Louisiana’s Minimum Foundation Program, the formula used to distribute state funding to public schools. The size of that impact is unknown.If voters statewide approve the amendment, local governments could begin adopting the exemptions for tax years starting in 2028.