Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Allentown, is pictured meeting with business owners in Dublin Borough earlier this year.

A state lawmaker is proposing allowing school district voters to weigh in on school tax levy increases each year.

Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Allentown, is drafting legislation that would add Pennsylvania to the list of states that will create a referendum vote on school district budgets. Coleman cites a 2023 Auditor General’s report that found 12 audited school districts had an average of $360 million in unused, unrestricted money in their respective general funds while increasing taxes 37 of 48 possible times during a four-year audit.

“The overall results of this audit should raise concerns due to the districts’ common, yet questionable, practices that are placing an excess burden on taxpayers across Pennslyvania,” the audit states. “We are hopeful that the General Assembly and (state Education Department) will consider taking a close look at these practices and reviewing the PSC, ACt 1, and PDE guidelines for possible clarification and improvement,” Auditor General Timothy DeFoor said in the 2023 audit.

Coleman said school districts ended the 2023-24 school year with more than $7.4 billion in general fund reserves, an increase of more than $2 billion since 2020-2021.

“Put simply, too many school districts max out their ability to increase taxes year after year regardless of actual need or how much they have sitting in the bank,” Coleman wrote in his co-sponsorship memorandum.

“To address this problem, I will be introducing legislation requiring all proposed school district tax increases be put to referendum. If school districts want to extract more revenue from taxpayers, then they’ll need to make their case directly to the folks paying the bills.”

Coleman isn’t the only Republican senator who wants to make changes to the way schools are funded. Sen. Chris Gebhard, R-Lebanon, and Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Chambersburg, have introduced a constitutional amendment to eliminate school taxes. Rather than levy a local school tax Mastriano and Gebhard would require the state Legislature to find new ways to pay for the state’s public school system. The senators haven’t said how they would do so. State school funding has been a divisive topic among state lawmakers since the state Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that Pennsylvania’s system of funding public schools violates the constitutional rights of students in poorer school districts.

The plaintiffs originally sued in 2014, arguing that Pennsylvania’s system of paying for public schools is failing the poorest districts and contending that billions more dollars in state aid are necessary to meet the state’s constitutional obligation. While the judge agreed, she also did not direct Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature on how much more state aid to distribute, or how. Answering those questions has been debated hotly over the past two years.

Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed $526 million in new education funding in his 2025-26 budget proposal that is viewed as part of a multiyear, multibillion-dollar response to the 2023 court decision. The budget still has not been passed by lawmakers, with school funding one of the undecided issues.

“It is outrageous and unacceptable that property taxes are causing Pennsylvanians to lose their homes,” Gebhard said. “We must act now to end the suffering so many people are facing because their property tax bills keep going up. The people of Pennsylvania deserve to have a direct voice on this issue, which is why we introduced this bill as a constitutional amendment, putting the final decision on property tax elimination in the hands of the voters. Homeownership is a long-term goal for countless Pennsylvanians who are striving to achieve the American Dream. No tax should ever lead to our residents having to face homelessness.”