This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
by Mary Wilson for NewsWorks
As state senators in Pennsylvania consider how to address soaring school property taxes, some say serious attempts at reform are a long way off.
Many lawmakers have expressed interest in bringing down school property taxes by replacing the levies with other revenue streams.
But consensus over this is lacking — and not just because shifting a tax burden is always going to be controversial.
School property tax is intertwined with other thorny issues like proposed reforms to reduce the state’s public pension debt, which lawmakers and the governor tried and failed to advance earlier this year.