It’s something Del. Tom Rust wants JLARC to take a look at:
Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study implications of granting fiscal autonomy to elected school boards in the Commonwealth. In conducting its study, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission shall (i) examine state constitutional and statutory issues regarding school board supervisory authority, (ii) study the respective roles of local school boards and the relevant local governing body in delivering and funding public education, (iii) examine fiscal authority models in other states, and (iv) consider such other issues as it deems appropriate.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission must submit an executive summary of its findings and recommendations to the 2009 Session and its final findings and recommendations to the 2010 Session of the General Assembly.
Considering the black hole that is education spending, I’m not sold on the idea of giving local school boards the power to set their own tax rates (can you imagine the great minds on the Richmond School Board attempting to do that?).
However, having attended a school district that could set its own tax rate (subject to voter approval), I can also see, and have benefited from, such a scheme.