The New Math on School Finance: Adding Up the First-Ever Disclosure of Corporate Tax Abatements’ Cost to Public Education

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 77 requires most state and local government bodies, including school districts, to annually disclose the costs of corporate tax abatements. As a result of the new rule, thousands of America’s public school districts are reporting how much revenue they lose to corporate tax breaks granted in the name of economic development. This report examines the financial reports of more than 5,600 independent school districts and found that some school districts are losing significant sums of vital funding to tax abatements, and that abatement dollars, if redirected, could help restore better-quality education. Additionally, this report recommends that school districts should be mandated to adhere to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and publish their Statement 77 data, and that exclude school revenue from abatements.