by David Safier
I wrote yesterday about freshmen at Desert View and Sunnyside High School getting free laptops. As AZW88 commented at the end of the post, most of the money and equipment for this program has been donated, but he notes one prominent company which hasn't participated.
Companies and organizations have donated tons of cash and equipment to this project, including many companies that have operations in the district boundaries. One company is very conspicuous by its LACK of donations to this project: Raytheon. Raytheon pays little or no property taxes into the district in spite of its large holdings (worth serious money).
If this is true, it's pretty deplorable. Let's remember that Raytheon lives off our tax dollars — that old "military/industrial complex" thing — yet it doesn't seem willing to participate in a joint public/private venture. Even worse, Raytheon is a high tech company that needs skilled, high tech employees to thrive. I guess it doesn't see its future employees coming from the high school down the street.
I remember when I taught high school, it was typical that chains didn't give to the schools because they had no sense of being part of the community. It was the mom and pop businesses that supported the local schools. It may be that Raytheon doesn't see itself as part of the local community, since its customers don't live around here.
Does anyone know anything about Raytheon's policies on giving? I assume it has a charitable arm. Where does the money go?
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No doubt. I agree with that last one.
usreq32@techtotal.com
Duke, schools get ‘in lieu’ funds for federal property (military facilities, Reservations, etc) in their district. Sunnyside and TUSD get these funds, but there are restrictions on how they are spent (hard capital, as I recall). The amount that the schools get is far less than they would were it taxable property.
Raytheon is getting out of paying its fair share of property taxes by being on the base (amounts to government support of business, kind of anti-free enterprise, isn’t it??)
Bonds and overrides are different things. And you are dead wrong about property taxes NOT going directly to the districts.
Every district, save one, in the Tucson area are operating on overrides, which is a secondary property tax that goes DIRECTLY to the school. They can use this money to increase their M & O budget, up to 10%. District M & O funding is based on student enrollment, with the Legislature setting how much each student is ‘worth’ (with multipliers applied to certain categories of special ed students). Schools also get a certain amount of capital from the legislature, based on various formulas, in two categories: Hard capital, which is used for large purchases such as buses, buildings, and other ‘permanent’ items and soft capital, which is is for items such as software and technology equipment that is not a ‘consumable’ but has a useful life of 3-5 years or less.
Districts used to raise more $$ for capital by issuing bonds, funded (repaid) by a property tax. This has phased out with the creation of the Schools Facility Board, which was created to equalize school funding across the state. Schools in rural areas had little means of raising the $$ to replace or repair aging buildings. I believe that it was a couple of lawsuits that brought SFB about. (az had some ‘equalization’ funding in place in response to the building of Palo Verde power plant.. but courts ruled it inadequate due to the bonding capacity some districts had vs others http://www.azsfb.gov/sfb/sfbweb/sfbaays/org_overview.asp )
AZ is currently 48th in per pupil spending in education, AZ property taxes are extremely low, and a company worth probably in excess of $100 million not paying their fair share is ridiculous.
Raytheon’s plantsite is on U.S. Air Force property. Raytheon leases the property from the Air Force. Like anyone that pays a lease in Arizona, they don’t pay property taxes; the land lord does. AZW88 needs to call Barack Obama and tell him the USAF needs to start paying their fair share of property taxes.
Besides, property taxes collected for schools don’t go directly to the school unless their is a bond overide based on Deseg. The taxes go to the State who then “redistributes” (I know you libs love that word) to each school “according to their needs” (I know you guys love Marx too) and is based primarily on student enrollment.
Why don’t you guys get on Davis Monthan and Ft Huachuca while you’re at it. Those SOBs aren’t paying their fair share of property taxes either.
I’m learning all kinds of things here. Why doesn’t Raytheon pay its share of property taxes? I know areas sometimes lower taxes to lure new companies into an area, but Raytheon has been around for a long time.
As for Duke, they do spend some money on education in the area, but it does not make up for the loss of the property tax revenue that Sunnyside would get.
David, my info comes from a Sunnyside school board member DIRECTLY. I would say that what I said is pretty accurate.
Interesting, Duke. I asked if anyone knows about Raytheon’s giving, and you answered. If in fact they’re generous in other areas — I don’t know the Math Moves You programs, but it sounds good — then that’s worthy stuff. No one can contribute everywhere. Cooperative research grants — I’d need to know more. The buying of university research can be a troublesome situation, depending on how the research is directed.
Honestly, thanks for contributing to the discussion. I accept the snark as part of the package.
Any more information, anyone?
Mr. Safier,
Why don’t you ask Raytheon and their “military/industrial complex thingy” to just get out of your liberal utopia if you don’t want them here?
I don’t think they would mind taking their 13,000 jobs and the $6 Billion in revenue ($3Billion that stays in Pima County’s economy) to Texas like every other company that you guys have taxed and regulated out of AZ.
Raytheon also spends millions annually on their “Math Moves You” programs in elementary and high schools all across Arizona and the rest of the states. Not to mention the cooperative research grants done with the U of A.
Before you start wildy taking shots at something you know little about, you should at least be sure of your target.