ACT 73?

In the aftermath of the Act 72 votes, a nagging question lingers among policy-makers at the state Capitol: "What do we do now?"

In the past week, whatever was left of the conventional wisdom that school boards would dutifully fall into line evaporated in the heat of widespread opposition.A lopsided majority of the 501 boards chose not to participate in the program -- preventing homeowners in those districts from sharing in a projected $1 billion a year in property-tax cuts, but preserving the boards' authority to increase property taxes as high as they see fit.

Pennsylvania is the only state that does not restrict school boards' powers to tax or spend, according to the Education Commission of the States in Denver. And boards clearly signaled -- through their votes and public statements -- that they want to keep it that way.

The trouble is, property-tax relief was the main justification for legalizing as many as 61,000 slot machines, which are expected to begin generating that revenue as early as 2007.

Now, with next year's gubernatorial and legislative elections beckoning, the fact that only a minority of school districts will share in the money is a serious frustration for most Harrisburg politicians -- and especially for Gov. Ed Rendell, whose 2002 campaign was built around promises of legalizing slots to finance property tax cuts.

Several pending bills call for overriding the boards that opted out -- either by making Act 72 mandatory or by imposing a referendum requirement for unusually large property-tax increases. Others would let voters do the overriding in Act 72 referendums.

How soon the General Assembly may act -- if at all -- is impossible to predict. But with the slots money not expected to become available for at least two years, both sides agree there is plenty of time to debate what should be done.

Meanwhile, tax relief remains a long shot. Full Story