With the Iowa Legislature scheduled to adjourn in less than a month now, there are still a lot of decisions to be made before adjournment.

While it’s months late, the Governor and GOP lawmakers finally reached an agreement on public school funding for next year. It’s a paltry 2% increase in state funding next year that doesn’t even keep up with the rising costs our schools are facing. That’s in contrast to the 44% increase in state funding private school vouchers are set to receive next year.

The Governor’s voucher program simply isn’t fair to the 90% of Iowa kids who attend public schools – especially for kids in rural areas who don’t have access to any private schools while their public schools get by with less. I just fundamentally disagree with the Governor on this one: I believe public money is for public schools.

Here’s what the Governor and GOP leaders don’t want Iowans to know about their school funding plan: it forces half of Iowa school districts to raise property taxes.

Since public school funding is a combination of property taxes and state funding, low state funding for public schools year after year doesn’t just penalize Iowa kids in public schools, it also shifts the tax burden to homeowners and farmers.

It’s a fundamental reality that can’t be ignored and it has to be part of the conversation as GOP leaders pledge — again — to reform Iowa’s property tax system.

We’ve been hearing from Republicans for months that they were going to finally lower property taxes. A few weeks ago, we finally saw their proposal, which wasn’t ready for prime time. Apparently they agreed since they released another version earlier this week. Like other Republican property tax proposals in recent years, the impacts on property taxpayers, schools, and local police and fire services are not clear.

Here’s where we all agree: property taxes are rising quickly, and Iowa’s property tax system is extremely complicated.

For the last decade, there have been multiple attempts at property tax reform. The end result has been the same: property taxes on homeowners and farmers have continued to go up every year.

It’s why the Iowans I’ve heard from are so skeptical about this latest version of property tax reform and are insistent on understanding the impact before another bill is passed. It’s entirely fair and I agree.

To be clear, I’m not advocating for or against this latest version of property tax reform. I just need to see proof that this version will finally lower residential property taxes while preserving public schools and public safety. I do believe the bill should not come up for debate until there is data available from our non-partisan financial experts to prove the bill won’t actually raise property taxes on Iowans again.

If the data isn’t available, the bill should be tabled until the next session. In its place, the legislature should pass our bill to provide immediate property tax relief of $1,000 for homeowners and $500 for renters later this year.

That’s people over politics.

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State Representative Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights serves the 32nd District in the Iowa House and is the Iowa House Democratic Leader.