As a general example: I pay 3 property taxes: County (about 450); local township (about 250) and school district (2300). Why this huge discrepancy, with school districts charging six to 10 times as much as county/townships? For decades, the state legislature managed to avoid raising state income taxes by balancing the state budget by cutting funding to the school districts. This started well before Corbett but he continued the practice. The school districts responded by raising property tax rates.
In other words, the state used to pay a much higher share per student, and this was a good thing because it evened out the quality of education across the state. There are 784 school districts in the state, and a tremendous disparity in per pupil spending/quality of education among them:
Overall school districts in the state made up for the freeze in the state share by increasing the local share, usually by raising property taxes.
As these numbers show, the Corbett cuts slowed but did not stop spending on education; they simply shifted more of the cost from the state to local governments. To use one example, Philadelphia has increased taxes three times to help fill the deficit left by the retreat of the state from funding education.
In Pennsylvania, the state is the equalizer between districts with wealth and those without. School districts located in wealthier communities are able to bring in significantly more money for their schools and thus spend more on their students. For poorer districts, the state is expected to make up the difference between the cost of public education and the money the district brings in through property taxes.
“We are excessively depending on real property taxes to support schools,” said Ron Cowell, president of The Education Policy and Leadership Center.
http://axisphilly.org/article/the-haves-and-have-nots-of-education-spending/
The state has a property tax /rent rebate program with a sliding scale depending upon income. Allegheny County gives a homestead exemption break via Act 50:
What is the Homestead Act, and do I qualify?
The Homestead Act (Act 50) is a program that reduces your market value by $18,000 for County taxes only. To qualify, you must be the owner and occupy the dwelling as your primary residence. The application deadline is March 1 of each year. You do not have to reapply each year. Once you have filed, your exemption will remain in effect until you sell/transfer the property or change your occupancy. In addition, if you have previously filed and qualified for the Act 50 exclusion, you are automatically registered for the Act 1 program.
This was recently raised from $15 to $18 thousand following the disastrous reassessment:
Not anymore. County lawyers realized that state law required council to raise the discount after a reassessment, sort of like how it's required to lower the tax rate to prevent windfall revenue. Tuesday, council bumped the exemption up to $18,000, keeping the average savings per resident at around $85.
The property tax relief promised from casino gambling has fallen pretty far short. Good analysis of this at:
http://axisphilly.org/article/the-haves-and-have-nots-of-education-spending/
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