Again for the 2012-13 school year, Pennsylvania’s Taxpayer Relief Act won’t be providing the magnitude of relief and taxpayer control that was envisioned when the law was passed in 2006.

At the time the tax-relief measure became law, the state’s property owners were assured that for the most part they would have control over property tax increases through ballot referendums. However, thanks to authorized exceptions to the referendum rule — initially 10 reasons, now three — in all but a handful of districts, voters have had no real say in tax-increase decisions throughout the years of the law’s existence.

According to a report last week from the state Department of Education, nearly 200 school districts have been given permission to raise property taxes above state-established caps for the coming fiscal year without seeking district voters’ approval.

Among those districts are Seneca Valley, Slippery Rock, Karns City and Freeport.

That doesn’t mean all of the nearly 200 districts, including those in Butler County, will in the end raise taxes to balance their budgets. However, the fact that the referendum requirement has essentially been cast aside over the half-dozen years of the law’s existence demonstrates the law’s weakness.

For 2011-12, 228 districts applied for exceptions and 135 raised taxes. For 2010-11, 133 districts applied and 84 raised taxes.

It’s true that the uncertainties surrounding state funding are exacerbating districts’ challenges in balancing their income against anticipated expenditures. The state ought to have a law requiring the Legislature to establish a minimum rate of funding for school districts 90 days before their June 30 budget-passage deadline.

A guaranteed minimum state funding amount with such a time window remaining for final budget action would enable districts to avoid the red tape of seeking tax exceptions when they weren’t really needed.

School property taxes can rise to the level of the caps established by the state for districts that do not apply for the above-cap exceptions. Of the districts that applied for and received approval to exceed the caps, Seneca Valley (3.60 mills) and Slippery Rock (3.52 mills) were among the five districts authorized the largest increases.

Paying down debt for school construction and funding increased special education costs are reasonable causes for exceeding the tax cap. But the third exception category, covering excessive pension obligations brought about by the Legislature’s unconscionable 2001 pension action — which gave teachers a 25 percent increase — is not palatable from the perspective of property owners.

The bottom line is that the Taxpayer Relief Act has not proven to be a panacea for taxpayers, thanks to the hollow referendum requirement. Lawmakers need to revisit the law, if they truly believe that taxpayers deserve the voice that the 2006 law purportedly was intended to provide.