Elmore County schools to see slight increase in local funding, but lower state funding

While Elmore County property owners are paying more in ad valorem taxes, it doesn’t add additional revenue or allow more spending for the Elmore County Board of Education. Last week the board met for the first of its budget hearings and learned one-mil of property tax in the county is the equivalent of $1.41 million for fiscal year 2026. It is up from $1.23 million last year. The county is required to collect 10 mils of property tax for education to participate in the Educational Trust Fund from the state. While the ETF allotment is going from $83.5 million to $85.3 million, all of the property tax collected for education goes towards the ETF total. For Elmore County it means state funding through the ETF goes down from $71.24 million to $71.16 million.

“The extra we get from county property tax means we get less from the state,” Elmore County Schools superintendent Richard Dennis said. “It is something that the public doesn’t fully understand.”