Local School Tax Laboratory
Use this interactive tool to see how school funding is affected by tax rates on different types of property. Below, you will see two sample school districts: one rural, and one urban. These sample districts both draw local property tax revenue from a tax base valued at $1.5 billion, but they differ in the proportions of this value that come from residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural property.
In the urban school district, just over half of the property value comes from residential property (like houses and apartment buildings), while about a third comes from commercial property (like stores and offices), close to an eighth comes from industrial property (like warehouses and factories), and almost none comes from agricultural property. In the rural school district, almost two-thirds of the property value comes from agricultural property, nearly a third is residential, and only a little comes from commercial and industrial property.
Baseline tax rates and funding levels are marked to show how a normal school district might tax its property for education. Adjust the tax rate on each type of property to see how the sample districts' property tax revenues change. Consider how you would weigh priorities including funding for schools, local economic considerations, and the homeowner tax burden if you were a policymaker.