Kentucky SEEK Share Explorer
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Dollars

Statewide

Stacked bars of state SEEK + FSPK and the local contribution by fiscal year.

State SEEK + FSPK is the state's SEEK formula funding plus its match for the 5¢ school building levy every district must have under the Facilities Support Program of Kentucky (FSPK). Local contribution is the revenue from the district's local school taxes, calculated by multiplying its local equivalent tax rate by its total assessed property value. FY2027 (hatched) is the Sept. 24, 2026 tentative calculation from the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE); all other years are KDE final calculations. Fiscal years end in June (FY2027 = 2026-27 school year).

Local equivalent tax rate (¢ per $100 of assessed value)

Line chart of the district's local equivalent tax rate by fiscal year, with the statewide median rate and the 30 cent required minimum local effort.

Tax rate is KDE's current-year levied equivalent rate; the statewide line is the median district's rate.

How districts rank in state + local funding per pupil

One stacked bar per school district, sorted from highest to lowest combined state SEEK + FSPK and local contribution per pupil.

Each bar is one district, sorted from highest to lowest funding per pupil (adjusted average daily attendance, or AADA, plus growth) for the series shown. Hide state or local to rank by the other alone. Click a bar to select that district. Dollars are for the year shown, not adjusted for inflation, so ranks within a year are unaffected. The dashed line marks the median district: half of districts are above it and half below.

Full ranking table

Wealthiest vs. poorest districts

State SEEK + FSPK and local contribution per pupil

State SEEK + FSPKLocal contribution
Two panels of stacked bars by year: state SEEK + FSPK and local contribution per pupil in the wealthiest districts and in the poorest districts.

Gap between wealthiest and poorest districts

Per-pupil difference or ratio between the wealthiest and poorest districts by year.

Year-by-year wealthiest vs. poorest table

How the shares are calculated

Local contributionThe district's local equivalent tax rate for the current year (officially, the levied equivalent tax rate) times its total property assessment, divided by $100. The equivalent rate puts all of a district's local school taxes on a property-tax basis, including the 5¢ per $100 every district must levy for school buildings under the Facilities Support Program of Kentucky (FSPK). That building money can only pay to build or renovate schools or pay off building debt.
State SEEK + FSPKKDE's Total Calculated SEEK for the district (the base guarantee and its add-ons, minus the required minimum 30¢ local effort, plus Tier I, hold-harmless and adjustments), plus the state's FSPK match for school buildings. The state adds that match for districts with less property wealth so the required 5¢ building levy raises a more similar amount per student.
SharesLocal share is local contribution divided by the total of local contribution and state SEEK + FSPK. State share is the rest. The statewide line sums all districts before dividing, so it weights larger districts more.

SEEK and local taxes are not the only school revenue

This tool compares the two largest sources of general school funding. Districts also receive money that this tool does not count, mainly:

  • Federal funds, such as Title I grants for high-poverty schools, IDEA special education grants and school meal reimbursements.
  • Other state funds outside SEEK, such as preschool grants and other restricted state grants.
  • State school construction aid beyond the FSPK match. In addition to the required levy, many districts have levied additional nickels to raise money for construction projects, and in some cases the state has equalized those levies as well. This tool includes the local revenue from these extra levies but not the state's equalization payments for them, School Facilities Construction Commission (SFCC) payments toward district building debt, or budget money for specific school projects.
  • State payments made on districts' behalf for employee health insurance and teacher retirement (KTRS). These are paid directly by the state and do not pass through district budgets.
  • Other local revenue, such as payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) from property that is exempt from or has reduced property taxes, fees, tuition, interest, grants and donations, plus one-time receipts like bond sale proceeds.
Year-by-year data

Calculated from KDE's SEEK Data and Summary files for each year. Per-pupil figures divide by AADA plus growth. The 30¢ required minimum local effort is already subtracted inside Total Calculated SEEK and is shown for reference.

How SEEK works

SEEK (Support Education Excellence in Kentucky) is the state's main formula for funding school districts. It works in four steps.

  1. Set a base amount per student. The state budget sets a guaranteed amount for each student ($4,626 in FY2027), multiplied by the district's attendance.
  2. Add money for students who cost more to educate. Extra amounts go to districts for low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, students taught at home or in the hospital, and busing. This total is the district's calculated base.
  3. Subtract what the district must raise locally. Every district must levy at least 30¢ per $100 of property value. The 30¢ is an equivalent rate, so districts can meet it with property taxes (on real estate, business property and motor vehicles) or with other local school taxes, such as taxes on utility bills or occupational (payroll) taxes, converted to a property-tax rate. The more property a district has, the more that 30¢ raises, and the less the state pays.
  4. The state pays the rest. That is the district's base SEEK payment.

Not to scale. The first two pieces add up to the calculated base. A property-wealthy district has a bigger first piece and a smaller second one.

On top of the base: Districts can tax above 30¢ in two more tiers.

Because Tier II money and anything above it go unmatched, local contribution, and total funding, can differ a lot between property-rich and property-poor districts.

Sources and notes

Sources

Notes

  • Each year uses KDE's final release. FY2005, FY2009 and FY2012 use revised finals; FY2014 was read from KDE's per-district final calculation PDFs (2/28/14) because no final spreadsheet was posted; FY2016 uses the "without shortfall" final. FY2027 is tentative and will change.
  • Local contribution is an estimate: the levied equivalent rate applied to total assessment. It does not account for collection rates, exonerations or revenue from sources outside the equivalent rate. Levy rates are KDE's SEEK Data "Current Year Levied Tax Rate," which covers every district; KDE's separate FY2027 levy table listed only 83 districts as of Sept. 9, 2026.
  • District counts fall from 176 (FY2002) to 171 as districts merged. Harrodsburg, Providence, Monticello, Silver Grove and West Point Independent show data only through their last year.
  • District rows were checked: SEEK components sum to Total Calculated SEEK, and FY2027 column sums match KDE's published state totals exactly (Total Calculated SEEK $2,600.1 million; total assessment $539.0 billion).
  • Before FY2010, KDE did not report capital outlay or limited English proficiency (LEP) funding in some years. Base pro rata reductions (about −$39 million in FY2011 and −$42 million in FY2012) are folded into total SEEK.
  • Inflation adjustment uses the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved from FRED. Each fiscal year uses the July–June average. FY2026 averages 11 months because BLS published no October 2025 index during the federal funding lapse. FY2027 dollars use the July–September 2026 average and will shift slightly as more months come out.
  • This tool was built with the assistance of Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic.