Steamboat Springs, Colorado
The Steamboat Springs Education Fund (SSEF) is a nonprofit, independent corporation that administers the proceeds of the half-cent sales tax—five cents on a $10 purchase. The half-cent city sales tax was originally approved by Steamboat voters in 1993 to fund “public K-12 educational purposes.” The tax was extended by voter approval in three subsequent elections. In 2009, voters extended the tax and expanded the purpose to share a portion of the proceeds of the tax with other Routt County public schools. Since 1993, more than $61M has been granted directly for public K-12 education in Routt County.