Yampa Valley Science School – Rocky Mountain Youth Corp

Funding offset costs of Yampa Valley Science School. The Yampa Valley Science School provides an opportunity for all sixth-grade students in Routt County to spend an entire week exploring the ecology of their home and collecting research to determine how we can better protect it. A teacher from Soroco described the experience and benefits from a teacher’s perspective, “The science school experience fosters an interest and love of science. For some students, it is their first opportunity to do some real, hands-on, minds-on science. It takes science from the theoretical to the practical, relevant topic I feel it is meant to be. It gives us, as classroom teachers some really valuable schema and knowledge on which to build for the year.”

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.