District overview
Three Forks School District
How Three Forks School District is funded, governed, and where things stand right now.
How is this district funded?
Like most Montana districts, Three Forks gets its base funding automatically from the state, based on enrollment. On top of that, the district can ask local voters to approve extra ‘general fund’ levies for things like staff pay. Three Forks is actually two legal school districts — an elementary district and a high school district — that share one Board of Trustees and one campus, so voters are asked to approve two matching levies each time. In both elections we have on record, May 2025 and May 2026, voters said no to both.
Two districts, one board
Three Forks Elementary School District (grades Pre-K–8) and Three Forks High School District (grades 9–12) are separate legal entities under Montana law, but they share the same five-member Board of Trustees, one superintendent, and one campus in Three Forks.
State aid is automatic; levies are not
Montana's base school funding arrives automatically according to enrollment. General fund levies are extra, voter-approved money on top of that base. Three Forks voters rejected both the elementary and high school general fund levies in May 2025 and again in May 2026.
A smaller ask passed where the bigger ones failed
In the same May 2026 election, voters approved a separate, smaller Technology levy by 62 votes while rejecting both general fund levies — the failures were close votes (11 and 20 votes), not a blanket no to new money.
Small grants add a little on the side
Outside the formula, the district also collects smaller sums: federal REAP grants of $34,690 (elementary) and $24,510 (high school) for 2025-26, plus $30,800 already donated through Montana's Innovative Education Tax Credit program as of September 2025.
The levy failures don't mean voters are opposed to funding the schools outright — both losses were within about 20 votes, and the same ballot passed a separate technology levy. It reads more like a close, ongoing disagreement over this specific ask than a rejection of the district.
Where the district stands
Down from 349 the previous spring, per the elementary principal's report.
Reported as steady, per the middle school principal's report.
Holding steady, though down from the prior year; the senior class is the largest of the four grades.
617 for, 637 against — failed.
622 for, 633 against — failed.
662 for, 600 against — passed.
Context: sum of $34,690 (elementary) and $24,510 (high school), each individually reported in the September 16, 2025 minutes. REAP is a small federal formula grant for rural districts, separate from the general fund levies.
Context, not from a district document. This federal count (Pre-K–8) is higher than the 345 + 170 the principals reported in-meeting, likely reflecting different count dates and definitions.
Major projects
Elementary and high school general fund levy requests
Failed twice — no new vote scheduled yetThe board has asked voters to approve extra general fund levies for both the elementary and high school district. Voters have said no in each of the last two school elections on record, most recently by 20 and 11 votes in May 2026.
- Elementary and high school general fund levies both fail
- Both operating levies fail again; a separate technology levy passes
Funding
Voted general fund levy (local property tax, requires voter approval each time)
School librarian staffing rule exception
Renewal application filed with the state, using the Sept. 16, 2025 board minutes as supporting evidenceState rules set a minimum amount of librarian staffing based on school size. Because the elementary and high schools share one building, Three Forks has a standing exception (variance) from that rule and must periodically renew it with Montana's Office of Public Instruction.
- Board meeting minutes used as required evidence for the renewal filing
Funding
N/A — staffing compliance rule, not a spending item
The district's own website (tfschools.com) and its Simbli board-meeting portal could not be reached: both return a bot-management block to every automated fetch we tried, including a real browser, tested from more than one connection. So this page is built from two other official sources instead: Montana's Office of Public Instruction, which has the district's September 16, 2025 board meeting minutes attached to a state filing, and Gallatin County's official results for the district's May 2025 and May 2026 school elections.
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