This brief examines two components of Colorado's school-finance act: state aid and local property taxes. It describes how the Department of Education accounts for about 41 percent of the state General Fund appropriations, the vast majority of which is used for the school-finance act. Roughly 10 years ago, the General Assembly set property taxes for school finance--taxes were based on the idea that most districts should impose the same levy, a so-called uniform levy. However, the General Assembly used a variety of methods to determine that levy and included the mill levy in the statutes. Because these limits are now the driving factors in school-finance property taxes, any change in assessed values influences changes in property taxes. When assessed values are relatively stable statewide, property taxes can be expected to remain relatively constant. Changes in property taxes follow the reassessment cycle, which occurs every 2 years, thus creating a "sawtooth" effect in tax revenue. While property taxes have been increasing over the past 10 years, school-district mill levies have been declining and have become more disparate. Even so, changes in property taxes in recent years more closely follow the inflation rate than they did earlier in the decade. (RJM)