Franklin school tax hearings have passed, but millage decision remains undocumented

Franklin County’s three scheduled public hearings on the school millage rate have now passed, but a final tax decision is not documented in the Board of Education records identified here. The board listed a first hearing for Aug. 13 and two more for Aug. 20, at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.; it also scheduled a regular board meeting for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 20. As of Aug. 27, none of those agenda listings establishes what rate, if any, the board adopted.

The missing outcome matters because millage is the property-tax rate tied to school funding. For Franklin County property owners and residents, the central unanswered question is not whether hearings were scheduled, but whether the board took an action after them and on what terms. Without a stated rate or vote, the public cannot determine from these records whether the 2026 school tax rate changed, stayed the same or remained unresolved.

The 2026 hearing cycle was placed on the board’s calendar well in advance. A Feb. 1, 2024 meeting record listed millage hearings for August 2026, and later 2024, 2025 and 2026 agendas repeatedly carried forward references to that schedule rather than recording a new millage action. By July and early August 2026, agendas still pointed toward the August hearings; the Aug. 13 and Aug. 20 agendas then identified the hearings themselves. That sequence shows sustained planning for public meetings, not proof of a final rate.

The Board of Education’s documented position was procedural: it set aside three public-hearing slots and placed a regular meeting after the final hearing on Aug. 20. The records identify no proposed rate, explanation of the board’s fiscal priorities, public comments, or organized support and opposition. Property owners and other residents therefore had a direct interest in the hearings as the forums connected to a potential school tax-rate decision, but their views and any response from board members are not recorded in the materials at hand.

What is confirmed is the scheduling of the three hearings and the Aug. 20 regular board meeting. What is not confirmed is whether the hearings occurred as planned, whether the board voted, the amount of any millage rate, or the effective result for taxpayers. The repeated agenda references should not be read as a rate adoption: they describe meetings and hearing dates, while the identified records do not supply minutes or another official outcome document for the August 2026 proceedings.

The next concrete public step is the release or identification of minutes from the Aug. 20 regular Board of Education meeting, or a later official board record that states any millage action and its terms. Until that record appears, it remains undecided in the public account whether the board set a 2026 rate after the hearings, altered a proposed rate, or took no final action at that meeting.