Press Release

Cobb Schools Join Coalition In Opposing State Changes
To Local Control, Revenue Stability

The Cobb County School District is joining school systems across Georgia in announcing concern over efforts in the Georgia Legislature that may affect funding for local schools. Along with other members of the Georgia Education Coalition¹, a year-old alliance of nine school systems representing 30 percent of Georgia’s public school enrollment, Cobb County has been following the development of certain tax reform initiatives with the hope that as the Legislature convenes, lawmakers will consider these concerns.

As the Cobb County School District continues to face the pressures of increasing growth in population, the district faces greater demand than most in keeping up with the pace of development. Additionally, the Cobb County community has a strong commitment to education, above and beyond the measures set out and funded by the State of Georgia.

While the State of Georgia provides funding for education, in recent years that funding has decreased as a percentage of the Cobb County School District’s overall budget. In fact, Cobb County taxpayers now fund the majority of the school district’s operating budget through local property tax. Currently, local property taxes provide 52.7 percent of the school district’s operating budget.

Local control of local dollars has resulted in a superb school system that outperforms state and national averages on standardized tests and provides an exceptional array of extracurricular programs. If the school system were to depend solely upon state funding for its schools, the money would be inadequate to support the many outstanding educational programs currently enjoyed by Cobb County students. Without local discretion and funding, Cobb County would not be able to provide the local supplement for teachers’ salaries that allows the district to hire the very best educators. Nor would it be able to provide the extracurricular activities such as band, art and music that citizens of this community want and have come to expect.

A tax reform proposal requiring a total dependency on a sales tax for education would further erode financial support for Cobb County schools and for schools throughout Georgia. Replacing the current system that funds schools through stable property taxes could result in a drastic year-to-year variation in the types of education programs available in Cobb County. It also would nullify the school property tax exemption currently enjoyed by Cobb seniors 62 and older. Seniors would join all other consumers in paying any new sales tax for schools.

The Cobb County School District and Georgia Education Coalition are not opposed to the concept of tax reform, but are opposed to any specific type of reform that would limit local control over tax dollars and would change the current stable tax revenue stream. Therefore, it is critical that any tax-reform proposals considered in the General Assembly weigh all of the potential effects on the operation of local schools, and not limit the ability of the Cobb County School District to provide local supplemental funds for improving educational resources.

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1- The Georgia Education Coalition (GEC) is an organization that consists of nine large and growing public school systems (Cartersville City, Cherokee, Cobb, Coweta, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, and Savannah-Chatham county school districts), and educates approximately 30 percent of Georgia’s students enrolled in public school systems. Our organization serves the purpose of representing those school districts that have similar concerns due largely to their size or the accelerated growth.