Leadership turnover in metro Atlanta contributed to school sales tax snafu
Leaders in DeKalb County schools still aren’t totally sure how a multimillion-dollar, multiyear error happened — but they have an idea.
The DeKalb County School District, Atlanta Public Schools and City Schools of Decatur split sales tax collections in DeKalb County, which pays for expensive projects like new school construction. But because the correct paperwork wasn’t filed after voters renewed the tax in 2021, DeKalb has been collecting more than its fair share while APS and CSD got less than their share.
Interim Superintendent Norman Sauce said Monday the DeKalb County School District wouldn’t make excuses for the erroneous collections, but that leadership turnover in the affected districts could help explain the situation.
“When you combine the three districts, this was 10 superintendents ago,” he said. “I want the public to understand that, that this has been in the midst of a lot of transition for (all) districts.”
DeKalb County voters have renewed a 1% sales tax for education every five years since 1997, known as an ESPLOST.
But because DeKalb County contains schools that are part of three different systems, the funding is distributed based on the number of students that attend each system. The state depends on a form called a Certificate of Distribution to know where to send the money.
Voters renewed the sales tax in 2021 and each board approved the new certificate in early 2022 — but the certificate didn’t get to the state, so the distribution has been incorrect.
Sauce explained Monday that it’s “not entirely clear” whether one or all of the districts should have submitted the certificate to the state. The Department of Revenue received the updated certificate in June, a department spokesperson said.
On Monday, DeKalb officials estimated that the district owes a total of $12 million: $2.9 million to Atlanta Public Schools and $9 million to City Schools of Decatur.
The funding will mostly come from interest that the district will accrue in the last 13 months of its sales tax distributions. DeKalb earns roughly $1 million per month in interest. District officials also recommended postponing several projects, including a $25 million bus purchase and renovations at Allgood Elementary and Kittredge Magnet School.
DeKalb voters will be asked to approve another round of the sales tax in November. Over five years, it’s expected to bring in more than $1 billion to be split between the three school systems.
Leadership turnover
Each school district in DeKalb County approved the certificate of distribution in early 2022. But to Sauce’s point, a lot of different people have been in charge of those districts in recent years.
In April 2022, the DeKalb County Board of Education unexpectedly fired Cheryl Watson-Harris from the superintendent role. Vasanne Tinsley took over in the interim, and the board hired Devon Horton the following year. Horton was ousted in October and Sauce has been the interim superintendent since then.
Sauce also noted Monday that DeKalb has had three chief operating officers and three chief financial officers since 2022.
In APS, the board in 2023 opted not to renew the contract for Lisa Herring. Danielle Battle was the interim leader until Bryan Johnson was hired in 2024.
City Schools of Decatur cut ties with Superintendent David Dude in 2021. Maggie Fehrman was interim superintendent until Gyimah Whitaker was hired in 2023.