Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Taxes – E-SPLOSTs — have been a critical source of money to build and renovate schools since Georgia voters legalized the self-imposed, local penny sales tax 20 years ago. But not all students have benefited equally from the money school boards allocated.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution analyzed decades of E-SPLOST spending and found that schools with a higher percentage of low-income and minority families are more likely to be stuck with dilapidated buildings, subpar technology and other problems that impede learning, while the majority of new schools are built to serve more affluent populations in growing suburbs.
Fulton, Atlanta Public Schools and DeKalb school systems have E-SPLOST resolutions up for vote on Tuesday. You can use these interactive graphics to see which schools in metro have been built with the penny sales tax and what their student populations are.
For more information about how E-SPLOST money has been spent in metro Atlanta school districts, read the full story in Sunday's AJC or now, on our premium website for subscribers, MyAjc.com.
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