House backs division of education taxes on per-student basis

The state House passed a resolution calling for a vote for a constitutional amendment and a bill that would require city and county school systems to split education special purpose local option sales taxes on a per-student basis.

Rep. Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, the sponsor of House Resolution 1102 and House Bill 896, said that some city systems were negotiating a higher share of the tax collections from counties.

All the school systems in a county must agree together to call for an ESPLOST, so smaller systems inside a county have used that advantage to press for a higher cut of the funds. Both measures passed with only one vote against.