SPLOST Legislation

In 1996, the voters of Georgia passed a constitutional amendment that authorized a new funding source for public education, the first such source accessible directly by local school systems in many decades. Under this provision of the constitution, a local board of education may levy a one percent sales tax, subject to voter approval, to be used for capital outlay projects for educational purposes and for the retirement of previously incurred general obligation debt. 

The Attorney General of Georgia has indicated that the term “capital outlay projects for educational purposes” would include school buses and other equipment “with an extended useful life.”  Under the terms of the constitutional amendment, a SPLOST may be authorized for a period of time not to exceed five years.

 

Click here to review Georgia’s Constitution.  SPLOST information is found in Article VIII.

 

Fulton voters approved SPLOST I in March 1997.  The sales tax was renewed in March 2002 for an additional five years.  The school system anticipates returning to voters in March 2007 to ask for another five-year continuation.

 

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