Georgia CommonsSenate · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
SB 44: Equalization Grants, Annual Calculations, and Allocation; the definition of the term "qualified local school system" by reducing the minimum required millage rate; revise
Last action July 1, 2025 · Effective Date
Senate Bill 44 lowers the minimum property tax rate that Georgia school districts must levy to qualify for state equalization grants, from 14 mills to 10 mills, while adding penalties and reporting requirements.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
Georgia's equalization grant program sends extra state funding to local school systems with low property tax digests, but only if those systems levy a high enough millage rate (the local property tax rate that funds schools). Under prior law, that minimum had risen over time to 14 mills. This bill lowers the minimum required millage rate or equivalent millage rate to 10 mills, starting July 1, 2025. The bill also adds a penalty: if a school system's millage rate drops below the 10-mill minimum after its grant has already been calculated for the year, the state will cut that grant by 25 percent through a midterm adjustment. Finally, it requires the Department of Education to report annually, by September 1, on which school systems received equalization grants, including systems that received grants while taxing below 10 mills, and to send that report to House and Senate budget and education committees and state budget offices.
What the bill does
- Lowers the minimum millage rate (local property tax rate) required for a school system to count as a 'qualified local school system' eligible for equalization grants, from 14 mills to 10 mills, effective July 1, 2025.
- Adds a midterm adjustment rule cutting a school system's equalization grant to 75 percent of its original amount if the system drops its millage rate below 10 mills after the grant was already calculated.
- Requires the Department of Education to prepare an annual report listing each grant recipient's initial grant amount, any midterm cut, and total grants received over the previous ten years.
- Requires that annual report to flag any school system that received a grant while taxing below 10 mills, and to be sent to House and Senate budget and education committees and budget office directors by September 1 each year.
- Repeals any existing state laws that conflict with these changes.
Who it affects
Local school systems and school boards that rely on state equalization grants, especially those with lower property tax digests and lower millage rates; local taxpayers whose property tax rates fund schools; and the Georgia Department of Education, which must calculate grants and produce the new annual report.
Why it matters
School systems that previously had to tax at 14 mills to qualify for extra state funding can now qualify at 10 mills, potentially opening grant eligibility to more districts or letting some lower their tax rates. Districts that cut their rate below 10 mills after their grant is set would lose a quarter of that funding.
Key provisions
- Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-165(a)(9)(C), replacing the phased increases up to 14 mills with a single new minimum of 10 mills or equivalent millage, effective July 1, 2025.
- Section 1 adds subsection (d.1), requiring a midterm reduction to 75 percent of a school system's equalization grant if its millage rate falls below 10 mills after the grant amount was already calculated for the year.
- Section 1 adds subsection (f), requiring the Department of Education to compile and submit an annual report by September 1 on grant amounts, midterm adjustments, and systems that received grants while under the 10-mill threshold.
- Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.
From the bill
“having a millage rate or an equivalent millage rate of at least 10 mills.”
“the total equalization grant amount awarded to such local school system is reduced to an amount equal to 75 percent of the initial equalization grant amount.”
Discussed in meetings (1)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 280
- Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
- Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
Show full history (17 actions)
- House First Readers (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Recommitted (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- Senate Hopper (Senate)
Sponsors
- Sam Watson (R, SD-11)
- Russ Goodman (R, SD-8)
- Carden Summers (R, SD-13)
- Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-52)
- John F. Kennedy (R, SD-18)
- Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-31)
- Chas Cannon (R, HD-172)
Votes
- Senate voteFebruary 13, 2025
51 yea, 0 nay (0 not voting, 5 excused)
- House voteMarch 28, 2025
138 yea, 23 nay (3 not voting, 16 excused)
Topics
- school funding
- property taxes
- equalization grants
- Georgia Department of Education
- millage rates