Senate · Engrossed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

SB 475: Charter School Funding; local boards of education to treat local charter schools no less favorably than other local schools; expenditure of the proceeds of a special purpose local option sales tax; require

Last action April 2, 2026 · House Withdrawn, Recommitted

A Georgia Senate bill would lower the signature threshold needed to hold a vote on dissolving an independent school system, and would require local school boards to spend special sales tax money on charter schools on the same terms as other public schools.

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In plain language

Georgia law lets voters in an independent school system (a city or district system separate from the county system) petition for an election to fold that system into the county system. Currently that petition needs signatures from one-fourth of qualified voters in the area. This bill lowers that threshold to 10 percent and rewrites the related code sections with updated, gender-neutral and consistent language describing how such a system becomes part of the county system or systems where its territory sits. The bill also adds a new rule to the Charter Schools Act of 1998: local school boards must spend proceeds from a special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST), a local sales tax voters approve for school construction and improvements, on local charter schools no less favorably than on other local public schools. School systems are not required to spend that money on buildings owned by anyone other than the school system or a charter school. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

What the bill does

Lowers the petition threshold to trigger a vote on dissolving an independent school system from one-fourth of qualified voters to 10 percent.
Rewrites O.C.G.A. §§ 20-2-370, 20-2-371, and 20-2-372 to clarify that a dissolved independent school system joins the county school system covering its territory, removing outdated references to municipalities and local taxation.
Adds a new subsection (c.4) to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2068.1 requiring local school boards to treat charter schools no less favorably than other local schools when spending SPLOST education sales tax proceeds.
Exempts school systems from having to spend SPLOST money on facilities owned by entities other than the school system or a local charter school.
Sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law without signature.

Who it affects

Voters and residents of Georgia's independent school systems (mostly city school systems), county boards of education that would absorb dissolved systems, and local charter schools and the local school boards that oversee SPLOST spending decisions.

Why it matters

Communities seeking to merge an independent school system into the county system would need far fewer signatures to force a vote, making dissolution easier to pursue. Charter schools would gain a stronger claim to a share of local sales tax construction money, changing how school boards allocate those funds.

Key provisions

Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-2-370 to cut the petition requirement for a dissolution election from 25 percent to 10 percent of qualified voters in the independent school system's territory.
Sections 2 and 3 update O.C.G.A. §§ 20-2-371 and 20-2-372 to describe consolidation in terms of the county school system covering the independent system's territory, removing outdated references to separate local taxation rates.
Section 4 adds subsection (c.4) to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2068.1, requiring local boards to spend SPLOST education sales tax proceeds on charter schools no less favorably than on other local schools.
Section 4 also states school systems need not spend SPLOST proceeds on property owned by outside entities, only the school system or a local charter school.
Section 5 sets the effective date as the date of the Governor's approval or the date the bill becomes law without signature.
Section 6 repeals conflicting laws.

From the bill

“A local board of education shall treat a local charter school no less favorably than other local schools within the applicable local school system with respect to the expenditure of the proceeds of a sales tax for educational purposes”
This is the bill's core new requirement on how local sales tax money for schools must be spent on charter schools.

Status timeline

2026-04-02House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2026-03-25House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2026-03-25House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2026-03-10House Second Readers (House)
2026-03-09House First Readers (House)
2026-03-06Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
2026-03-06Senate Third Read (Senate)
2026-03-06Senate Taken from Table (Senate)

Show full history (13 actions)

2026-03-06Senate Tabled (Senate)
2026-02-26Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
2026-02-25Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
2026-02-09Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2026-02-06Senate Hopper (Senate)

Votes

PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026
43 yea, 6 nay (1 not voting, 5 absent)
Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #685

Topics

charter schools
school funding
SPLOST
local school boards
school district consolidation

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