SB475: SB475 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

Georgia law lets voters in an independent school system (a city or district system separate from the county system) petition to dissolve that system and merge into the county school system. Currently that requires signatures from one-fourth of qualified voters in the territory. This bill lowers that threshold to 10 percent and updates related code sections describing what happens after such a vote, replacing outdated language about how the merged territory is governed and taxed. Separately, the bill amends the Charter Schools Act of 1998 (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2068.1) to require local school boards to spend proceeds from local education sales taxes (SPLOST, authorized under the Georgia Constitution) on local charter schools no less favorably than on other local schools. Local systems are not required to spend that money on property owned by anyone other than the school system or a local charter school. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it or it becomes law without his signature.

• Lowers the petition threshold to trigger a vote on dissolving an independent school system from one-fourth of qualified voters to 10 percent (Code Section 20-2-370).
• Updates and clarifies the process for what happens once voters approve dissolving an independent school system and merging it into the county school system.
• Clarifies that the merged territory becomes part of the county school system with the same tax authority and privileges as other county school districts, capped at the same tax rate.
• Adds a new requirement that local school boards spend education sales tax (SPLOST) money on local charter schools no less favorably than on other local schools.
• Exempts local school systems from having to spend SPLOST proceeds on property or facilities owned by anyone other than the school system itself or a local charter school.

Voters and residents in Georgia's independent school system territories, local boards of education, county school systems that could absorb dissolved independent systems, and local charter schools and the school districts that fund them through local sales tax revenue.

Communities seeking to dissolve an independent school system would need far fewer signatures to force a vote. Charter schools would gain a legal guarantee to a fair share of local sales tax dollars set aside for education, which could shift how school districts allocate SPLOST funding between traditional and charter schools.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-370 to cut the petition signature requirement from one-fourth to 10 percent of qualified voters in the independent school system's territory.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-2-371 to update outdated language on how a county board of education absorbs a dissolved independent school system after a favorable vote.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-2-372 to clarify that the absorbed territory becomes part of the county school system with the same tax privileges and rate limits as existing county districts.
• Section 4 adds subsection (c.4) to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2068.1, requiring local boards to spend SPLOST proceeds on local charter schools no less favorably than on other local schools, with an exception for property owned by outside entities.
• Section 5 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law without his signature.

1. 2026-04-02House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2026-03-25House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
3. 2026-03-25House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
4. 2026-03-10House Second Readers (House)
5. 2026-03-09House First Readers (House)
6. 2026-03-06Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
7. 2026-03-06Senate Third Read (Senate)
8. 2026-03-06Senate Taken from Table (Senate)

• RaShaun Kemp (D, SD-038)Primary sponsor
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Sonya Halpern (D, SD-039)
• Jaha Howard (D, SD-035)
• Ed Harbison (D, SD-015)
• Emanuel Jones (D, SD-010)
• Michael Rhett (D, SD-033)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)
• Carmen Rice (R, HD-139)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   43 yea, 6 nay (1 not voting, 5 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #685

• charter schools
• school funding
• SPLOST
• school district consolidation
• education policy