Cross-Currents Roil School Finance Debate

Georgia policymakers may weigh tax cuts, concerns about equity.

What one education advocate describes as a “perfect storm” over school finance is brewing in Georgia, as a top lawmaker pushes to replace local property taxes for education with a statewide sales tax, even as the state gears up to fight a lawsuit from school districts over the current funding formula.

Under Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson’s proposed constitutional amendment, property taxes that now support schools would be eliminated, and instead, a sales tax of 4 percent would be collected on all services and retail purchases. The state would then distribute revenue back to local school districts, though the detailed formula has not yet been made clear.

But Joseph G. Martin, the executive director of the Consortium for Adequate School Funding in Georgia— a group of 51 low-wealth districts suing the state—says the plan represents a power...