The Georgia Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that cities can no longer fund local construction projects using school tax dollars. The case pitted the city of Atlanta against a local attorney who opposed the use of school tax dollars to build a 22 mile retail and recreational trail. More than $850 million in school property taxes were projected to be spent on the project over the next quarter century. The state Supreme Court said the use of school funds for non-educational purposes violates the state constitution. Georgia’s constitution requires each school system to certify that each year’s revenue will be used only for the "support and maintenance of education." The Court has made similar rulings in previous cases. Including one case where, the court turned down a request to use school revenue to pay for student lunches. And, in another, the court said a school district could not repair a road adjacent to school property because it would benefit the entire community, not just the students. The roads, it said were the county’s responsibility. Statewide more than two dozen tax allocation districts similar to the Atlanta project already are in place. They work by redirecting future increases in property tax values to help pay for projects within the district. In this case, the funds would have helped pay for everything from transit lines to workforce housing.
