How schools are funded
More information on how school funding works can be found on the Oglethorpe County Board of Education website at: oglethorpe.k12.ga.us. Click “FY '24 Tax Hearing Presentation.”
-
Oglethorpe Board of Education members (from left) Guillermo Camacho, Tim Poole, Beverley Levine and Becky Soto discuss the approval of the new rate. The board voted 5-0 to approve the rate, while Susan Robinson had a planned absence. (Photo/Caleb Baldwin)
The Oglethorpe County Board of Education approved a lower millage rate of 15.824 for the 2024 fiscal year.
This is a 0.826-mill decrease from 16.650 in 2023. Though this is a decrease, residents will see a 9.99% increase in property taxes due to the tax digest, which is affected by higher property values.
A rate of 2.490 on school bond obligations was also approved in the meeting on Sept. 15. These bonds can be used to fund school projects or developments, such as building of a new school or purchase of capital equipment, including buses or technology.
Although there was no public comment at the Sept. 15 meeting, previous hearings brought questions to better understand the new millage rate and, for one resident, express concern about a senior citizen exemption.
“We did talk a little bit about why we haven't added any of those, because of the age of the population here,” said Becky Soto, chair of the Oglethorpe County Board of Education. “Because it's a balancing act between ‘if I have less of the burden here, I'm going to increase the burden here,’ those kinds of things.”
Only five residents showed up at the three public hearings the BOE scheduled.
According to the board’s tax hearing presentation, Oglethorpe County brought in $10.5 million. In comparison, Clarke County brought in $127 million; Elbert County: $11.6 million; Madison County: $18.6 million; Oconee County: $48.9 million; and Greene County: $31.2 million.
The counties all have varying millage rates; however, Oglethorpe earns the lowest amount with its millage rate.
There were also increases in salary and health insurance for teachers and school staff.
Despite that, the lower millage rate is still a decrease among the rise in state property taxes. The amount the school is paid by the state per student is not enough to cover the costs of technology and supplies required by students.
“The funding mechanism that the state uses is from 1985, and they haven't changed the amounts," Superintendent Beverley Levine said. “Per kindergartener, the state gives us $78, for a kindergarten kid, which back in 1985, was very healthy; you could do a lot with it.”
Now that amount is no longer enough to cover an iPad or laptop (at $375 per student) that the students utilize in higher grades, Levine said.
Also according to the presentation, the county raised the least amount of money in ELOST (Education Local Option Sales Tax) earnings in August among neighboring counties.
Elbert and Madison counties raised more than double the amount of money as Oglethorpe’s $104,408 from ELOST. Meanwhile, Greene County raised over seven times more, Oconee County nearly 10 times more and Clarke County nearly 30 times more.
“Our millage rate is decreasing,” Soto said. “However, because our millage rate is not decreasing enough to wipe out the increase in the tax digest, we are still collecting more taxes than we collected the previous year.”
Soto said the Oglethorpe County School System is considered a low-wealth district, which means funds from the state are tied directly to the millage rate. The lower millage rate also means less equalization money given by the state to the school system.
“So as our millage rates drop, the amount of equalization money we get from the state drops,” Soto said. “And once our millage rate goes under 14 mills, we don't actually qualify at all for the equalization.”
In other business, the board:
- Highlighted the importance of full ZIP code usage, including the last four digits, when doing online shopping to ensure tax dollars go to the correct county.
- Celebrated Soto’s birthday, which was Friday.