wer the 2025 school system property tax rate to 15.00 mills, at a called board meeting Thursday night. It was the fifth year that the board has reduced school system millage rates in the past six years.
The school board’s action lowers the school maintenance and operation (M&O) tax rate by .41 mills, down from 15.41 mills set just last year. The board also set property tax millage for bond debt at 0.00 mills, since the school system operates without capital project debt.
The local millage rate is the rate applied to local property taxes, which provides the school system with approximately half of its funding for maintenance and operations of the school system. The board set this year’s school tax rate after three public hearings on July 31 and August 7, and voted to set this year’s rate at a 7:00 p.m. called board meeting following the third hearing.
The resulting millage rate is the lowest school property tax in Coweta County since 1982, and is the lowest school tax rate in the metropolitan Atlanta area.
For a video of the School Board’s August 7 millage rate hearing and final vote, go here
For accompanying information detailing this year’s tax rate adoption, go here
Coweta’s 15 mill rate lowers the local school tax rate for the fifth year since 2019. Coweta’s property tax rate for schools was 18.59 mills in FY2019, making the 15.00 mill rate a reduction of 19 percent for local taxpayers since that time. These tax rate reductions also come on top of a significant expansion of the school system’s senior tax exemptions, approved in 2020.
The board has a new ballot issue before voters this November to increase senior tax exemptions further for homeowners 65 to 74, and a full 100 percent exemption for seniors 75 and older. If approved, those increased exemptions would take effect next year.
The 15.00 mill rate approved Thursday will require budgeting approximately $2.8 million into the system’s operational reserves this year.
During Coweta’s three school millage hearings, Superintendent Evan Horton and school system Assistant Superintendent for Finance Keith Chapman noted that the “Local Fair Share” calculation in Georgia school funding makes it different when local school boards attempt to meet the state’s rollback calculation for local taxes, compared to other local governments.
Local Fair Share requires school systems to levy 5 mills of the total of their local tax digest in order to participate in State Quality Basic Education funding, and an equivalent amount is deducted from school systems’ state funding each year. As the value of Coweta’s local tax digest grows, so does the value of a mill, and so does the amount of Coweta’s subtracted state funding under Local Fair Share.
The total Local Fair Share amount for Coweta for FY 2025, is projected at approximately $42.5 million this year (FY2026), and is expected to increase to $52.4 million and beyond as state funding increases and the digest continues to grow.
Horton and Chapman also noted that while Coweta County’s net state funding had increased this school year by approximately $5.7 million, the state of Georgia was also passing on $10.1 million in mandated insurance and teacher retirement costs this year. That has led to increased pressures on local funding to cover the deficit being passed on by the state.
In addition to being the lowest Coweta school tax rate in 44 years, the 15.00 mill tax rate set by the board also remains the lowest rate in the metro Atlanta and the second lowest in the West Georgia region. 2024 rates for several surrounding or comparable school systems include:
Fayette County Schools – 19.60 mills
Cherokee County Schools – 17.95 mills
Carroll County Schools – 16.259 mills
Forsyth County Schools – 16.62 mills
Troup County Schools – 17.35 mills
Heard County Schools – 14.01 mills
Spalding County Schools – 16.742 mills
Floyd County Schools – 17.13 mills
Henry County Schools – 20.00 mills
Douglas County Schools – 19.50 mills
Fulton County Schools – 17.08 mills
Rockdale County Schools – 21.00 mills
Additional information:
FY2026 Coweta Schools Operational Budget
Coweta County School System Financial History and Information
