Coweta’s Superintendent Says There’s Massive Value in ESPLOST

The Coweta County School Board has two measures on the November 4th ballot to be decided by Coweta voters – a renewal of the 1-cent Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for schools, and a referendum to increase senior citizen homestead tax exemption for school property taxes.  I write today to address Neil Sullivan’s opposition to ESPLOST in his October 16th Citizen column.

Mr. Sullivan has been a critic and skeptic of public schools in Coweta County since he moved to our area from Fayette a short time ago.  His columns bear that out, but I believe his skepticism of Coweta’s ESPLOST is misplaced, as ending Coweta’s ESPLOST would significantly increase the costs to Coweta property taxpayers, and would degrade the quality of our public schools at the same time.  Both the senior tax exemption measure, and ESPLOST, have and would provide significant property tax relief for Coweta citizens.

Coweta County citizens have maintained a 1-cent ESPLOST for school capital projects since 1997. 98% of Georgia’s other counties do as well.  The reason for that is simple – ESPLOST provides local communities a reliable alternate method of funding necessary school construction projects, renovations and equipment without exclusively burdening homeowners and property taxpayers to do so.  It has provided emergency funds for needed projects like Newnan High’s replacement, touched every school in our community in multiple ways, and kept our school system debt-free.

Fairly enough, Mr. Sullivan’s column makes the distinction between school  “needs” and “wants”.  He focuses on athletic projects listed in our system’s proposed ESPLOST project list – found here – declares them “wants,” and urges voters to vote against the entirety of the measure because of his disagreement with them.

Again, fair enough. But that ignores the fact that the vast majority of our proposed ESPLOST projects are school needs, the costs for which – if not borne by an ESPLOST paid by all residents and out-of-county shoppers – would largely shift to property tax payers.  Consider:

Approximately $160.2 million (or about 58% of total anticipated ESPLOST collections for 2026-2031) is allocated toward necessary 25-year renovations and modifications at 9 of our 32 schools, including Poplar Road, Madras, Arbor Springs, Smokey Road, Willis Road, Lee, Welch, Glanton and Western.  Those are large and expensive projects which are largely required by state school facility standards, and demanded by our community as well.  That work certainly falls into the “needs” category.

Approximately $57.2 million (or about 21% of total anticipated collections over the period) are allocated toward replacement school buses, textbook replacement and textbook software, maintenance and grounds equipment, emergency generators, kitchen equipment, additional AED devices, floor covering, painting, paving, re-roofing, replacement lighting, and land for future schools or school expansions. Without question, these also fall into the “needs” category, and will touch every school in Coweta.

Technology allocations are approximately 10% of allocated revenues over the period ($27.3 million, and not the wildly inflated figure of $125 million which inexplicably appears in Mr. Sullivan’s column). $20.1 million of that is for student and staff Chromebook replacement.  That does not represent a total of $1,000 per device, as claimed, but a per-device and service cost of about $400 or less, three-year device replacement cycles, and associated networking technology for approximately 23,000 students and 2,000 staff members over a five-year period.  Still a lot of money, I agree, but – since Chromebooks are a fundamental part of modern schools, and represent a much more cost-effective and versatile platform than a textbook-only environment – that also falls into the “needs” category.

Between those three broad categories, that totals about 90% of our proposed ESPLOST-funded projects to meet student, staff and school needs over 5 years.

Approximately $3.6 million in security upgrades (SHIELD security systems at East Coweta and Northgate High and additional cameras and other upgrades at all schools) do NOT fall into the needs category, since our schools already exceed state requirements for student and staff safety.  But I believe that these projects are absolutely necessary and that most parents would agree with me.  So too with $1 million allocated toward musical instruments for our middle and high school band programs.  That is not required, though it does elevate our music programs and opens them to a wider range of students.

In particular, Mr. Sullivan objects to athletic facility improvements at our three high schools.  The total amount allocated in the proposed list is $26.9 million, or about 9 percent of total over the period.  That includes $15 million for three covered practice field facilities.  Those have been built successfully in other surrounding communities and are used most of all by marching band programs, as well as football, soccer, lacrosse, and general PE students, for year-round practice.  I know that our band students and their parents would certainly appreciate no longer having to march on asphalt parking lots in the Summer heat. 

Parents and students have indicated strong demand for these projects – projects which cannot be paid for by “boosters selling concessions, bricks, candy bars, wrapping papers or washing cars” as he indicates.  I agree that they are not “needs”.  But they are useful and desired projects for our high schools.  That is also true of the Nixon Centre for Performing and Visual Arts, which was built in 2004 and expanded and renovated since then, all by ESPLOST.  It is true of the Central Educational Center, which was built in 2001 and is undergoing a $22 million renovation and expansion this year (at the 25 year mark) entirely through ESPLOST.

Those projects were not and are not required by the state.  They were and are certainly “wants”.  But they elevate our school facilities and programs to a level of excellence not enjoyed in many other communities.  Other wants that are not required, for example, include providing students the opportunity to take more classes than most districts in Georgia and requiring that Coweta students achieve 28 credits to graduate while the state mandates 23.  Other wants are listening to companies and responding with technical training that helps to attract additional local corporate investment, increase high-skilled jobs, and ultimately lowers the residential tax burden so that millage rates remain lower than those of other metro districts. As a parent and as the chief advocate for public education in Coweta County, I think these projects are needed and that our students deserve the very best. Perhaps the “wants” are the expectations of parents and citizens who demand that our school system continues to improve for its students and its community.

Finally, ESPLOST – based on current collections – produces revenues that equals just over 4 mills of property tax in Coweta annually.  Ending it and replacing it with the only other option available to finance school systems would raise school system millage rates from 15.00 mills – the lowest in the region – to 19.00 mills.  That would represent an increase to the average local homeowner of $632 on their annual tax bill (based on a home value of $400,000).

Mr. Sullivan notes, correctly, that ESPLOST costs Coweta consumers between $100-$300 per year.  He proposes replacing it – giving it a break, as he says – by shifting that burden to local property taxpayers instead.  It makes no sense to trade all taxpayers contributing $100 to $300 apiece with just property owners paying a $600-plus increase in their local home tax bills.  Maybe that could be brought down to something more like $500 if “unneeded” projects were abandoned and facility and equipment quality were significantly lowered.  That still makes no sense for homeowners, though.  Some might conclude that it is better financially to let out-of-county taxpayers and all residents bear some of the burden instead.

Ending ESPLOST would also, without a doubt, lower the quality of school facilities and services provided to local students.  Some in our community might conclude that such an outcome isn’t worth it either.

Evan Horton, 

Superintendent, Coweta County Schools

(October 17, 2025)