What a difference

a year makes.

Coweta County

voters overwhelmingly approved the school system's special purpose local

option sales tax Tuesday and left school officials and senior citizens

with a big smile on their face.

When all the

votes were tallied, 6,342 voted for SPLOST, while 2,395 voted no.

Last year,

voters turned down SPLOST by fewer than 100 votes.

Also on the

ballot was a measure that would provide senior citizens some relief from

paying school taxes. It won by an even large margin, with 7,434 voting

for it while 1,327 voted no.

The senior

citizen referendum will raise property tax exemptions to exempt the first

$40,000 of assessed value for Coweta County property owners aged 65 to

69; $60,000 assessed value for citizens aged 70 to 74; and $80,000 assessed

value for citizens 75 and over.

Superintendent

of Education quietly watched the results Tuesday night at the Coweta County

Administrative Complex.

Brooks said

the difference between last year's results and Tuesday's is fairly simple.

"I think

the people had a better understanding of what's at stake, which is their

children," he said.

The Coweta

County Board of Education met yesterday to ratify results of the election.

Additionally, the board gave the go-ahead for such projects as new bleachers

at Northgate High School and new classrooms at East Coweta High School.

The renewal

of the SPLOST will bring in an estimated $90 million over five years,

said school officials, and istargeted at repayment of outstanding debt

from bond referendums in the early 1990s, new school construction and

a host of classroom additions, repairs and refurbishments at existing

schools,

Coweta County

property owners should see an early result from the vote next fall when

property tax bills are mailed.

The school

system is going to eliminate 1.6 mills each taxpayer pays for repayment

of school debt.