Cobb County’s school district has gone to court over more than $130 million the county has withheld from school tax money since 2011, and a planned fee increase that would push the annual charge above $20 million.
What’s happening: The Cobb County School District filed suit in Cobb County Superior Court on June 15, naming the county and Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson. The school district says a 2001 state law called Local Act 240 required Jackson to turn over all school tax money to the school board at no charge starting in 2011. The county says that law is no longer valid and that state law allows it to keep up to 2.5% of school taxes collected as a fee.
The background: A 2001 state law — Local Act 240 — set up a temporary arrangement: Cobb County could keep 1.6% of school tax money it collected as a fee, but only until 2011. After that, the law required the county to hand over every dollar to the school district, free of charge. When 2011 came, the county quietly passed a local ordinance to keep the fee going anyway — something the school district says Georgia law flatly prohibits, because counties cannot use local ordinances to rewrite laws that govern public schools. That ordinance expired in 2021. According to the school district, rather than pass a new one, the county simply told Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson to keep taking the fee as if nothing had changed. The school district says that means the county has been collecting money it was never legally entitled to — and the bill has been growing ever since.
By the numbers: The fee has grown every year since 2021:
- FY 2022: $9,418,052
- FY 2023: $10,493,793
- FY 2024: $11,770,300
- FY 2025: $12,687,583
- FY 2026: more than $13,000,000 (projected)
The total charged since 2011 exceeds $130 million. The school district says $13 million is roughly equal to 130 teachers’ salaries and benefits.
The dispute: On May 29, Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Lisa Cupid sent a letter to Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and school board Chairman Randy Scamihorn saying the county would raise the fee from 1.6% to 2.5%, starting July 1. The school district says that would push the annual fee past $20 million and cost more than $100 million over five years. The county’s position is that without a current local law setting a lower rate, the state’s 2.5% rate applies. The school district says Local Act 240 is still in force and requires the fee to be zero.
The timeline: Cupid asked for a meeting with Ragsdale in February, calling it a “time-sensitive matter” related to the collection fee. The meeting happened Feb. 25, but the fee was not on the written agenda sent the night before. At the meeting, a county official said the county planned to raise the fee to 2.5%. Cupid said the topic was not ready for discussion and ended the conversation. No county staff followed up. The school board adopted its FY 2027 budget on May 14, two weeks before the county’s letter about the fee increase arrived.
What the school district is asking for: The school district wants the court to declare Local Act 240 valid, order Jackson to stop withholding any collection fee, and make the county pay the school district’s legal costs. The school district also asked for an emergency order to block the fee increase while the case works through the courts.
What the county says: The county and school district went to mediation July 31 but no agreement was reached. The county says its job is to protect Cobb County taxpayers and maintain county services.
The path forward: The case is pending in Cobb County Superior Court. No hearing date has been announced.
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
