DeKalb County residents voted to renew the school district’s Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or E-SPLOST, with an 81% approval vote.
E-SPLOST will impose a 1% sales and use tax on goods and services purchased in DeKalb County over the next five years. This is the sixth E-SPLOST continuation for the DeKalb County school District, according to its website. The current E-SPLOST fund collection will end June 2022. The sixth E-SPLOST collection will begin then and go until June of 2027.
The school district estimates that the tax will bring in $660 million to $700 million in revenue, according to a press release.
Throughout the year, the school district held virtual meetings for its Comprehensive Master Plan, which was partly intended to help provide a long-term facilities master plan for the district and to help develop priorities for the E-SPLOST project list.
Some of the major E-SPLOST projects include the construction of a new Cross Keys High School and the rebuilding of Dresden Elementary School, according to the release. Other projects include rebuilding and merging Hawthorne Elementary with Henderson Mill Elementary, repurposing McNair High School into a Career Tech Academy, and merging Dunaire and Allgood Elementary Schools into a brand new school with an early learning center.
“I want to thank our staff and our volunteers on the SPLOST Advisory Committee for their hard work in educating the community on E-SPLOST,” said DeKalb County School District Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris in the release. “I also want to thank everyone who virtually attended our Comprehensive Master Plan town hall meetings.”
Residents can learn more about E-SPLOST at the school district’s website.
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