By Katie Howard, APS District 1 Board Member
As the Budget Commission Chair for the Atlanta Board of Education, I know well the challenges and opportunities APS faces as we develop our 2027 Budget and plan for the next five years.
Atlanta Public Schools (APS) has a budget of almost $2 billion, which includes our General Fund and Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST), yet we are looking at a projected $50 million gap going into 2027. Just to put this in perspective, APS started last year with a $100 million gap. This was drastically reduced with significant cuts to the Central Office ($70 million in savings), realizing efficiencies in operations and contracts for services, and for the longer term, we voted on our Facilities Master Plan, which will restructure our facility footprint shifting more resources to schools and away from things that do not impact student growth. The purpose of all these actions is to push more funding directly to the schools and instruction and programming that has the most impact on improving student outcomes. We must continue to find efficiencies and to adjust and use our revenue sources, a bulk of which comes from local property taxes, effectively for students.
Even while working to become more effective and efficient, other factors weigh on the APS budget and continue to present challenges, affecting the funds available now and as we plan for the future. For example, the rising cost of healthcare has a huge impact on an organization with a large number of employees. The state health benefit we must fund has gone from $11,340 per employee in the 2018 fiscal year to $24,336 in FY2027, an increase of 114%.
Another is the lost revenue due to the under-evaluation of commercial property by Fulton County, which continues to be an issue that affects APS and the City of Atlanta. For instance, in 2026, APS experienced an unexpected 0.40% decline in the commercial tax digest compared to 2024, which equated to a revenue loss of approximately $22 million. By contrast, the APS portion of DeKalb County’s commercial digest grew by 17.62% over the same period, highlighting a significant disparity between the two tax assessing entities.
It is unfair for residential property owners to continue to bear the brunt of the property tax burden, which becomes even more imbalanced when large, commercial properties appeal assessments and are not paying their fair share. APS does support property tax relief and supported the recent homestead exemption for property owners 65 years of age or older. Additionally, we are looking at potentially lowering our millage rate (tax rate to calculate property taxes: 1 mill=1/1,000 of a dollar) to provide property tax relief to all property owners.
Another factor affecting APS’ revenue are the Tax Allocation Districts (TADs), which direct a portion of the property tax revenue, specifically the growth in revenue, to the TADs, until a TAD expires. Currently the total impact of the TADs (there are 9) for the 2026-2027 fiscal year is $89 million (the equivalent of 2 mills of taxation). Also, if you live in a TAD area, when you pay your property taxes, APS does not receive the full amount since a significant portion goes towards the existing tax allocation district.
This all shows the reality of what impacts APS’ sources of funding and requires the district to do an even better job of ensuring the funds we receive are maximized to best support student growth in our priority areas. We also need to make sure our school system receives the funding our students are entitled to, particularly as other funding sources will not be as reliable in today’s public education climate at the national and state levels.
The Board of Education encourages the community to keep up with our 2027 budget planning and the current 2026 budget at www.atlantapublicschools.us/about/departments/finance/budget-services.
