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(a) Each municipality authorized by law to maintain an independent school system may support and maintain the public common schools within the independent school system by levy of ad valorem taxes at the rate fixed by law upon all taxable property within the limits of the independent school system. The board of education of the municipality or other authority charged with the duty of operating the independent school system shall annually recommend to the governing authority of the municipality the rate of the tax levy, within the limitations fixed by law, to be made upon all taxable property within the limits of the independent school system. Taxes levied and collected for support and maintenance of the independent school system by the municipal governing authority shall be appropriated, when collected, by the governing authority to the board of education or other authority charged with the duty of operating the independent school system. Funds appropriated to an independent school system shall be expended by the board of education or other authority charged with the duty of operating the independent school system only for educational purposes including, but not limited to, school lunch purposes. The term “school lunch purposes” shall include payment of costs and expenses incurred in the purchase of school lunchroom supplies; the purchase, replacement, or maintenance of school lunchroom equipment; the transportation, storage, and preparation of foods; and all current operating expenses incurred in the management and operation of school lunch programs in the public common schools of the independent school system. “School lunch purposes” shall not include the purchase of foods.
(b) This Code section shall be cumulative of all general and local laws authorizing municipalities to levy taxes for the support of independent school systems permitted to be maintained by law. History. Ga. L. 1962, p. 628, §§ 1, 2; Code 1933, § 91A-1706, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1982, p. 996, §§ 3, 6; Ga. L. 1983, p. 414, § 1; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1219, § 19/HB 202. The 2015 amendment, effective January 1, 2016, in subsection (a), substituted “independent school system” for “municipality” at the end of the first and second sentences. Cross references. Procedure for consolidation of independent and county school systems, § 20-2-370 et seq. Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 1982, p. 996, § 6, which had been codified as subsection (c) of this Code section, stated that it amended this Code section but appears to have been intended as an amendment to Code Section 48-5-404. Ga. L. 1983, p. 414, § 1, effective July 1, 1983, repealed subsection (c) of this Code section as added by Ga. L. 1982, p. 996, § 6. JUDICIAL DECISIONS Refund of improper assessment. — When city received more tax revenue from taxpayers than the taxpayers lawfully owed, which error resulted in the city remitting more tax funds to the school board than the board was entitled to receive, the school board was required to refund the board’s pro-rata share of the taxes, penalties, and interest due the taxpayers because of the improper assessment. The city was effectively acting as an agent for the school board. Atlanta Bd. of Educ. v. City of Atlanta, 262 Ga. 15, 413 S.E.2d 716, 1992 Ga. LEXIS 208 (1992). Use of local school taxes for redevelopment. — School system, development authority, and others were properly granted summary judgment in a suit challenging the allocation of school taxes because the 2008 amendments to Ga. Const. 1983, Art. IX, Sec. II, Para. VII(b) and O.C.G.A. § 36-44-9(g), governing tax allocation districts, changed the law and retroactively allowed use of local school taxes for general redevelopment purposes. Sherman v. Atlanta Indep. Sch. Sys., 293 Ga. 268, 744 S.E.2d 26, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 493 (2013). RESEARCH REFERENCES C.J.S. 78A C.J.S., Schools and School Districts, § 790 et seq.