- Ndubuisi Onwumere
- 5 minutes ago
- 1 min read
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2026
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Senate Republicans Pass Bill To Defund Public Schools And Police Departments
Senate Bill 382 limits counties’ revenue impacting how they fund key public services
Atlanta, Ga. — Yesterday, Senate Republicans chose to take away local governments’ ability to fund K-12 public schools and police and fire departments by passing Senate Bill 382. Because of this handicap they’ve placed on local leaders, counties will have to find other ways to raise revenue like hiking local sales taxes.
“SB 382 is a Republican scam that strips our local governments of money, leaving our schools and police defunded,” said Minority Leader Harold Jones II. “If Republicans actually cared about housing affordability, they’d build historic numbers of homes, ban Wall Street from buying up our homes, and stop the spiraling prices of rent. They’ve had 22 years to fix Georgia’s problems and they’ve made every single one worse.”
Background
In November 2024, Georgia voters passed a statewide homestead tax exemption that capped increases on property taxes on a primary residence but allowed local bodies to opt-out if they chose to.
Senate Bill 382 removes that opt-out despite almost 65% of local governments and school districts choosing to do so according to a report by the Georgia State University Center for State and Local Finance.
Minority Leader Harold Jones II is available for comment.
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