Burke County Board of Education opts out of new statewide homestead exemption, approves facilities and program items

Burke County, Ga. — The Burke County Board of Education voted Feb. 18 to opt the district out of a statewide homestead exemption created by recent state law and approved a package of routine school-district actions including facility planning, athletic supplement changes, transportation requests and program reports.

The board passed a resolution, read aloud at the meeting, saying the district will “elect to opt out of the homestead exemption otherwise granted” under OCGA 48-5-4 4 2 and directing the superintendent to deliver a certified copy of the resolution to the Georgia Secretary of State by March 1, 2025.

Why it matters: The vote registers Burke County’s formal choice not to participate in the homestead exemption described in the cited Georgia code section. A district-level opt-out can affect the local tax calculations and is subject to the procedures the statute prescribes, which the board’s resolution said the district has followed (notice, public meetings and advertisement).

Board actions and context

The board handled a series of mostly noncontroversial items that followed the resolution vote. • Financial report: Mrs. Marshall presented the January 2025 financial report, reporting total revenues of $10,543,304 and total expenditures of $40,756,818 as of Jan. 31, 2025; investments in all funds were $196,486,441.52 and end-of-period general fund equity was $204,133,349. The board approved the financial report.

• Facilities and athletics: Following discussion from its recent board retreat, the board approved moving forward with planning for upgrades at Burke…