The Tax Allocation Districts are a touchstone issue in Atlanta. In his second term, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has championed the funding mechanism for his ambitious $5 billion neighborhood reinvestment initiative to rewrite the “tale of two cities” with development in the city’s neglected areas.
But the TAD extension is a controversial proposal. Not everybody is on board.
In May, Mayor Andre Dickens released an update to his plan that would extend six of the city’s eight tax allocation districts. The original plan called for renewing all eight — the Beltline and Perry Bolton TADs will now be allowed to expire.
The remaining TADs would be extended until 2056. That includes the Westside, Eastside, Campbellton Road, Holowell-Martin Luther King Jr., Metropolitan Parkway and Stadium Area districts.
Dickens hopes to generate more than $5 billion with the TAD funds, which will keep the freeze on base property tax value in the given districts. Any increase in tax revenue will be diverted from entities like Atlanta Public Schools and Fulton County into major redevelopment.
The school board estimates that around half of the tax revenue that goes to all eight TADs are APS dollars — the city and Fulton County each contribute a quarter. Extending the districts requires buy in from APS, a major stakeholder. And school leaders aren’t so sure they want to give up the funding.
Currently, roughly 80 percent of the Atlanta Public School System budget comes from residential and commercial property taxes. If the TADs are extended, the school system won’t get the expected influx of funds.
“The idea of the TADs is that they are supposed to only last for 25 years, because when they close, the surge in property value will then go to APS,” Atlanta Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Dr. Lisa Bracken said.
Bracken explained the dilemma at a May 28 Center for Civic Innovation TAD Panel Discussion with other local education leaders. She referenced another TAD for comparison, the Atlantic Station tax allocation district.
When that TAD closed in 2024, the school system saw about a $16 million windfall of increment rates that helped close the year’s budget gap. Today, the system is counting on roughly $90 million in the Beltline TAD that should come through when it lapses in 2031.
“With the extension, there is an actual loss,” Bracken said.
The Atlanta City Council created a 13-member commission to study the idea of TADs and their impacts. There was only one no vote — Ken Zeff, the Atlanta Public School Board of Education vice chair. “It’s not about disagreeing with the goals,” Zeff explained at the panel.
Dickens’ neighborhood reinvestment plan proposes that the TAD dollars will pay for parks, transit, trails, affordable housing, grocery stores, commercial development and health centers. Zeff doesn’t think it’s a worthwhile trade.
“The idea that we would take money from another generation of kids and say that we’re going to do these other projects was something I couldn’t get on board with,” he said.
Zeff is a vocal opponent of the TAD extensions. Other leaders are taking a less forward approach.
The Atlanta School Board of Education Chair Jessica Johnson pointed to the system’s ongoing budget efforts, which will close several schools in a push to consolidate resources.
“I don’t want to be the board leader who halts our progress,” Johnson said. “I think that what keeps me up at night is the thought that 30 years from now, another board chair will be sitting in this seat, and trying to unpack it and understand the decisions that we’re making today.”
The biggest problem? Without an influx of millions of dollars, it will be harder for APS to take on ambitious goals like universal free pre-K by 2030. There’s still nearly $70 million in the FY2026 budget needed to cover unfunded pension liabilities for non-teaching staff.
Education policy advocate Stephen Owens laid it out simply: Atlanta may spend a lot, but it needs more education dollars.
“We’re still not to the amount that we would need, based on the amount of poverty that we have and based on the needs and costs in the city of Atlanta,” Owens said.
He continued: “We’re still about $800 to $1,000 per student behind with what that amount would be. It makes it hard to imagine doing more with less.”
“Atlanta” and that includes Dekalb, Fulton and Cobb know future families are long gone out of this place. Kids graduating today will not stay in Atlanta, they’ll be in Greenville and so on. The trends all show what’s next while recent in- movers are going to be the most vocal about the changes (Sandy Springs for example). So the mayor knows schools are a loss and wants that money elsewhere.
This school thing coming is akin to turning a battle ship for this metro which fully touted it’s ability to offer cheaper lifestyles for families, and why so much of it is now falling into decline.