Bartow County; school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes; provide a homestead exemption

School tax relief for Bartow homeowners

The law creates a school property tax break for qualifying homeowners in the Bartow County School District. It requires majority voter approval in the November 2025 local referendum; without approval, the exemption is repealed. The approved exemption covers tax years January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2030. Your home must qualify as a homestead, with no more than five contiguous acres. The break exempts assessed value above an adjusted base, not the entire home's value. The initial base is the 2025 assessed value, including final appeal results; later new exemptions use the preceding year's value. Each year, the base adds value growth capped by an inflation rate set by the tax commissioner. It also accounts for property additions or removals, with appealed values finalized and improvements counted only once. Apply to the Bartow County tax commissioner unless you received a 2025 homestead exemption for the same home and remain eligible. Those homeowners qualify automatically for 2026. The exemption renews automatically while you qualify, but you must report lost eligibility; it does not transfer to new owners. Other homestead exemptions still apply, but competing school-district base-year exemptions cannot be combined—the more beneficial one applies. The break does not cover bonded-debt taxes or change state, county, city, or independent school district taxes.