The Bremen Board of Education this week discussed legislation that could affect Bremen and Carroll County’s special purpose local option sales tax revenues.

According to state Rep. Mark Butler, R-Carrollton, representatives from the city of Buford have been attempting to pass a constitutional amendment that would mandate that SPLOST funding be split based on student count in instances where school systems cross county lines.

The part of Bremen that extends into Carroll County has few residents but a large and active business district, and SPLOST funds collected by those businesses go to Carroll County. The Bremen, Carroll County and Carrollton school systems negotiate an agreement in which a percentage of total Carroll County SPLOST funds are given to Bremen City Schools.

According to Butler, the proposed constitutional amendment would eliminate Bremen City Schools’ ability to negotiate with other school systems and instead distribute the funds based on the student count. According to Superintendent Dr. Stanley McCain, Bremen City Schools would stand to lose roughly $2 million in funding should the legislation be approved.

“My opinion is, we like the current situation the way it is,” Butler said. “We believe you should all negotiate and come up with a fair amount. So far I believe the negotiations have been fair.”

The legislation arose from a dispute between Gwinnett County, Buford and Hall County regarding the distribution of SPLOST funds between the three systems.

According to McCain, in terms of wealth per school district, Carroll County is ranked 109th in the state, while Hall County is ranked 60th, Gwinnett County is ranked 40th, and Buford City is ranked 15th. According to McCain, Bremen is ranked 156th in wealth per district.

“To me that shows a lot of disparity,” McCain said. “These people trying to take money away from us are a whole lot richer than we are in terms of wealth per district.”

Butler stated that he wasn’t asking for a solution from the school board, but that he wanted its members to think over the legislation and continue to be vigilant. The most current legislation was defeated in the Rules Committee, but Butler expects it to be reintroduced every two years.

“We’ve been able to hold it back. As time goes on, things could change,” Butler said.