BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Monet Gaines has denied a request from 11 Alabama public charter schools to block State Superintendent Eric Mackey from notifying county revenue commissioners how to distribute countywide tax revenue among school systems.
The charter schools’ lawsuit, filed Sept. 5, seeks to require Mackey to include charter schools in his instructions to county revenue commissioners for how countywide property taxes should be divided among public school districts. Those distributions are made at the county level and can begin as early as Oct. 1.
Attorneys for the schools argue that Alabama law requires countywide property taxes to be shared with all public schools – including public charters – but that Mackey has excluded them from his annual instructions since becoming superintendent in 2018…