Ala. Const. art. XIV, § 269.08 – Minimum Ad Valorem Tax Rate for General School Purposes

(a) There is hereby authorized and there shall be levied and collected for general public school purposes, for the ad valorem tax year commencing October 1, 2006, and for each ad valorem tax year thereafter, in each school district of the state, in addition to all other taxes, a special ad valorem school property tax at a rate equal to the difference between ten dollars on each one thousand dollars of taxable property in such district and the sum of the rates per thousand of all the ad valorem property taxes described in Section (b) hereof otherwise levied and collected for general public school purposes in such school district and required or permitted by the terms of this amendment to be taken into account for purposes of determining the rate of said tax. The County Commission or other like governing body of each county in the State is hereby directed to compute and determine annually the rate or rates of, and to levy and collect in and for the benefit of each school district within such county, the additional ad valorem property tax authorized hereby, in compliance with the provisions of this amendment. The proceeds from said tax shall not, any provisions of any law or of this constitution to the contrary notwithstanding, be subject to any fees, charges or commissions for assessment or collection by any person whatever, it being the intent hereof that the full amounts of the proceeds of said tax collected shall be used for general public school purposes.
(b) The following described ad valorem property taxes, to the extent the use of the proceeds thereof is not lawfully restricted, earmarked or otherwise designated for a purpose or purposes more particular than general public school purposes, now or hereafter levied and collected in each school district of the State, shall be taken into account annually in determining the rate of the tax required to be levied each year pursuant to the provisions of Section (a) of this amendment:
1. (1) countywide ad valorem property taxes levied and collected for public school or educational purposes under the provisions of Section 269 of, or Amendments 3 or 202 [§§ 269.01 through 269.04] to, the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 or any amendment thereto adopted subsequent to the adoption of this amendment similarly authorizing the levy of such taxes,
2. (2) countywide ad valorem property taxes levied and collected for public school or educational purposes,
3. (3) that portion, expressed as an ad valorem tax millage rate, of any local countywide ad valorem property tax or taxes levied and collected in any county of the state for general purposes that is paid or required to be distributed to or used for the benefit of the respective public school system or systems of the county to which the school district has reference, and that is designated by official action of the taxing authority levying the same as creditable for purposes of Section (a) of this amendment, provided that any such portion of such tax once so designated may not thereafter be designated for other than general school purposes and shall be recorded as a school tax that may be levied and collected without limit as to time,
4. (4) school district ad valorem property taxes levied and collected under the provisions of Amendments 3 or 382 to the Constitution of 1901 [§§ 269.01 through 269.04], or the provisions of any constitutional amendment applicable only to the county (or part thereof) in which the school district is located authorizing the levy of an ad valorem property tax in the school district, and
5. (5) any ad valorem property taxes otherwise levied by and collected in any municipality of the state for public school purposes the proceeds of which are paid or required to be used for the benefit of the school system of such municipality, and that are designated by the taxing authority levying the tax as creditable for purposes of Section (a) of this amendment, provided that any such tax once so designated may not thereafter be designated for other than general school purposes and shall be recorded as a school tax that may be levied and collected without limit as to time.
(c) Each local taxing authority in the State levying ad valorem property taxes for public school purposes shall annually notify the Alabama Department of Revenue, the Alabama State Superintendent of Education, and the Director of Finance of all ad valorem property taxes so levied by such authority for school purposes (including the tax authorized to be levied hereby), of the authority under which such taxes were levied and collected, the provisions of any referendum at which they were approved pertaining to the rates thereof, the time they are to continue, the purposes for which they were approved, and the particular constitutional authority under which they were submitted for referendum, if applicable.
(d) The levy and collection of the additional ad valorem property tax authorized and required to be levied and collected pursuant to the provisions of this amendment shall not affect or reduce any authorization heretofore or hereafter otherwise existing for the levy of any school district or countywide ad valorem property tax or taxes, whether such levy is subject to approval by the qualified electors of the jurisdiction in which the tax may be levied at a referendum election or otherwise.
(e) The tax levied pursuant to this amendment may be pledged for payment of any debt obligations incurred for public school purposes for which any other ad valorem property tax levied in the school district in which the tax is levied is or may be pledged for repayment. No provision of this amendment shall affect or impair the validity of any pledge of any local ad valorem property tax heretofore or hereafter made for the payment of any indebtedness of any type whatever.
(f) Any provision of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, to the contrary notwithstanding, all ad valorem property taxes for public school or education purposes in the state of Alabama the levy of which has been approved by a majority vote of the appropriate electorate prior to the ratification of this amendment by the qualified electors of the State, and the levy and collection of any such tax from the date of the initial levy thereof, are hereby authorized, ratified and confirmed regardless of any statutory or constitutional defects, mistakes, errors or ambiguities in the authorization or levy thereof or the election thereon, or in any act of the Legislature with respect thereto; provided, however, that the authorization, ratification and confirmation effected by this Section (f) shall not be applicable to any tax the validity of which was being challenged in appropriate judicial proceedings in any proper court on the date of final passage of the act of the legislature pursuant to which this amendment was proposed.