GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia's largest school district has a large pool of funds to keep it running thanks to an education special purpose local options sales tax, or ESPLOST . It has been in place since 1997 and has gotten voter approval half a dozen times to fund Gwinnett County Public Schools. This time around, the school district said renewal of the penny sales tax would raise around $1.5 billion.

Kathleen Carey has two grandchildren in the district and said the money will be necessary to pay for new facilities, maintain aging buildings, school safety and tech upgrades among other items.

"It brings in more people to help support our schools, because everybody who shops in Gwinnett shares in that one-percent sales tax," Carey said. "That brings a lot of needed funds to our scho

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