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HART COUNTY — Voters will have the chance to make two choices regarding education in Hart County when the polls open for Georgia primary elections Tuesday.

As scheduled, the special purpose local option sales tax is back on the ballot this election — as it is every five years. And voters will be the final say in whether the Hart County Board of Education can collect up to $25 million in sales tax revenue to pay for improvements to the county’s schools, said David Hicks, Hart County Schools superintendent.

In addition, those casting their vote in the Democratic primary will be able to chose between Brenda J. Jordan or E. Alice Worthan for the County Board of Education District 1 seat. No Republicans are vying for the seat.

District 1 seat covers part of Hartwell as well as the Rome, Zion, Flat Rock, Sardis and Winding Way communities.

Jordan could not be reached for comment.

Worthan, a retired teacher of 40-plus years, served on the board for about 8 months in 2001 when David Milford resigned and she was appointed into the seat. Worthan shared her thoughts on the 1-cent sales tax on Wednesday.

“I was hoping that whatever they would do, that the children would receive a large block of that tax, that it would be used so they could receive a quality education,” Worthan said.

She would rather see the tax money spent on improving the tools in the classroom instead of on building improvements, she said.

Some of her priorities if elected, she said, would be school safety, school discipline policies and a closer look at the dropout rate.

Revenue from the SPLOST tax only can be spent on building improvements within the school district. Hicks said the tax on the ballot would collect the money needed to pay off a bond that the County Board of Education took out five years ago to build a new high school and media center.

Hicks said $14 million is still owed on that bond. He said conservative estimates show that the sales tax could generate $20 million of revenue. A cap is set on the tax at $25 million, he added.

With the help of teachers and the community, the board of education has created two lists of potential uses for money left over after the $14 million is paid off, Hicks said. The first one is of top priority projects. The second is a wish list.

The first list includes a new roof for one school, new heating and air conditioning units at two schools, technology improvements, renovations to the high school gym and additional features to make the schools more handicap accessible.

The second list includes security enhancements, the creation of a smaller gym at the high school, an agriculture academy and renovations to Hart County Academy, the county’s alternative school, so Athens Technical College can offer night classes there, Hicks said.

“Without SPLOST we would not have the facilities we have,” Hicks said. “It is a tax. That certainly is a disadvantage. But it is shared by anyone who comes to shop in Hart County, not just Hart County residents.”