Since making the PEACH Education Tax Credit available to the public last August, the Union County College & Career Academy has already experienced tremendous success, collecting roughly half of its two-year participation cap in the program’s first few months.
That’s because individuals and businesses in the community have been eager to benefit the children of Union County Schools simply by filing their required state income tax returns.
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The tax credit program is offered through the Georgia Foundation for Public Education to provide funding for local student education and employability initiatives by allowing filers to keep their state income tax dollars local.
Program contributions consist of money that taxpayers must send to the state anyway in the form of income taxes. But with the tax credit, people can give those dollars directly to the local College & Career Academy instead of to the state.
Dec. 30, 2025, was the deadline to take advantage of the credit for tax filings due this month, and contributions have slowed significantly since that deadline passed. But the program is still going, and people can apply now to get ahead of the 2026 tax season.
Utilizing the Education Tax Credit is a straightforward process:
Apply for the credit at gfpe.org/tax_credit/, then wait for confirmation to proceed. Next, make the approved donation amount up to the contribution cap listed on the website, being sure to choose “Union County College & Career Academy” as the recipient.
Finally, claim the PEACH Education Tax Credit on next year’s Georgia income tax return. The credit will be a dollar-for-dollar reduction in state income taxes owed up to the allowable amount.
The tax credit has an initial campaign goal of raising $250,000 over two years, and if the effort is ultimately successful, the academy can re-apply for new campaigns with potentially higher total contribution caps to increase the tax credit’s impact on students for years to come.
As noted above, the program has been incredibly successful to date, resulting in half of the collection goal in just a few months’ time. And money raised so far has already been put to good use.
Multiple Career Technical Student Organizations have been able to utilize the funds for students to attend competitions that “tend to get very expensive,” College & Career Academy CEO Charley Cattanach said.
“The other side of the grant is for Career, Technical and Agricultural Education Program improvement,” added Cattanach, who also leads CTAE for Union County Schools. “We have made quite a few purchases with that, mainly within our Health Care programs.”
Purchases have included different types of medical training equipment, and Cattanach recently ordered welders that are necessary for the new dual enrollment courses the High School offers through its Welding Program.
Spending priorities are still being decided, and while several CTAE programs have already benefited, Cattanach said there’s much more that the College & Career Academy wants to do to upgrade programs to give students an advantage in becoming the local workforce of tomorrow.
“It’s been a godsend so far to really supplement a lot of these programs with equipment, lesson plans, and curriculums that we wouldn’t normally be able to purchase on a normal budget,” Cattanach said.
Speaking of budgeting, the PEACH Education Tax Credit also helps the local tax base; as long as contributions continue, Cattanach does not need to seek funding from the School Board to pursue exciting new student initiatives.
“If there is a need we have and we don’t have the money, we have to ask the board for it – and they either say yes or we go without,” Cattanach said.
And since funds are transferred monthly to the College & Career Academy, contributions assist students throughout the year – a good reason for filers thinking about their taxes now to go ahead and apply for tax credit or at least plan to do so before the 2026 filing deadline this December.
Plus, as the program works via tax credits, if individuals or businesses contribute an approved donation that pushes them above their actual tax liability upon filing, they would be set to receive a refund of the overpaid amount, Cattanach said.
At heart, the tax credit increases the opportunities for community members to do something special for local schoolchildren, with the money raised taking Union County Schools’ focus on workforce development to the next level.
“We’re just very grateful and proud that we’ve had such participation so far and hope that it continues,” Cattanach said.
