DeKalb school board map to draw heat

By April Hunt

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Parents, educators and advocates are expected to pack the room today, when DeKalb County’s House delegation approves the county’s school board map for the next decade.

The delegation also will vote on new political lines for the County Commission at its meeting, but there is little controversy over small changes to those districts. The same cannot be said for the school board map that a five-member redistricting subcommittee approved in a split vote earlier this week.

Faced with a state law that calls for reducing the board from nine to at the most seven districts, three Democrats on the subcommittee recommended a five-member map that ends the terms of four board members up for re-election this year.

The remaining two members of the subcommittee, also Democrats, dissented. They preferred a map that would have cut the board to seven seats by forcing those candidates up for re-election this year to face off for two seats. The failed proposal also carved up districts based on feeder schools and high schools, something the recommended map does not.

State Rep. Simone Bell, the committee’s chairwoman and one of the supporters of the recommended map, said lawmakers could consider the feeder school issue or even whether to return to seven districts next year. The five-member map was the best solution for a fast way to cut the board, she said.

“It is a truncated process,” Bell said, “and in my opinion, this is much cleaner.”

The DeKalb County NAACP signed off on the approved map, though some parent advocates raised questions about the boundaries Wednesday. Both sides are expected to make their case to the full delegation.

No similar public outcry is expected for the County Commission map, which moved a handful of precincts between Democrats in the southern and central parts of the county. Only three precincts, near Brookhaven and Silver Lake, will move from a Democratic district to the county’s lone Republican one.

The full House will vote on the maps after the county delegation, though the chamber typically honors a local delegation’s wishes on such issues. The legislation must clear the Legislature by Feb. 14 to give the U.S. Justice Department time to review and approve the maps in time for the fall election.

DeKalb’s delegation meets at noon in Room 605 of the Georgia Legislative Office Building.