DeKalb redistricting still up in the air

By April Hunt

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two committees of DeKalb County lawmakers that are working to redraw political lines for the County Commission and county school board districts postponed voting on new maps Monday but expect to act by the week’s end.

The state House committee looking at the redistricting map for the school board received several proposed boundaries over the weekend, and Chairwoman Simone Bell, D-Atlanta, said she wanted to give members time to review the offerings.

Complicating the traditional redrawing of political lines to account for population changes is a new state law that calls for reducing the number of DeKalb's school board districts from nine to seven.

The committee examining the County Commission map, also headed by Bell, did not reach a quorum Monday and could not vote. That map calls for minor changes to less than a dozen precincts throughout the county, mostly to make the north and central districts smaller because of population growth there.

Bell has not announced when the committees will next meet, though they are expected to meet by Thursday. The new maps must clear the Legislature by Feb. 14. They will serve as boundaries for those offices for the next decade.