Gov. Nathan Deal’s decision to suspend and replace six DeKalb County school board members was a proper exercise of his authority, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled Monday.
In a unanimous opinion, the court upheld a 2010 state law that gives the governor the power to replace members of any school board that runs afoul of a school accrediting agency. The law was challenged by former DeKalb school board chairman Eugene Walker.
Deal suspended Walker and five other members of the nine-member DeKalb board in February after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed the district on probation. The governor then replaced those members through a nominating process.
The state Supreme Court’s ruling “provides an added layer of security for students, parents, homeowners and business leaders all across Georgia,” the governor said Monday.
Deal called the law “an unfortunate necessity” and said he would use it only under worst-case scenarios, when a school system risks losing its accreditation.
“The results can be catastrophic for the community, particularly for the innocent students who have a red flag on their academic record because of the actions of adults,” Deal said. In the cases so far, the governor added, “we’ve seen dramatic improvements in school governance after the state stepped in.”
Deal removed all members of the Miller County school board in 2012 after the district was put on probation by SACS. The county’s accreditation status was upgraded last May.
DeKalb School Board Chairman Melvin Johnson said he was pleased with Monday’s decision.
“It’s good news in that there is closure,” Johnson said. “We can move forward and the citizens can move forward.”
Walker called it “a sad day.”
“My initial response is the Georgia Supreme Court has struck a tremendous blow to me and against the constitutional mandate that local voters are to decide who serves on school boards,” Walker said.
“They have thrown the Constitution out the window and replaced it with political considerations,” he said. “I know for a fact that my rights have been violated. I did nothing wrong and the governor can remove me after my being duly elected.”
One of the ousted board members didn’t live to see the decision. Donna Edler, who represented District 7, died in October after battling cancer.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” her husband, Darryl Edler, said Monday.
Former board member Nancy Jester resigned her seat on the board after the ouster. She has announced plans to run for state school superintendent in 2014.
SACS placed DeKalb, Georgia’s third-largest school district, on probation last December, complaining of mismanagement and school board turf battles. The agency also threatened to pull accreditation if the board and Superintendent Michael Thurmond fail to address the agency’s concerns by December.
But Thurmond and the new board have made progress and the district is likely to retain accreditation, albeit under probation, according to Mark Elgart, the president of SACS’s parent company. Accreditation is considered one measure of school quality, and some colleges check to see if incoming freshmen come from an accredited school.
Shortly before Deal handed down the DeKalb suspensions, the district filed suit in federal court. The district was later removed as a plaintiff, but Walker continued his challenge with independent funding.
U.S. District Judge Richard Story, who was assigned the case, decided only the Georgia Supreme Court could give him the answers he needed before deciding whether Walker’s suit had merit. Story asked the court to determine: whether the law used by Deal violates a doctrine that school systems be controlled by elected school boards; and whether the General Assembly extended unconstitutional powers to the governor.
The court answered both questions in the negative, and Story is now expected to dismiss Walker’s suit.
The state Supreme Court noted that the General Assembly’s power to remove local constitutional officers dates back more than two centuries.
In 1799, the Legislature allowed for the impeachment of a Superior Court clerk who had been convicted of malpractice in office. In 1833, lawmakers allowed for the removal of any sheriff who allowed an inmate “to escape and go large.” In 1925, legislators allowed for the ouster of tax collectors who failed to turn over money owed the state.
While this legislative precedent does not settle the dispute involving Walker, the opinion said, “it is entitled to some respect.”
The court took the unusual step Monday of issuing its opinion with no single justice being credited with authorship; instead, the ruling was joined by all nine justices.
The justices noted that the state constitution “makes public education not only the business of local jurisdictions, but the state as a whole. … (T)he state has a substantial interest in ensuring that those local boards function competently and in a manner that does not imperil the education or the prospects of the students enrolled in the school systems.”
Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody said the ruling was a “pleasant surprise.”
“Apparently we got it right from the court’s perspective,” Millar said. “The interest of 100,000 kids, give or take a few, outweighed individual due process. Now, hopefully, the ones deemed bad apples — and that’s not all of them — won’t be re-elected.”
Angela Palm, director of policy and legislative services for the Georgia School Boards Association, said she was “surprised and disappointed” by the decision.
In a court filing, GSBA said the 2010 law usurps voters’ rights by giving the governor the power to suspend and replace locally elected school board members. It also allows a decision on accreditation by a private group, SACS, to set in motion that removal process, the association said.
Most of the ousted DeKalb board members challenged their suspensions. But Administrative Law Judge Maxwell Wood ruled they failed to make a case for reinstatement. Deal followed Wood’s recommendation that they be ousted. Walker’s appeal, now before a Fulton County judge, was not affected by Monday’s ruling, his lawyer, Danielle Obiorah, said Monday.
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