The Georgia Senate voted unanimously Monday to tweak the law that allowed Gov. Nathan Deal to remove two-thirds of the DeKalb County school board in 2013.
Deal acted on the recommendation of his state board of education, after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed the district on probation. The law allowed such action in school districts at risk of losing their accreditation. The amendment doesn't change that, but does clarify school board members' right to speak their minds.
It says no code of conduct or conflict of interest may interfere with a member’s right to free speech under the First Amendment, something that was in question when Deal took action.
The law currently says school board members “should be characterized and treated differently from other elected offices” whose job is to represent, and speak for, their constituents.
Senate Bill 357 deletes the language about treating the office of school board "differently" and adds this: the motivation of a school board member should be "the effective representation of parents' and other constituents' interests."
The bill’s author, Michael Williams, R-Cumming, said it “reinforces” school board members’ speech rights after election.
During a committee hearing last week, lawmakers discussed the law’s history. It was passed “when DeKalb was going through its crisis,” Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, said at a Senate Education and Youth committee hearing. “We had so many independent thoughts in DeKalb County that we were in danger of losing our accreditation.”
The crisis has passed and Millar said it made sense to amend the law. It passed 50-0.
About the Author
