A state lawmaker is accusing the DeKalb County school board of violating Georgia's open meetings law.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver filed a complaint with Attorney General Sam Olens on Monday asserting that the school board broke the law when a majority of its members signed off on their own proposal to redraw the boundaries of their political districts. The school board presented its advisory map to lawmakers near the end of the legislative session, after lawmakers had argued bitterly about redrawing the official map.
The board erred "by failing to take action in an open meeting, failing to give notice of a proposed action, and failing to record a vote in relation to an action," Oliver wrote in her filing.
School board Chairman Eugene Walker said the board didn't break the law because board members never met to consider the map. Instead, it was passed around from member to member.
"Six people looked at the map and agreed with it, and I went along with them and signed it," he said.
Walker said lawmakers ignored the school board's recommendation.
Such maps must be altered each decade to account for population shifts documented by the U.S. census. Lawmakers also aimed to bring DeKalb into compliance with a law they previously had passed mandating a reduction in the number of school board seats, from the current nine to at most seven.
Oliver, a Democrat from Decatur, said Walker presented the school board's map near the end of the legislative session, leaving little time to act upon it. She also said the board's process left the public in the dark and that there should be consequences.
"I think there should be a sanction," she said, "even if there's a minor sanction."
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