Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge K. Dawson Jackson issued no ruling Wednesday after hearing nearly two hours of argument on whether the Georgia School Boards Association and Gwinnett County Public Schools officials illegally used taxpayer resources to oppose the charter schools amendment.
An attorney for five Gwinnett residents is seeking an injunction to stop what he described as the illegal campaigning of the association and Gwinnett school officials, including Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks.
The district’s attorney, Victoria Sweeney, and an attorney for the association, Phil Hartley, said the injunction request is an attempt to silence opposition to the charter schools amendment. If voters approve the amendment Nov. 6, it would guarantee the state’s authority to create charter schools and establish a commission to consider applications for them.
Jackson asked no questions during the hearing.
Lawyers in the charter school fight said they do not know when the judge will issue a ruling.
That ruling will have less practical impact the closer it is made to the election. It could, however, offer some insight into what, if any, limitations the GSBA must observe in advocating for its members.
Unlike a similar, unsuccessful request for injunction heard earlier this month in Fulton County, the Gwinnett request seeks to limit the GSBA’s campaigning against the amendment on the grounds that the association is merely an extension of its publicly supported members. Therefore, that argument goes, the association is bound by the same prohibition against using taxpayer resources to campaign that restricts local school boards.
“The school district can’t spend its time involved in advocacy,” said Josh Belinfante, the attorney for the Gwinnett residents who sought the injunction. “If it can’t be done by school districts, it can’t be done by an association of school districts.”
Hartley countered that the association has the right to campaign against the amendment because, while it does receive some funding through dues paid by public school districts, it is a private organization.
As for Wilbanks and other Gwinnett school officials, Sweeney said there is no evidence that they have participated in an extensive campaign against the amendment. She said she believes they do have a responsibility to speak out on matters of public importance.
“It could be considered the duty of constitutional officers to provide information to the public,” she said in describing the action of Wilbanks and Gwinnett school board members. “It is absolutely imperative that they not be silenced.”
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