By PAT NEWMAN
pnewman@TheCitizenNews.com

Although a quorum of the Fayette County Board of Education will be made up of new members starting in January, at least one far-reaching decision will be made by the current board before new members take their seat.

Terri Smith, a parent and former Fayette County school teacher from Brooks, took 60 percent of the vote in last week's runoff election for school board Post 2, edging out Kim Gatlin, a parent activist and marketing specialist.

With no opposition in the November General Election, Smith will take her seat on the board in January.

Incumbent Connie Hale lost her seat to former board member and teacher Marion Key, who captured 59 percent for Post 3. Key will face Democratic opponent William Bryan, a semi-retired master electrician from Peachtree City, in the General Election Nov. 7.

Three members retire from the board this year. Incumbents Woody Shelnutt and Debbie Condon did not offer for reelection, and Condon will be replaced by Janet Smola, who faced no opposition in the General Primary July 18, and none in the General Election.

The board is grappling with the decision of whether to place a funding referendum in the form of a bond or special purpose local option sales tax on the General Election ballot. Faced with overcrowding at several schools this year and the prospect of continued growth, members of the board-appointed Facilities Advisory Committee, School Superintendent Dr. John DeCotis and the school system's administrative staff have determined that action must to taken to address the issue or school children may be faced with undesirable options such as double sessions or the trimester system in the near future.

Redrawing school boundary lines in the most seriously overcrowded school districts has been discussed by the committee as well.

At this point, Smith said she will support whatever funding option the current board presents. “They need the money to have the buildings... at the very minimum every student should be in a classroom, in a building. We need to get those classrooms built,” she said.

Key has not decided which course to take if she is elected, saying that a bond issue may be easier to pass and would allow the school system to get the money sooner, but that a SPLOST would be paid off sooner than a 20- or 30-year bond.

Bryan, Key's opponent, said he stands for choice in education and favors a voucher program via government grants. He has lived in Fayette County for about four years and is conducting his low-key campaign by way of handouts circulated at public meetings. The 52-year-old father said he believes public schools in general are “anti-child and anti-Christian.”