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School board looking at district vote debate

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

Much of the discussion about switching to true district voting has focused on the makeup of the County Commission, but any change would also affect the way in which school board members are elected, sources confirm.

Now, members of the Fayette County Board of Education say they are being shut out of the ongoing debate on abandoning at-large voting, and fear their opinions aren’t being heard on the controversial subject.

For example, none of the five board members was invited to the first of three town hall meetings to discuss the matter, held Jan. 22 at North Fayette Elementary. Several said planned to attend last night’s forum in Peachtree City.

The town hall meetings are being organized by Rep. Virgil Fludd, D-Tyrone, chairman of the county’s legislative delegation and the leading proponent to district voting locally. He wants legislation introduced during this year’s General Assembly session to forced the switch.

But Fludd never broached the subject Jan. 24, when all five board members, Superintendent John DeCotis and other school system administrators traveled to the Capitol to meet with Fludd and other delegation members.

“We never discussed it with them, and they haven’t brought it to us,” confirmed DeCotis, who as an appointee of the elected school board has more than a passing interest in how members get chosen.

Laura Reilly of the Georgia School Boards Association said the election of local board members is specific to those of the local government.

While it’s possible for a commission to be chosen one way and a school board another, it’s not likely, she said.

The GSBA advocates eliminating the party affiliation requirement for school board elections, she said, and the local board members agree.

But they say true district representation will lead to territorialism and do nothing but harm to Fayette County schools, already considered the state’s best.

“The way it is now, we have to answer to everybody,” said Chairman Terri Smith.

Board member Greg Powers said it wouldn’t be easy to assign one board member to each high school, because the districts drawn that way. DeCotis agreed.

Currently, the school board members are elected countywide, even though each must reside in one of five districts drawn based on population, said DeCotis. By order of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the county must submit new district lines following each 10-year Census, he said. The U.S. Justice Department approved the current map in 2002.

The commission, on the other hand, is made up of three members who reside in districts, and two others who can live anywhere. All are elected countywide.

Fludd’s early proposal for commission districts is almost identical to the school board map.

The county delegation’s support of the issue is split along racial and party lines.

Rep. Dan Lakly of Peachtree City opposes making the switch, particularly since it doesn’t reflect the will of the people it will most affect, primarily the voters.

“I believe in home rule, in listening to the people, and this delegation is not united in support of this legislation,” he said at the Jan. 22 public meeting, when he also noted the absence of school board members.

“If we’re going to address the issue of district voting, we need to draw the cities and Board of Education into this. It needs to begin at the local level. This needs to come from the ground up.”