O.C.G.A. § 20-2-49 (2019)
Standards for local board of education members
The General Assembly finds that local boards of education play a critical role in setting the policies that lead to the operation and success of local school systems. School board members hold special roles as trustees of public funds, including local, state, and federal funds, while they focus on the singular objective of ensuring each student in the local school system receives a quality basic education. Board duties require specialized skills and training in the performance of vision setting, policy making, approving multimillion dollar budgets, financial management, and hiring a qualified superintendent. The motivation to serve as a member of a local board of education should be the improvement of schools and academic achievement of all students. Service on a local board of education is important citizen service. Given the specialized nature and unique role of membership on a local board of education, this elected office should be characterized and treated differently from other elected offices where the primary duty is independently to represent constituent views. Local board of education members should abide by a code of conduct and conflict of interest policy modeled for their unique roles and responsibilities. And although there are many measures of the success of a local board of education, one is clearly essential: maintaining accreditation and the opportunities it allows the school system’s students.
History
Code 1981, § 20-2-49, enacted by Ga. L. 2010, p. 452, § 1/SB 84; Ga. L. 2020, p. 62, § 1-1/SB 68.
The 2020 amendment, effective July 1, 2021, inserted “financial management,” in the third sentence.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Constitutionality of statute providing for removal from office. - Georgia Supreme Court held that the removal of local school board members under O.C.G.A. § 20-2-73 was not an unconstitutional infringement upon the governing authority of local school boards, nor was it a violation of any other constitutional provision or right. DeKalb County Sch. Dist. v. Ga. State Bd. of Educ., 294 Ga. 349, 751 S.E.2d 827, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 1005 (2013).
Whether characterized as setting a qualification for continued service on the local board in the extraordinary circumstance of an imminent loss of accreditation, or whether characterized as providing for removal for malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, O.C.G.A. § 20-2-73 was held by the Georgia Supreme Court to be a permissible exercise of the legislative power to provide for the removal for cause of members of
ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY EDUC.
local boards. DeKalb County Sch. Dist. v. Ga. State Bd. of Educ., 294 Ga. 349, 751 S.E.2d 827, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 1005 (2013).