Effect of local Act providing for independent audit.

- O.C.G.A. § 50-6-6(a) imposes a duty upon the Department of Audits and Accounts to conduct an audit of all schools receiving state aid. O.C.G.A. § 50-6-6(b) authorizes local boards of education to have an additional audit. Thus, a local Act which provides for an independent audit does not conflict with the general Act but simply requires the county board to do that which the general Act says it may do. Glynn County Bd. of Educ. v. Lane, 261 Ga. 544, 407 S.E.2d 754 (1991).

Separate bank accounts.

- Provision of this section that all public funds held by officials must be kept in banks separate from their individual accounts can be understood not as requiring officials to deposit public money in a bank, but as meaning that if the officials so deposit the account must be separate from their individual accounts. It is unlikely that the legislature by these brief words intended to make all banks public depositories and relieve the officials of responsibility, with no provision for selecting proper banks or taking security from them. Whipple v. American Sur. Co., 92 F.2d 673 (5th Cir. 1937).

Agenda of school board is discretionary.

- Citizen was not entitled to a writ of mandamus directing a school board to place the citizen on the board's agenda because setting the agenda was a discretionary act that was not subject to mandamus and none of the statutes cited by the citizen, O.C.G.A. §§ 20-2-1160(a),45-10-1, and50-6-6(b), imposed a duty on the board to place the citizen on the board's agenda. James v. Montgomery County Bd. of Educ., 283 Ga. 517, 661 S.E.2d 535 (2008).

Cited in Landrum v. Thomas, 52 Ga. App. 257, 183 S.E. 140 (1935); Mathew v. Ellis, 214 Ga. 665, 107 S.E.2d 181 (1959).

Audit of noneducational funds.

- Language "books, records, and accounts of the public school system over which any such board has jurisdiction" is broad enough to lead a school board to conclude that the board could utilize public school funds to procure a private audit not only of educational funds, but also of all noneducational funds under the board's jurisdiction; however, such use would be unconstitutional by Ga. Const. 1976, Art. IX, Sec. V, Para. I (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. IX, Sec. IV, Para. II). 1963-65 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 731.

Expenditure of common school funds by local school boards.

- Local school boards may expend common school funds to employ certified public accountants to audit the records and accounts of the school system the boards administer. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-72.

Department as part of executive branch.

- Department of Audits and Accounts is part of executive branch of state government because the duties of the department are similar to the traditional duties of a state department of audits and relate closely to the executive branch of the government. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-37.

C.J.S.

- 81A C.J.S., States, § 245 et seq.