House Bill Would Reduce Seats on DeKalb's School Board

State Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-80)  took to the House floor on Monday in support of controversial legislation that would shrink the size of DeKalb County’s school board from nine to seven members.

The bill, which passed by a vote of 109-62, now heads back to the Senate for final approval with two days left in this legislative session.

“It’s already the policy of the state that local school boards be limited to no more than seven members,” said Jacobs, a Republican whose district includes portions of Brookhaven. “That’s because education experts agree that smaller school boards provide higher quality governance.

"This is an opportunity to put kids above politics. This legislation is important to our 99,000 students in DeKalb and to the 49,000 students in Atlanta.”

Senate Bill 79, which has been hotly contested by many Democratic members of DeKalb’s legislative delegation, “sets the optimum number of members for the DeKalb County school board at seven, which we’ve already agreed upon in previous legislation and debates as the ideal number for a school board,” said Majority Whip Ed Lindsey.

Lindsey, R-Atlanta, who represents Brookhaven's neighboring community of Buckhead, was the bill’s main House sponsor.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed sent a letter to House members expressing his support for the bill. But numerous metro House Democrats argued it was an intrusion by the state into a strictly local matter.

“The DeKalb delegation was never given the chance to consider this bill,” said state Rep. “Coach” Williams, D-Avondale Estates. “Why is the state making policy decisions about one or two school systems within this state? Let's get back to the concept of local control.”

“There is no right way to a wrong thing, and this is wrong on so many levels,” said state Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates. “When does local control actually come into play down here? When it’s not your local government that’s being controlled?”

One DeKalb Democrat who supported the bill was state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur. “In light of the governance and conduct issues of the DeKalb school board, the size of the board should be reduced. Smaller boards serve children better.”

“This bill is all about when a school board gets in the way of a student attending an accredited school,” said state Rep. Kathy Ashe, D-Atlanta, who also supported the bill. “It says that, when adults sometimes get in the way of students learning, it’s time for someone else to step in and decide what’s in their best interests.”

The bill would also give the governor the authority to remove members of the Atlanta school board.