Georgia Senate passes nonpartisan Gwinnett school board bill over objections

February 2nd, 2022

Gwinnett County school board members listen to public comments during their Feb. 2021 meeting. (Martha Dalton/WABE)
Martha Dalton / WABE

Georgia senators on Wednesday passed a measure that would make school board elections nonpartisan in the state’s largest school district, a Republican power play that overrode the opposition of the mostly Democratic lawmakers representing Gwinnett County.

The Senate voted 32-21 for Senate Bill 369, which would take effect for this year’s school board elections in Gwinnett County. They would take place in May, when Georgia holds nonpartisan elections, instead of in the November partisan general election. The measure moves to the House for more debate.

“The education of our children should be a nonpartisan issue,” said the bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Clint Dixon of Buford. “Let’s get politics out of our schools and once again focus on educating our children.”

Normally, a majority of Gwinnett lawmakers must agree to a local bill for it to pass, but Senate leaders classified the bill as general legislation, meaning the majority Republican Senate could push it through over the objections of Democrats in the nearly 1 million-resident county.

“The county delegation was bypassed in advancing this bill,” said Sen. Michelle Au, a Johns Creek Democrat. “It’s really difficult to argue for advancing local legislation that was opposed by the entirety of the local delegation, apart from the author.”

With 180,000 students, Gwinnett educates more than 10% of all public school students in Georgia. Dixon argued that politics are dragging down the school system’s performance and that lawmakers must act quickly.

“We’re falling off a cliff,” he said. “This is a major issue in Gwinnett County that needs to be handled now.”

Democrats, though, said the move was more a reaction to Democrats gaining a 3-2 majority on the school board in 2020 after decades of Republican control.

In Georgia, state lawmakers must approve new electoral districts for every county commission and county school board once every 10 years to reflect population shifts. Normally, that’s handled through local legislation. Dixon said earlier that the measure wouldn’t change school board districts that local lawmakers have already agreed to.

Sen. Nikki Merritt, a Grayson Democrat, offered amendments that would have made all school boards statewide nonpartisan, subject to a statewide referendum.

“If we’re going to go after one county, let’s make this for all counties,” Merritt said. “Let’s hold this vote for the entire state of Georgia and let’s let the Georgia voters decide.”

Senators studied nonpartisan school boards statewide after Dixon sought to make Gwinnett’s board nonpartisan in a special session last year. Wednesday, he said the issue needs “further vetting” and opposed the amendment.

GOP Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan ruled that amendment couldn’t be considered, saying it would transform a local bill into a statewide bill.

Merritt also offered an amendment that would have allowed Gwinnett voters to decide the question for just that county. That amendment was rejected 30-22.

Democrats are also opposing a Republican move to override the Gwinnett delegation’s plan for redrawing county commission districts. Rep. Bonnie Rich, a Suwanee Republican, said Wednesday that she made the move because Democrats have been unwilling work with Republicans on a map all can agree on.

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