A suit was filed in Federal court this week challenging the constitutionality of a new clause that was added to HB 251 in the Georgia Legislature last year.  This clause prohibits people to serve on the school board if they have relatives serving in various capacities within the school system.

Why is the Ga. Legislature inserting itself into local government? They pass ridiculous laws and the local community has to step in to try and fix it.  This is a free speech issue and in my view another example of the boys in Atlanta reaching to far. People should not be prohibited from serving on the school board based on the career choices of their family.

When is the Republican party going to understand that they cannot have it both ways? We either are the party of freedom and local control or we are not.  The board is the elected leadership of the school system. This law impacts the governance of this institution.  Any board public or private would fight to ensure that we (the board) in concert with the voters determine how to lead this community.

I have received some concerns about the fact that this suit is being funded by the Bartow County Board of Education. Concerns over the cost should be addressed to the legislators who use petty arguments in their community to impact an entire state.  They forced this action.

Where does it stop? It you have a son who is a police Lt. should you be ruled unfit to serve on a city council? Everything about this is wrong. My family experience in education and my own service as a teacher have made me a better public servant.  Part of my job in protecting this community and our students is to ensure that good people can serve on this board. This is a worthy fight and an important issue for the future of this school system. That makes this fight financially sound.

Those in favor of this change would argue that the corruption that has been uncovered in a small percentage of school systems warrant this restriction on who can legally serve.  We have a process for dealing with elected officials who under-perform. That process is elections. We cannot replace occasional voter apathy and lack of due diligence with the heavy handedness of government. Why just school boards? Why not county commissions, or city councils? Does inappropriate hiring not occur at all levels of government? Why not amend the constitution so that you can’t be elected federally if you have a spouse in state government?

All of these issues occur in the private sector as well, by the way.

It will never be a perfect system but the voters of OUR community should decide this issue not the Georgia Legislature

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