Coffee County continues to stay ahead of the curve. - In the future it will have nonpartisan elections of school board members.
In a 12-10-05 post entitled "Taking nonpartisan elections a step further beyond judges. School board members doable now. Sheriffs? Maybe in the future," I wrote:
Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 21-2-139(a) provides in pertinent part that "the General Assembly may provide by local Act for the election in nonpartisan elections of candidates to fill county judicial offices [and] offices of local school boards . . . ."
I do hope we have had our last partisan school board elections in Coffee County. If you would find this change desirable in your county, contact your local House and Senate representatives to discuss a change.
Your local state representatives will want to check with your local board of education members to make sure they concur, and assuming they do, your representatives will get legislative counsel in Atlanta to draft the local legislation, have the proposed legislation duly advertised in your county's legal organ, etc.
Local legislation is usually routinely passed by both legislative bodies if your local representatives introduce it in their respective chambers.
After doing this post, I conferred with my local board, and it was in agreement that this was desirable legislation.
And I am proud to be able to report that such local legislation was passed this past legislative session for the Coffee County Board of Education, and thus future school board elections will be nonpartisan.
Of course, as in any legislation affecting elections, this legislation will require preclearance from the Department of Justice (the bill provides that "[t]he board of education of Coffee County shall through its legal counsel cause this Act to be submitted for preclearance under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended), and I will get around to doing this within the next couple of weeks after the Governor signs the bill. I anticipate preclearance being a walk in the park.
If this change appeals to you or your local leaders and school board, why don't you go ahead and the ball rolling now, since you still have the 2006 legislative session to get the change implement prior to the next regular school board elections.
Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 21-2-139(a) provides in pertinent part that "the General Assembly may provide by local Act for the election in nonpartisan elections of candidates to fill county judicial offices [and] offices of local school boards . . . ."
I do hope we have had our last partisan school board elections in Coffee County. If you would find this change desirable in your county, contact your local House and Senate representatives to discuss a change.
Your local state representatives will want to check with your local board of education members to make sure they concur, and assuming they do, your representatives will get legislative counsel in Atlanta to draft the local legislation, have the proposed legislation duly advertised in your county's legal organ, etc.
Local legislation is usually routinely passed by both legislative bodies if your local representatives introduce it in their respective chambers.
After doing this post, I conferred with my local board, and it was in agreement that this was desirable legislation.
And I am proud to be able to report that such local legislation was passed this past legislative session for the Coffee County Board of Education, and thus future school board elections will be nonpartisan.
Of course, as in any legislation affecting elections, this legislation will require preclearance from the Department of Justice (the bill provides that "[t]he board of education of Coffee County shall through its legal counsel cause this Act to be submitted for preclearance under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended), and I will get around to doing this within the next couple of weeks after the Governor signs the bill. I anticipate preclearance being a walk in the park.
If this change appeals to you or your local leaders and school board, why don't you go ahead and the ball rolling now, since you still have the 2006 legislative session to get the change implement prior to the next regular school board elections.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 6:51 AM
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