From a Jan. 16, 2025, meeting of the county school board. Meetings are available online through the Gwinnett County Public Schools website.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB. 18, 2025 | In the past 30-40 years, Gwinnettians have been proud of its public school system, as it gained new heights in various ways year after year. Yet these last few years, its residents have had a growing concern about the direction of its school board, as there has been upheaval, bickering among the school board and split decisions affecting operations.
In the last four years, we have seen the firing of two school superintendents. This does not bode well.
Yet in spite of all this, so far the students seem to be doing better than their leaders. We wonder how long this can continue. That is why there is more apprehension on the part of parents of students about our schools.
There are several significant matters that worry us. Among them:
- Will Gwinnett be able to continue to adequately fund its operations, since it is taxing property owners at 19.2 mills, with a 20 mill statewide limit? (This limit on school funding was imposed by the Legislature years ago.) Schools districts can only exceed this limit by voter approval, after authorization by the Legislature.
- Will voters continue to approve E-SPLOST funds for the certain growth of the district, and the need for funding of new schools, in view of the ramifications of a split board?
- How would the system pay for new schools without E-SPLOST funds? Is overcrowding a certainty in the future?
- Will all this upheaval show itself in the lowering of the quality of the education of students?
- Can the school board attract a superb superintendent in view of the recent firings? Would you want to jump into this situation?
Administering a school system can take many forms. There are 180 school districts in the state, all with locally-elected boards to run them.
These boards, in turn, select the superintendent.
That was not always the case in Georgia. In what was once a virtually unworkable system, many counties elected both the school board members, and also the superintendent. Talk about a difficult situation, this was it. The voters were choosing rivals in a continuing battle. Fortunately, this is no longer possible in Georgia.
The legislature eventually voted to require the school boards in every district in Georgia to hire its superintendent, eliminating a continual battle between two entities selected by the voters.
Seems we remember some counties where the Grand Jury selected its school board members.
Back in 1870, the General Assembly of Georgia established the law requiring public schools in each county of the state. But look what happened in Bibb County: On August 23, 1872, the General Assembly of Georgia passed an act creating the Board of Public Education and Orphanage of Bibb County, a public school system supported by taxpayer funds. This act provided the Board would be self-perpetuating; the power of filling vacancies was left in the hands of the Board.”
You read that right. A self-perpetuating board! The Macon schools essentially were run by leaders in the county that the school board itself picked. The voters had no determination of who were the school board members. That system continued for many years and the Macon schools were exceptionally good. (Yep, we’re happily a product of that system.)
The people of Gwinnett will have its school system foremost in their minds over the next two years, as its meandering board raises question after question.
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