--- title: HB 1245. Walker County; Board of Education; members shall be elected by voters of the respective education districts; provide collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb1245 cite_as: HB 1245, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1245 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1245.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1245/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73008 date: 2026-05-11 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1244.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1246.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 1010 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1245.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 1245 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2026-05-11 last_action: Effective Date 2026-05-11 sponsors: - Mike Cameron - Steve Tarvin - Clint Dixon text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB1245/2025 upstream_id: 2112327 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - local elections - school board - Walker County - education districts --- # HB 1245. Walker County; Board of Education; members shall be elected by voters of the respective education districts; provide ## Text House Bill 1245 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) By: Representatives Cameron of the 1st and Tarvin of the 2nd A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act providing for the election of the members of the Board of Education of Walker County, approved March 8, 1968 (Ga. L. 1968, p. 2235), as amended, so as to provide that future members of the board shall be elected by the voters of the respective education districts instead of by voters of the entire school system; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. An Act providing for the election of the members of the Board of Education of Walker County, approved March 8, 1968 (Ga. L. 1968, p. 2235), as amended, is amended by revising subsection (a) of Section 1 as follows: "(a) For the purpose of electing members of the board of education, the Walker County School District shall be divided into five education districts. One member of the board, which shall consist of five members, shall be elected from each of the education districts, and each member shall be a resident of the district from which he or she is elected and shall be elected only by the qualified voters of such education district. Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 shall be and correspond to those five numbered districts described in Appendix A attached to and made a part of this Act and further identified as 'User: HD002 Plan Name: WalkerSB-2022 Plan Type: Local'." SECTION 2. Said Act is further amended by revising Section 5 as follows: "SECTION 5. Vacancies on the board which occur within the first two years of a term of office shall be filled by the remaining members of the board electing a successor, who shall be a resident of the election district from which the vacancy occurs, to serve until the next general education, at which time a successor shall be elected by the qualified voters of such education district to serve the unexpired term. Vacancies occurring during the last two years of a term of office shall be filled by the remaining members of the board electing a successor, who shall be a resident of the education district in which the vacancy occurred, to serve out the unexpired term of office. The Walker County Board of Education created by this Act shall be the successor to all the rights, powers, duties and obligations of the previous Walker County Board of Education and shall be subject to all constitutional and statutory provisions relating to county boards of education except as otherwise provided in this Act." SECTION 3. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. House Bill 1245 changes how Walker County's school board is elected, requiring each of the board's five members to be chosen only by voters living in that member's own education district rather than by voters countywide. ### Plain-language summary Walker County currently elects its five-member Board of Education under a 1968 law. This bill amends that law to change the voting method used to pick board members. Instead of every registered voter in the Walker County School District being able to vote on every board seat, each of the five education districts would elect only its own representative, and only voters who live in that specific district could vote in that race. The bill also updates the process for filling a vacancy on the board, requiring the remaining board members to choose a successor who lives in the district where the vacancy occurred, with that seat later going to a district-wide vote depending on how much of the term remains. The bill repeals any conflicting laws. ### What it does - Requires each of the five Walker County Board of Education members to be elected only by voters residing in that member's education district, not by all county voters. - Keeps the board at five members, one per education district, matching the district boundary map referenced as Appendix A. - Revises the vacancy-filling process so a replacement board member must live in the same education district where the vacancy occurred. - Sets rules for whether a vacancy is filled by board appointment alone or followed by a district election, depending on how many years remain in the term. - Repeals any prior laws that conflict with these new election rules. ### Who it affects Registered voters in Walker County's five education districts, candidates for the Walker County Board of Education, and the board itself, which must follow the new election and vacancy-filling procedures going forward. ### Why it matters Voters in each Walker County education district would only decide who represents their own district, rather than having a say in every seat on the board. This narrows each voter's ballot influence to local races but ties board representation more directly to specific neighborhoods within the county. ### Key provisions - Section 1 revises subsection (a) of the 1968 Act so that each board member is elected only by qualified voters of his or her own education district, not the whole school system. - Section 1 keeps the five education districts as defined in the referenced district map (Appendix A, 'WalkerSB-2022 Plan'). - Section 2 revises Section 5 of the original Act to require that a board member appointed to fill a vacancy be a resident of the district where the vacancy occurred. - Section 2 distinguishes vacancies occurring in the first two years of a term (filled temporarily, then decided by district voters) from those in the last two years (filled by board appointment through the end of the term). - Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Passed (2026-05-11) - Last action: Effective Date 2026-05-11 (2026-05-11) - Sponsors: Mike Cameron, Steve Tarvin, Clint Dixon - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73008 > The history, votes, and amendments (1,010 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1245.md?full=1