--- title: SB 510. Board of Education of Cobb County; future elections for members of the board of education shall be nonpartisan; provide collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb510 cite_as: SB 510, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb510 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb510.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb510/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73233 date: 2026-03-04 status: introduced 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/sb509.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb511.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 424 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb510.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 510 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2026-02-12 last_action: Senate Read Second Time sponsors: - Ed Setzler - John Albers - Kay Kirkpatrick text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB510/2025 upstream_id: 2116227 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - Cobb County schools - school board elections - nonpartisan elections - election rules - local government --- # SB 510. Board of Education of Cobb County; future elections for members of the board of education shall be nonpartisan; provide ## Text Senate Bill 510 By: Senators Setzler of the 37th, Albers of the 56th and Kirkpatrick of the 32nd A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act providing for the election of members of the Board of Education of Cobb County, approved March 28, 1974 (Ga. L. 1974, p. 3516), as amended, so as to provide that future elections for members of the board of education shall be nonpartisan; 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 members of the Board of Education of Cobb County, approved March 28, 1974 (Ga. L. 1974, p. 3516), as amended, is amended in Section 2 by adding a new subsection to read as follows: "(c.1) All members who are elected to the board after January 1, 2028, shall be elected in accordance with Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the O.C.G.A., the 'Georgia Election Code.' All elections for members of the board conducted after January 1, 2028, shall be nonpartisan elections as provided for in Code Section 21-2-139 of the O.C.G.A. Nothing in this subsection shall affect the term of office of the members of the board in office on the effective date of this subsection, or those members elected prior to January 1, 2028, and such members shall serve out the terms of office for which such members were elected and shall be eligible to succeed themselves as provided for in this Act." SECTION 2. 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. A Georgia Senate bill would make future elections for the Cobb County Board of Education nonpartisan, meaning candidates would no longer run with a political party label starting with elections held after January 1, 2028. ### Plain-language summary Members of the Cobb County Board of Education are currently elected in partisan elections, where candidates run under a political party. This bill would change that by amending the 1974 local act that governs how the board is elected. Starting with board elections held after January 1, 2028, candidates would run without party labels, following the nonpartisan election rules set out in Georgia's election code (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-139). The bill specifically protects current board members and anyone elected before January 1, 2028: their terms would not be cut short, and they could still run for re-election under the existing rules. The bill also repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision. ### What it does - Adds a new subsection to the 1974 act governing Cobb County school board elections requiring those elections to become nonpartisan. - Applies the nonpartisan election requirement only to board elections held after January 1, 2028. - Ties the nonpartisan process to the procedure in Georgia's election code (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-139) for nonpartisan elections. - Preserves the current terms of sitting board members and members elected before January 1, 2028, letting them serve out their terms and run again. - Repeals any existing laws that conflict with this change. ### Who it affects Cobb County residents who vote in school board elections, current and future candidates for the Cobb County Board of Education, and the current members of the board whose existing terms and eligibility to run again are explicitly protected by the bill. ### Why it matters Voters in Cobb County would choose school board members without seeing a party label on the ballot starting in 2028, changing how candidates campaign and how voters identify them. Current board members would not lose their seats or be barred from running again under the new system. ### Key provisions - Section 1 adds subsection (c.1) to Section 2 of the 1974 Cobb County school board election act. - The new subsection requires elections held after January 1, 2028 to follow Georgia's general election code (O.C.G.A. Title 21, Chapter 2) and be nonpartisan under O.C.G.A. § 21-2-139. - The subsection explicitly protects members currently in office or elected before January 1, 2028, letting them finish their terms and remain eligible for re-election. - Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision common to Georgia local acts. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2026-02-12) - Last action: Senate Read Second Time (2026-03-04) - Sponsors: Ed Setzler, John Albers, Kay Kirkpatrick - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73233 > The history, votes, and amendments (424 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb510.md?full=1