---
title: O.C.G.A. § 20-3-131. Definitions.
collection: code
id: 20-3-131
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 20-3-131 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/20-3-131
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/20-3-131.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/20-3-131/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t20-ch3-18-(v17a)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=10d12596_0#page=107
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: EDUCATION / POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION / JUNIOR COLLEGES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 20-3-131. Definitions.

As used in this article, the term:

(1) “Junior college” means a community educational institution constructed and operated by a local operating authority which shall offer a course of study extending beyond the high school level providing either preparation for further college or completion of education, or both, provided that an institution which otherwise would fall under this definition shall not be excluded solely because it offers courses below a college level if such courses are strictly remedial in nature.

(2) “Local operating authority” means any city, county, local school system, or other political subdivision of the state created for college purposes and possessing the power to tax, which shall possess requisite powers under the Constitution and laws of this state to establish a college, or any combination of two or more of the political subdivisions enumerated in this paragraph which may be authorized under law to utilize the provisions of this article.

## History

Ga. L. 1958, p. 47, § 2; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 53; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 20; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 20; Ga. L. 1986, p. 10, § 20; Ga. L. 2025, p. 1029, § 20(19)/SB 153, effective July 1, 2025.

## Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted “local school system,” for “county school system, independent school system,” in paragraph (2).