--- title: Ga. Const. Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II. Boards of education. collection: code id: ga-const:art-viii-sec-v-para-ii cite_as: Ga. Const. Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-viii-sec-v-para-ii md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-viii-sec-v-para-ii.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-viii-sec-v-para-ii/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/2ga-const-(v2)-2016-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=f5de823e_0#page=1274 date: 2016 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. up: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/index.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-viii-sec-v-para-i.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-viii-sec-v-para-iii.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md omitted: notes omitted_chars: 32954 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-viii-sec-v-para-ii.md?notes=all&start=11805 version: the only printed version in_force: true current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly heading_path: CONSTITUTION OF THE / EDUCATION / LOCAL SCHOOL SYSTEMS --- # Ga. Const. Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II. Boards of education. A constitution provision shown as in force is in force as printed in the volume. A court decision can make a printed provision unenforceable without changing the volume, and the volume does not record that. Each school system shall be under the management and control of a board of education, the members of which shall be elected as provided by law. School board members shall reside within the territory embraced by the school system and shall have such compensation and additional qualifications as may be provided by law. Any board of education to which the members are appointed as of December 31, 1992, shall continue as an appointed board of education through December 31, 1993, and the appointed members of such board of education who are in office on December 31, 1992, shall continue in office as members of such appointed board until December 31, 1993, on which date the terms of office of all appointed members shall end. (Ga. Const. 1983, Art. 8, § 5, Para. 2; Ga. L. 1991, p. 2032, § 1/HR 288.) ## Editor's Notes The constitutional amendment (Ga. L. 1991, p. 2032, § 1) which revised Paragraph II to provide that members of any board of education to which members are appointed as of December 31, 1992, shall continue as an appointed board through December 31, 1993, and that the appointed members of such board in office on December 31, 1992, shall continue in office until December 31, 1993, at which time the terms of office of all appointed members shall end was approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting at the general election held on November 3, 1992. ## 1976 Constitution. Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II. ## School Systems. This paragraph does not give county school districts constitutional status superior to existing independent school systems. Upson County Sch. Dist. v. City of Thomaston, 248 Ga. 98, 281 S.E.2d 537 (1981) (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II). Section 20-2-52 superseded by this paragraph before amendment of ## 1965. The provision of former Code 1933, § 32-903 (see now O.C.G.A. § 20-2-52) which declared that the grand jury in selecting the members of the county board of education could not select any two of them from the same militia district or locality was unquestionably superseded by this paragraph. Under the plain and unambiguous provisions of the amendment, the people could elect one, any, or all of the members of the county board of education from any portion of the county which was not embraced within the territory of an independent school district. Garmon v. Crawford, 211 Ga. 682, 87 S.E.2d 844 (1955) (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II). ## Construction of Paragraph. The provision in this paragraph providing that authority was granted to counties to establish and maintain public schools within their limits, and that each county, exclusive of any independent school system now in existence in a county would be confined to the control and management of a county board of education amounted to complete constitutional vesting of authority to manage and control county schools in the county board of education. Bedingfield v. Parkerson, 212 Ga. 654, 94 S.E.2d 714 (1956) (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II). Effect of Ga. Const., 1945 on school ## Laws. The Ga. Const., 1945 (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. III) did not purport to disturb the state’s comprehensive code of statutory school laws other than to make the offices of county school superintendent and county boards of education constitutional offices rather than statutory offices. A member of the board of education, whose term had not expired at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, was entitled to hold office until the member’s successor was elected and qualified. Powell v. Price, 201 Ga. 833, 41 S.E.2d 539 (1947). This paragraph and Art. 3, Ch. 2, T. ## 20 Not Conflicting. This paragraph created a constitutional board of education for each county and also made provision for the number, method of appointment, and terms of the members of such board; but since it made no provision as to the qualification of such members, there was therefore, no conflict between the statutory requirements already in existence when the Constitution was adopted, and former Code 1933, § 32-901 et seq., (see now O.C.G.A. Art. 3, Ch. 2, T. 20), insofar as they pertain to qualifications of board members and provisions of this Constitution. Estes v. Jones, 203 Ga. 686, 48 S.E.2d 99 (1948). Constitutional provisions evidence no intent for repeal of statutory requirements on qualifications of board ## Members. Construing this paragraph and former Ga. Const. 1976, Art. XI, Sec. I, Para. III (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. IX, Sec. I, Para. II) together, there is no evident intent that the statutory requirements as to qualifications of members of county boards of education be repealed by the Constitution. McCollum v. Bass, 201 Ga. 537, 40 S.E.2d 650 (1946) (decided under Ga. Const. 1945, Art. XI, Sec. I, Para. III; see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II). Court intervened in school affairs ## Improperly. The trial court ordered the school board to repair the schools slated for closure, construct any new buildings needed at those sites, and apply for and take all appropriate measures to receive and utilize state outlay capital funds to so renovate, modernize, and replace the schools; in entering such an order, the trial court made decisions involving the management and control of the county schools, matters that the Georgia Constitution has delegated to the local board of education, not the courts. In the absence of evidence that the board of education’s decisions violated law or were such a gross abuse of discretion as to be a violation of law, the trial court erred when it intervened in the affairs of the school system by ordering the local board to take General Consideration (Cont’d) specified action. Powell v. Studstill, 264 Ga. 109, 441 S.E.2d 52 (1994). Trial court’s order requiring a student’s reinstatement as a student and a member of a university’s varsity football team was reversed due to a lack of a justiciable controversy as: (1) Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II clearly manifested an intent to entrust the schools to supervising authorities rather than the courts; (2) the student admitted that the suspension arose from a telephone call the student made to facilitate a drug sale and it was not clearly erroneous or arbitrary and capricious for lack of evidence; (3) the student suffered no deprivation of constitutional or statutory rights as there was no right to participate in extracurricular sports; and (4) the suspension did not prejudice the student’s substantial rights as the suspension was tailored to permit the student’s eventual re-enrollment to complete the student’s degree requirements, did not render the student ineligible for a scholarship, and was not a deprivation of major proportion warranting judicial intervention. Bd. of Regents of the Univ. Sys. of Ga. v. Houston, 282 Ga. App. 412, 638 S.E.2d 750 (2006). Persons eligible for board election ## By Grand Jury. As electors and in exercise of their constitutional power as such, the members of a grand jury could elect any person, except one who was a member of the electing grand jury, who possessed the qualifications prescribed by former Code 1933, § 32-903 (see now O.C.G.A. § 20-2-52). Hobbs v. Peavy, 210 Ga. 671, 82 S.E.2d 224 (1954). Annexation by municipality also ## Extends City School System Limits. Absent an expression of legislative intent clearly to the contrary or a valid agreement between the school systems involved, annexation of territory into the corporate limits of a municipality operating an independent school system also extends the limits of the city school system, so that the limits of the city school district remain coterminous with the city’s corporate limits. Upson County Sch. Dist. v. City of Thomaston, 248 Ga. 98, 281 S.E.2d 537 (1981). Cited in Boatright v. Copeland, 336 Ga. App. 107, No. A15A2043, 2016 Ga. App. LEXIS 134 (2016). County-wide School Districts County-wide school districts as successors to local school districts ## Can Incur Bonded Indebtedness Independently of County Indebtedness. Upon the merger by the General Assembly of local school districts, in harmony with the provisions of Ga. Const. 1976, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. I (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. I), into county-wide school districts, the new county-wide district would likewise constitute a separate political entity and could do as a unit that which its previous component parts could have done separately, and could therefore incur a bonded indebtedness independent of any indebtedness for general authorized county purposes. Pinion v. Walker County Sch. Dist., 203 Ga. 99, 45 S.E.2d 405 (1947). trict is a separate political division of this state such as is authorized to incur a bonded indebtedness up to seven percent of the assessed valuation of its taxable property, independent of and in addition to any outstanding bonded indebtedness incurred by any of its component former local school districts prior to their merger into a county-wide school district. Pinion v. Walker County Sch. Dist., 203 Ga. 99, 45 S.E.2d 405 (1947). Contract for continuance of school ## A Consolidated County School Discannot Arise by Implication. In the absence of any constitutional or statutory provision authorizing contracts for the continuance of a school, as opposed to consolidation with another school, for an indefinite period of time, a contract for continuance may not arise by implication because citizens and patrons of the school have been generous and have donated good facilities for the use and benefit of the children of the school district. Crawford v. Irwin, 211 Ga. 241, 85 S.E.2d 8 (1954). County Education Boards 1. Control and Management Authority Each county of the state is made a school district, and management and control of the schools of the county is confided in the county board of education. Pass v. Pickens, 204 Ga. 629, 51 S.E.2d 405 (1949); Burton v. Kearse, 204 Ga. 765, 51 S.E.2d 796 (1949). Control and management of public schools must be left largely to discretion of the county board of education; and when this discretion is exercised within the limits of their jurisdiction, there is no ground for complaint. Pearce v. Wisdom, 175 Ga. 663, 165 S.E. 574 (1932). Paragraph does not take away ## Power. This paragraph did not operate to take away from the county school district powers as were exercised by the former local school districts such as those powers enumerated in former Code 1933, §§ 32-113, 32-115, and 32-1104 (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 20-2-437 and 20-3-51). Nelms v. Stephens County Sch. Dist., 201 Ga. 274, 39 S.E.2d 651 (1946) (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II). Effect of merger of the local school trict is to transfer the basis for the authorized debt from a percentage of the assessed valuation of the taxable property located within the separate local school districts to a percentage of the assessed valuation of the taxable property within the consolidated county school district as a whole. No larger debt is rendered possible by the merger of the local school districts into one county school district. Nelms v. Stephens County Sch. Dist., 201 Ga. 274, 39 S.E.2d 651 (1946). tion and school authorities regarding the reassignment of high schools in a county to another region for purposes of interscholastic athletic competition did not present a justiciable controversy. Parents Against Realignment v. Georgia High School Association, 271 Ga. 114, 515 S.E.2d 528 (1999). Right to determine what is best for school pupils is vested in the board of education. Deriso v. Cooper, 246 Ga. 540, 272 S.E.2d 274 (1980). Courts should not determine what ## Districts Into One County School dis-Action Involving Parents Organizais Best for Pupils. Authority to manage and control county schools is vested by this paragraph in the county board of education, and any challenge of acts of county board relating to control and operation of schools must be weighed in the light of this sweeping power, which clearly manifests an intent to entrust the schools to the boards of education rather than the courts. Deriso v. Cooper, 246 Ga. 540, 272 S.E.2d 274 (1980) (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. II). Exclusive control by county board ## Of Education. By the Constitution, the control and management of the public schools, other than independent school systems existing in 1945, is placed under the exclusive control and management of the county boards of education. Colston v. Hutchinson, 208 Ga. 559, 67 S.E.2d 763 (1951). > The printed notes continue for 32,954 more characters, not shown here. Continue at https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-viii-sec-v-para-ii.md?notes=all&start=11805