By Ashley Speagle
Correspondent
ATLANTA - The Georgia House passed legislation Monday that creates stricter statewide policies for local school boards, including one that gives the governor the power to remove local board members.
Legislators say the moves will encourage state economic development.
"When you get a reputation that you're having schools lose accreditation ... that doesn't encourage businesses to come here," said Rep. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, vice chairwoman of House Education Committee.
Senate Bill 84 clarifies the role and mission for local school board members, lays out a conflict-of-interest policy, requires a code of ethics for members and allows the governor to remove board members.
PDF: Senate Bill 84
Walker County Board of Education Vice Chairwoman Phyllis Hunter said the state government shouldn't have the power to remove elected officials.
"It's scary to think that a government official can just come in and overrule what people have voted on," she said. "Even as a voter, that really scares me. It tells me that my vote doesn't count, that my opinion doesn't matter."
Gov. Sonny Perdue backed the bill last session after some school systems faced a loss in accreditation.
"Only two school systems lost accreditation in 40 years, and they came from the state of Georgia," said Rep. Jim Cole, R-Forsyth, the bill's sponsor and floor leader in the House.
The bill now will go back to the Senate to approve the changes made by the House. Among those changes is a provision in which the governor can remove locally elected school board members only after the state Board of Education recommends it.
But even that doesn't sit well with some local school board members.
Gov. Perdue is "acting irresponsibly, and those are irresponsible recommendations," Whitfield County Board of Education Chairman Tim Trew said. "I'm all for accountability. For the governor to be able to remove an elected official, that's just overstepping his boundaries."
Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, said he supports the bill, which underwent about 18 hours of debate in committees during 2009 and 2010.
"The steps that are set up in this bill deal with systems that are in trouble, and we've provided a mechanism to deal with that that has adequate safeguards," Rep. Dickson said.
Rep. Cole said when an accrediting agency puts a school system on a list for potential accreditation loss, it triggers the state board to oversee the local school board.
"We've had this happen in rural, we've had it happen in urban schools," Rep. Millar said. "We've got five to six school systems on the bubble as we speak."
The Georgia School Boards Association has "worked on (the bill) with the governor's staff and legislators and (is) pleased with many of the amendments," said Angela Palm, director of policy with the association, but it cannot support the one that gives the governor the authority to remove local board members.
The association's recall process for elected members already handles board mismanagement, she said, and before giving more authority to the governor, the association's process should be revised first.
Rep. Millar said he also does not approve all provisions in the bill, but he said it ultimately helps economic development in Georgia.
"At the end of the day, we also don't want the reputation of being the only state with these problems," he said.
Staff writer Ben Benton contributed to this story.