The bill comes in response to the firing of Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks last year. | Adobe Stock
The bill comes in response to the firing of Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks last year. | Adobe Stock
Georgia State Senate members approved changes to Gwinnett County Board of Education elections on Feb. 2, changing them from partisan to nonpartisan.
The bill comes in response to the firing of longtime Gwinnett County Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks last year, an issue that has become a top priority for Republican state Sen. Clint Dixon, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
"The bottom line is partisanship should have no place on our school board and in our schools," Dixon, the bill's primary sponsor, told Fox 5 Atlanta.
Many Democrats argue that the bill was only put into play because the school board recently became a Democrat majority after being majority-GOP for years. Democrats introduced amendments designed to change school board elections to nonpartisan throughout Georgia and to make a referendum for Gwinnett County residents to vote on, but both failed, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
"Let the people — the local people — the people of Gwinnett County make their own decision," Democrat state Sen. Sally Harrell told Fox 5 Atlanta.
As of early February, the bill advanced as is and must now go to the House for its approval, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Should the bill receive Gov. Brian Kemp's signature before March, the ruling will take effect during this year's school board race. Otherwise, school board elections in Gwinnett County will remain partisan until 2024.
"We've got major issues like I said with the firing of Alvin Wilbanks and then also with the curriculum that some of the board members are trying to implement in our school system," Dixon said. "We've got to put an end to it and this is not an end-all-be-all, but it's a step in the right direction."
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