Federal judge rules school board districts illegal in Georgia school system, calls for new map

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that school board districts in Georgia’s second-largest school system appear to be unconstitutionally discriminatory and must be quickly redrawn ahead of 2024’s elections.

U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross on Thursday forbade the Cobb County school district from using a map supported by the current board’s four Republican members, finding in an preliminary injunction that the map is “substantially likely to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”

A lawyer for the board has said it will appeal.

Ross ordered state lawmakers to draw a new map by Jan. 10, which will be unlikely unless Gov. Brian Kemp orders a special session. Lawmakers don’t convene until Jan. 8 and normal legislative rules don’t allow a bill to pass in three days.

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That means Ross could end up ordering a new map, or could accept a map proposed by the plaintiffs, a group of Cobb County residents and liberal-leaning political groups. Four board seats are up for election in 2024.

Any new map could upset the 4-3 Republican majority on the board. The 106,000-student district has been riven by political conflict in recent years, with the GOP majority often imposing its will over the protests of the three Democratic members.

“The court’s decision is a resounding victory for voting rights,” said Poy Winchakul, senior staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represented the plaintiffs. “Fair maps are essential to the democracy process and ensure Cobb County voters of color have an equal voice in schools.”

The lawsuit alleges that Republicans illegally crammed Black and Hispanic voters into three districts in the southern part of the suburban Atlanta county, solidifying Republicans’ hold on the remaining four districts.

Ross agreed, finding the people who drew the map relied too much on race in drawing the districts.

The lawsuit is unusual because the school district was dismissed earlier as a defendant, leaving only the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration. That body, like the county commission, is controlled by Democrats and not Republicans, and decided to settle the lawsuit. The decision to settle, which set the stage for Ross’ order, prompted the school board in October to accuse the elections board of colluding with “leftist political activists,” giving them “considerable and inappropriate influence to interfere with the lawfully established” districts.

The school board has spent more than $1 million defending the lawsuit, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found.

Ben Mathis, a lawyer for the district, told the Marietta Daily Journal that he believes the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will be more favorable to the current map and will consider the district’s claims that the map is not illegal.