Delegation Thanks Blue Ribbon Committee for Redistricting Help

The 2012 legislative session culminated in dozens of important legislative measures making in through the process to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk for his consideration. Unlike most years, the Governor also received hundreds of redistricting maps, which redraw political boundaries for every County Board of Commissioners and County School Boards. Among the new legislative maps are those for Cherokee County, which the Governor has now signed into law.

The County Commission and School Board maps signed by Gov. Deal directly reflect the report submitted to the Cherokee Legislative Delegation from the citizen-led “Blue Ribbon” redistricting committee.

The “Blue Ribbon” committee elected by those citizens residing in the district, and a county-wide elected Chairperson. The committee also recommended six School Board districts, with each member elected by the residents of the district, and a county-wide elected Chairperson.

Very late in the process of enacting the School Board map, Board representative , to elect a county-wide Chairperson, would potentially threaten school system accreditation. The letter claimed that if enacted, Cherokee County would have .

The delegation took the claims of Mr. Chapman seriously and drew a contingency plan that removed the county-wide elected Chairperson. At the same time, a process began to review these claims and determine their legitimacy.

Research of the facts show that some 29 school districts in Georgia have a county-wide elected Chairperson, hardly a number to be considered “highly irregular”. Among these districts are systems large and small and a number that have been highly successful.

The delegation also met with Dr. Mark Elgart, . During an extensive question and answer session it was determined that systems with a county-wide elected Chairperson have statistically fewer issues with accreditation, not more, as the letter from Mr. Chapman had threatened. Dr. Elgart also directly stated that in and of itself a School Board with a county-wide elected Chairperson has “no impact on accreditation”.

Therefore, if the delegation sought to take action to prevent accreditation issues, the historical data shows that implementing the governance model submitted by the “Blue Ribbon” committee would in fact be the more responsible action.

The delegation would like to close this redistricting issue by thanking again the members of the citizen-led “Blue Ribbon” committee. The recommendations made by this group turned out to be the best for Cherokee County.

The maps and governance model produced by their proposal protect the time-honored tradition of “one man, one vote”, while allowing the entire County citizenry to participate in the election of a Commission and School Board Chairperson.