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MINUTES LOCAL EDUCATION COMMISSION December 21, 1965 The Local Education Study Corrnnission met in the 3oard Room of the Fulton County Administration Building at 2:00 P.M. on Tuesday, December 21, 1965, with the following in attendance: Mr. Kenneth Stringer Dr. James L. Miller Dr. John Letson Mr. Tom },filler Mrs. Alan Ritter Dr. Rufus Clement Mr. Earl Landers Dr. Paul \'lest Mr. P. L. Bardin Mr. Alan Kiepper, {Proxy) Hr. Bardin called the meeting to order and asked for approval of the minutes of the August 23, 1965, meeting. The minutes were unanimously approved. He then gave a brief review of the work of the Commission since the last regular meeting and pointed out that a meeting was held with members of the Atlanta and Fulton County Boards of Education on September 21, 1965, and with the Representatives and Senators from Fulton and DeKalb Counties on September 27, 1965. The Legislative Delegation later developed a resolution outlining additional information which should be included in the report of the Corrnnission. Dr. Pierce then presented the addition to the report. Comments and suggestions offered during the presentation included the following: Assessed evaluation of property in Atlanta is approximately 70% of the 1956 reappraisal which in reality is about 30% of the current market value for the city and 20% for the county. Judge Wood's decision does not include independent school districts. Homestead exemptions will not be affected. The cost for putting Fulton County teachers on the same salary schedule as the Atlanta teachers should be included in the report. "New board members will be elected as vacancies occur" should be changed to "new board members will be elected as terms expire". The report should show that Fulton County's bonding capacity is 10% of the digest and Atlanta's bondi ng capacity is 4% of the digest. �Since board members in Atlanta have been elec t ed for four-year terms beginning January 1, 1966, would any legal difficulty be encountered by calling for a new election of board members in 1968? If so, could this be resolved by having current members of both boards compose the new board until terms expire and then elect only seven new members t o the new board? Wealth behind each child in Fulton County and Atlanta may change if portions of the county are annexed into the city. It should be stated that support to schools as stated in the report is predicated upon no changes in present tax structure. The report should include a s t atement ef ~how .the seven .district--s from which the board members will be elected are to be determined and how they will be readjusted as population changes . Since we now have seven senatorial districts it might be desirable to use them as the starting basis for the seven districts from which school board members will be elected. These districts will be amended as necessary so that areas within the city but which lie in DeKalb County will be included and so that other portions· of DeKalb County will be excluded. Fiscal independence for the school board should refer only to the property tax and not include the ability to set sales tax rate and other similar truces. The combined budget f or both school systems should be pr ojected. The Commi ssion accepted the repor t as presented with t he sugges ted change s present ed above . The lawyer s were i nstructed to draw up t he necessary pr oposed constituti onal amenclment for combining t he two sys tems . A copy of the amendment is t o be sent t o each member of the Conuni ssion for study before the next meeting of the Connnission. Copies s ent t o Commis sion Member s are t o be clearly marked Rough Draf t and Confidential. The Commission will meet again t o revi ew the proposed cons titutional amendment a s s oon a s poss i ble . The meeting was ad j ourned at 3:55 P,M. �