GA Code § 20-2-67 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 20 - Education|Chapter 2 - Elementary and Secondary Education|Article 3 - Local Boards of Education|§ 20-2-67. Local School System or School Subject to Corrective Action Plan for Budget Deficit; Financial Operations Form; Publication; Mailing to Department of Education and Local Governing Body

  When an audit by the Department of Audits and Accounts finds and reports irregularities or budget deficits in the fund accounting information regarding a local school system or a school within the local school system, the Department of Audits and Accounts shall report the findings of irregularities or budget deficits to the State Board of Education and the local board of education. The Department of Audits and Accounts shall designate local school systems that have had reported irregularities or budget deficits for three or more consecutive years as high-risk local school systems and shall designate local school systems that have had reported irregularities or budget deficits for one year or two consecutive years as moderate-risk local school systems.   The State Board of Education shall inform the superintendent of the local school system of the irregularities or budget deficits regarding a local school system's or a school's fund accounting information, including if a local school system has been designated as a high-risk local school system or moderate-risk local school system. The superintendent shall submit to the Department of Education a response to the findings and a corrective action plan approved by the local board of education at a board meeting within 120 days of receiving notice of designation as a high-risk local school system or moderate-risk local school system, as defined by rules and regulations adopted by the State Board of Education designed to correct the financial irregularities or budget deficits for the school or school system. From the time such irregularity or budget deficit is discovered until the time it is eliminated, the local school superintendent shall present to each member of the local board of education for his or her review and written acknowledgment a monthly report containing all anticipated expenditures by budget function for such school or school system during the current month. The report shall be presented to local board members on or before the tenth business day of each month. Each monthly report shall be signed by each member of that local board and recorded and retained in the minutes of the meeting of the local board of education.   Not later than September 30 of the year, each local board of education shall cause to be published in the official county organ wherein the local school system is located once a week for two weeks a statement of actual financial operations for such schools or school system identified by the Department of Audits and Accounts as having financial irregularities. Such statement of actual financial operations shall be in a form to be specified and prescribed by the state auditor for the purpose of indicating the current financial status of the schools or school system. Prior to publication, such form shall be executed by the local board of education and signed by each member of said board and the local school superintendent.   A copy of the actual financial operations form required to be published by subsection (c) of this Code section shall be mailed by each local board of education to the Department of Education and the local county board of commissioners or local municipal governing authority. A current copy of said form shall be maintained on file in the central administrative office of the local school system for public inspection for a period of at least two years from the date of its publication. Copies of the statement shall be made available on request.     (Code 1981, §20-2-67, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 821, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 618, § 7; Ga. L. 2020, p. 62, § 1-5/SB 68.)    The 2020 amendment,  effective July 1, 2021, added the last sentence in subsection (a); and in subsection (b), added ", including if a local school system has been designated as a high-risk local school system or moderate-risk local school system" at the end of the first sentence and inserted "approved by the local board of education at a board meeting within 120 days of receiving notice of designation as a high-risk local school system or moderate-risk local school system," in the second sentence.   Editor's notes.   - Ga. L. 2000, p. 618, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'A Plus Education Reform Act of 2000.'"