Opinion ID: 2509859
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: 1966 to 1976: Area Schools, Including Special Schools Such as Vocational Trade Schools, Schools for Exceptional Children, and Schools for Adult Education Created by the General Assembly with Local Voter Approval

Text: In 1966, Article VIII, Section IX of the 1945 Constitution was replaced by amendment. See Ga. L.1966, pp. 1026, 1026-1027, § 1 (proposing this constitutional amendment); Ga. L.1967, p. 1127 (noting its ratification). The 1966 Amendment authorized the General Assembly to consolidate multiple county or independent school systems into an area school district, pursuant to special or local law and with the approval of the voters in the school systems affected. See Art. VIII, Sec. IX, Par. I. The 1966 Amendment also replaced the 1960 Amendment to Article VII, Section VI, Paragraph I with a new provision regarding the creation of individual area schools, which contained the first constitutional use of the term special schools. The board of education of any county, area school district or independent school system, or any combination thereof, may establish, pursuant to local law enacted by the General Assembly, one or more area schools, including special schools such as vocational trade schools, schools for exceptional children, and schools for adult education, in one or more such political subdivisions; provided, however, that the establishment and operation of such schools pursuant to such local law, and any subsequent amendments thereof, shall be first approved by a majority of the voters thereon in each of the school districts or systems affected thereby in separate referendums. . . . The government, powers and duties of boards of education participating in the establishment or operation of such schools and respecting such schools shall be defined in the local law authorizing the same, and such participating political subdivisions shall be authorized to incur bonded indebtedness and to require the levy of school tax funds required for the establishment and operation of such schools in such amount and manner as shall be provided in such local law . . . . Special schools, including vocational trade schools, established prior to the adoption of this amendment under former Subparagraph (d) of Article VII, Section VI, Paragraph I of the Constitution shall not be affected by this amendment.. . . See Ga. L.1966, pp. 1029-1030, § 3 (emphasis added). The text of the 1966 Amendment makes several points clear about special schools at that time. Special schools were a type of area school and includedat a minimum vocational trade schools, schools for exceptional children, and schools for adult education. A special school could span more than one political subdivision and thus be beyond the jurisdiction of a single local school board. Indeed, the General Assembly, by local law, would determine the powers of the local boards involved in establishing and operating a special school. But the General Assembly could not create such a school on its own; the voters in the local districts affected would have to approve the school, after which local school tax funds and bond debt could be used in support of the special school. The 1976 Constitution generally carried forward the public school scheme of the 1945 Constitution, as amended in 1960 and 1966, including incorporating the 1966 area schools language virtually verbatim as Article VIII, Section IX, Paragraph I.