Court Opinion

ID: 9574211
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:03:21.495327+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:14.640403
License: Public Domain

Gunter, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the judgment rendered by the court, but at the same time I desire to register my conviction that the judicial system is not the appropriate forum for the resolution for this contractual controversy between two county boards of education.
A contractual controversy between two entities called boards of education, such as is presented here, affects not only those two entities, but it also affects the school population and the citizens and taxpayers of each of the two counties. In such a situation, I think that it is the duty and responsibility of the State Board of Education to resolve the conflict between and among the competing interests by insisting upon and requiring, if need be, the most equitable solution that it, the state board, can devise.
The General Assembly of Georgia has wisely conferred upon the state board the power to establish rules, regulations, policies, standards or requirements that are applicable to the local units. And for failure to comply with the same by any local unit, "the State Board may, in its discretion, withhold from such local unit all or any part of the State-contributed Minimum Foundation Program funds alloted to such local unit under the provisions of this Chapter until such time as full compliance is made by the local unit.” Code Ann. § 32-656.
This is the kind of contractual dispute that cannot be readily solved in the judicial system as can the normal breach of contract or specific performance action.
I think that the State Board of Education must assert its power and authority with each of these local units, *165resolve the matter as best it can, and then if either or both of the local units are aggrieved by the final decision by the State Board, they can seek judicial review of such decision in the courts. Code Ann. § 32-656.
I acknowledge that the State Board of Education must take the initiative by using its power and authority in the resolution of such disputes, and if it declines to do so, as it apparently has in this case, then the courts can merely do the very best that they can in applying the normal legal rules applicable to contracts to abnormal contracts involving two local units of education and the State Board of Education.
I merely write this concurring opinion to express my view that the public, the local boards, and the state board should not expect the judicial system to solve the problems in our public education system that are . judicially insoluble.