Schools

East Atlanta Lawmaker Heading DeKalb Redistricting

Public hearings on DeKalb commission and school board redistricting may begin within the next one to two weeks.


An East Atlanta lawmaker will play a major role in the effort to redraw DeKalb County commission and school board districts.

State Rep. Simone Bell, D-Atlanta, is chair of two House DeKalb caucus committees that will be determining the new boundaries. The redistricting is mandated by the federal government every 10 years when a new Census is completed and released.

Bell's District 58 includes several East Atlanta communities, including the and elementary school neighborhoods and the Piney Grove area.

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Bell said public hearings may begin as soon as the next one to two weeks.

“We’ll be working with representatives from both the county commission and the school board to determine the new lines, and then bring those maps back to the full delegation,” she said. “These committees will be doing the legwork.

Find out what's happening in East Atlantawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Our timetable is to have everything reported out of the legislature by Feb. 14,” she added.

Every decade, after the is completed, state governments, or an independent body, make changes to district lines at all levels of government.

This means, a citizen who lived in one county commission or school board district last year may live in another district after the boundaries have been redrawn and approved.

, D-Decatur, has introduced a bill to reduce the size of the DeKalb school board from nine to seven members.


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