The Southern Poverty Law Center and its partners filed a lawsuit last week challenging the Cobb County, Georgia, school board’s map, arguing that the new boundaries intentionally discriminate against communities of color, particularly Black and Latino voters, by they “pack” small numbers of districts to reduce their voting power.
The lawsuit describes how the Georgia school board and lawmakers used racial demographic information to group voters of color into just three districts and whitewash the four remaining districts. Using racial and demographic information to weaken the voting rights of Black and Latino communities violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“By unconstitutionally using racial data to push voters of color into just three districts, the school board and state legislature are denying Cobb communities of color a fair say in how their schools are run and their children’s education,” said Poy Winichakul, Senior Voting Rights Attorney at the SPLC. “We need to replace these cards so communities can ensure their children receive the investment and quality education they deserve.”
With just over 766,000 residents, Cobb County is the third largest county in Georgia and one of the most rapidly diversifying counties in the state. Between 2010 and 2020, Cobb transitioned from a majority white county (56%) to one where people of color make up 52% of the population, with the white population declining at nearly twice the rate of the white population decline statewide. With demographic change comes a significant increase in the political power of voters of color.
“Cobb County has become rapidly more diverse over the last decade,” said Rahul Garabadu, voting rights attorney with the ACLU of Georgia. “But instead of celebrating that diversity, the Cobb County School Board has weaponized race to draw a map that intentionally diminishes the voices of Black and Latino voters. Our clients are taking Cobb County to court to fight for maps that represent the interests of all children.”
While Cobb County includes the city of Marietta, the city of Marietta schools are separate from Cobb County schools and are not included in the litigation.
The failure to provide full representation to communities of color in Cobb County has already had a detrimental impact on students. In response to the county’s increasing diversification, white, conservative state and county leaders have enacted policies that harm children of color and attempt to stifle the growing political power of voters of color.
“To be clear, the Cobb County School Board has clearly chosen to consolidate the power of white incumbents at the expense of rapidly growing communities of color,” said Chris Shenton, voting rights officer at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. “Black and Latino parents brought this suit to demand a seat at the table and a say in their children’s future.”
Notably, the school board’s four-member white majority recently enacted policies that silence Black board members and their constituents. These include a post-2020 election rule that makes it impossible for Black board members to add items to meeting agendas; the dissolution of a committee to rename Wheeler High School, currently named after a Confederate general; Refusal to consider school COVID mitigation strategies proposed by Black school board members and their constituents; Refusing to change policies that disproportionately suspend, expel and criminalize children of color; and passing resolutions banning inclusive education, “Project 1619,” and other similar materials in schools. Schools in Cobb County were also at risk of losing their accreditation due, among other things, to findings that white school board members mistreated black school board members.
“For far too long, Cobb County’s white majority board members have ignored the experiences and voices of Black parents, students and community members and denied Black students like my son adequate public education and opportunities to grow and thrive,” said Karen Finn , mother of a student , who attends schools in Cobb County. “We need a school board that truly represents Cobb County, acts in the best interests of Cobb County students and fairly represents communities of color.”
In Georgia, county-level redistricting maps must be approved by the state General Assembly through the legislative process. For these school board maps, the Legislature bypassed local legislative requirements that would have required prior negotiation and approval by the legislative members representing Cobb and instead passed the proposed school board map through the general legislative process. This allowed them to introduce the bills before committees with white, conservative majorities and in both chambers controlled by the conservative majority.
The New Georgia Project Action Fund, the League of Women Voters of Marietta-Cobb, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (“GALEO”), and individual Cobb County parents, students and activists filed the lawsuit submitted. The SPLC, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, ACLU of Georgia, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLP are representing them in the effort.
Photo above: Voters wait in line for up to two hours to vote early at the Cobb County West Park Government Center in Marietta, Georgia on October 18, 2018. (Image credit: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
