BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY
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BOARD POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

BBA 5/9/07

A. ORGANIZATIONAL DIRECTION:
    The job of the Cobb County Board of Education (Board) is to represent the citizens and
    taxpayers of Cobb County in determining and demanding appropriate organizational
    performance.
    1. The Board will produce the link between the organization and the citizens of Cobb
        County, utilizing appropriate strategies to ensure input from students, staff, parents,
        and the community as a means to link the entire community.
    2. The Board will produce written governing policies that, at the broadest levels, address
        each category of organizational decision. Boards that govern by policy need not deal
        with a lot of never ending details and low-level issues. They can make fewer, broader
        decisions.
        a. Ends: Organizational products, effects, benefits, outcomes, recipients, and their
            relative worth (what good for the recipient at what cost).
        b. Superintendent Directives: Expressions of
            executive authority that establish the prudence and ethics boundaries within which
            all executive activity and decisions must take place.
        c. Governance Process: Specification of how the Board conceives, carries out, and
            monitors its own task.
        d. Board-Superintendent Linkage: How power is delegated and its proper use
            monitored; the CEO role, authority, and accountability.
    3. Ensuring CEO performance through monitoring Ends and Superintendent Directives
        policies.
    4. Ensuring Board performance through monitoring Governance Process and Board-Staff
        Relationship policies.
    5. Ensuring that the Ends are the focus of organizational policies.

        Adopted: 8/23/01

B. RESPONSIBILITIES:
    Cobb County Board of Education (Board) members shall be responsible for the operation
    of the Cobb County School District and are to provide for the education of all the children
    of Cobb County entitled to a free public education. The Board shall be specifically
    concerned with the following:
    1. Annual school year calendar;
    2. Attendance Zones. When establishing or revising school attendance zones, the Board
        shall follow Georgia (including but not limited to HB 1068) and Federal law;
    3. Board Attorney;
    4. Buildings and Building Sites;
    5. Consultants, Appointments of (Architects, Planners, Attorneys, etc.);
    6. Contracts - All contracts for services in the amount of $200,000 or more shall be
        approved by the Board. Further:
        a. Contracts requiring Board approval by Policy, law, Rule or regulation shall be
            reviewed by the attorney and submitted for Board approval as part of the agenda
            at a regular or called Board meeting.
        b. Contracts other than those of standard form which do not require Board approval
            shall also be reviewed by the attorney and Superintendent and, if warranted,
            submitted to the Board for review.
        c. A copy of each standard contract form used by the District shall be filed in the
            office of the attorney and shall be reviewed annually by the attorney and the
            Superintendent or designee.
        d. After contracts requiring Board approval have been approved, they shall be signed
            by the Chair of the Board unless the Board authorizes the Executive Secretary to
            sign in place of the Board Chair. The Executive Secretary shall also sign the
            contracts as such or as Superintendent of schools.
         e. Notes - All notes of indebtedness of the Board shall be signed by the Chair and
             the Executive Secretary.
    7. Finance, including but not limited to the Annual Budget;
    8. General Policy;
    9. Major program changes;
    10. Naming of District Facilities;
    11. Naming areas within an educational facility on behalf of donors of $250,000 or
         more;
    12. Personnel; and
    13. Tax Levy.

        Approved: 9/10/69
        Revised: 1/26/84; 8/8/84; 6/25/92; 4/20/01;11/29/01

C. SUBPOENAS:
The Chair or the Vice-Chair of the Board shall issue subpoenas requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of objects or documents at hearings. Requests for subpoenas shall be in writing and filed with the Superintendent’s Office at least three working days before the hearing. Such requests shall be served upon all parties and shall identify the witnesses whose testimony is sought or the documents or objects sought to be produced.

Adopted: 3/9/05
Revised: 4/28/05; 11/9/05; 1/26/06; 3/8/06; 6/22/06
Confirmed: 5/9/07