Democrats win control of GOP-led Cobb school board

The latest: Garza, whose children attend Cobb County schools, defeated incumbent David Chastain with 55% of the vote. He told Axios he approached his campaign with the message that "this is bigger than just one race and bigger than just one person."

• He said people have long wanted change for various reasons, ranging from reports of students experiencing racism and antisemitism in the classroom to parents' frustration that their children with disabilities were not getting the services they needed.
• "To know that those people now see hope that we're going to address those issues and have those honest conversations about really what matters to their families and what matters in our classrooms just means everything to me," he said.

What they're saying: Heather Tolley-Bauer is a co-founder of grassroots organization Watching the Funds – Cobb, which for the last five years has been documenting and criticizing spending choices approved by the board.

• Tolley-Bauer told Axios she hopes the Democratic-led board will initiate a forensic audit of Cobb County School District spending, paying particular attention to the contracts approved with Servius and Vapor Wake.

Flashback: Partisan tensions on the Cobb County School Board began in 2019 when two Democrats, Charisse Davis and Jaha Howard, took office after ousting longtime Republican incumbents.

• In 2019, the GOP majority voted to scrap a portion of the meeting where they could talk freely about anything, due to concerns that some of the topics were "political."
• They also implemented a rule that required every board member to have at least three of their colleagues support an initiative before it could be placed on the agenda.
• This effectively undermined the Democratic members because they needed two of their colleagues and at least one GOP member to agree.

Friction point: The board's slim GOP majority also faced criticism for how it interacted with the public.

• In 2021, the GOP-led board limited how many people could speak during public comment and how long they could speak.
• In 2022, the board started requiring people to sign up in person if they wanted to speak. In 2023, it mandated that speakers line up outdoors — rather than inside the lobby — if they wanted to speak.
• Last year, the GOP members approved a controversial policy that ended broadcasting the public comment portion of their meetings.

The intrigue: Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, the longest-serving superintendent in metro Atlanta, has faced mounting pushback about public comments he's made about parents and stakeholders who've been critical of district operations.

• Jeff Hubbard, president of the Cobb County Association of Educators, told WSB in August that more than 100 educators were questioned after walking out during Ragsdale's controversial speech ahead of the new school year.

What's next: Garza said he wants to explore whether Ragsdale is the right person to continue leading Georgia's second-largest school district.

The bottom line: Tolley-Bauer told Axios she hopes Ragsdale and the three remaining Republican board members understand that "the people have spoken, and that what we want is clear."

• "It is collaboration, it is civility, it is respect, it is cooperation, and it is fiscal responsibility," she said.