1961 US Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 2 - University of ...

Assembly conferred upon the Governor additional powers to promulgate
and enforce emergency regulations for the control of "public buildings,
public utilities, or any other public facility in Georgia, and . . .
regulate the manner of use, the time of use, and persons using the facility
during an emergency, for the purpose of maintaining peace, tranquillity,
and good order in the State." 32 South Carolina adopted similar
legislation. 33
That the underlying purpose was to effect the swift closing of public
schools threatened with desegregation was clear to the Governor of
Florida. He vetoed a similar act passed earlier by the Florida Legislature,
saying: 34
Insofar as the public school system is concerned, I view the bill as
wholly unnecessary. Under the present school code . . . the respective
county boards of public instruction of the State have the
express power to "adopt regulations for the closing of schools during
an emergency. . . ."
Another 1959 law directed the Governor of Georgia to close any public
school whenever he deemed it necessary to preserve the good order,
peace, and dignity of the State, and whenever necessary because of
conditions resulting from "the transfer or assignment of one or more
pupils to such school." The latter provision included the closing of
the school which the pupil would have attended as well as the one to
which he was assigned. 35
Following the same general plan of action, the States of Alabama
and Mississippi delegated school-closing authority to local school boards.
The Alabama statute 38 directed each board of education after public
hearings to close any school if its continued operation "will be accompanied
by such tensions, friction, or potential disorder ... as substantially
to impair the effective standards of education or ... peace, order,
and good will in the community." The Mississippi act ST was no more
subtle, authorizing local school trustees to close any or all their public
schools if "such would be to the best interest of the persons therein or
to promote or preserve the public peace, order, or tranquillity of any
school or school district."
Still another variant gave local option to the voters of the locality.
North Carolina pioneered in this field in 1956 when the voters ratified
an amendment to the State constitution authorizing the general assembly
to provide for a "uniform system of local option" whereby any locality
could vote to suspend the operation of its public schools. 88 The legislature
declared: "Our people in each community need to have a full
and meaningful choice as to whether a public school, which may have
some enforced mixing of the races, shall continue to be maintained
and supported in that community." s9 Local boards of education were
84