(a) There is created a body corporate and politic to be known as the Georgia Education Authority (Schools), which shall be deemed to be an instrumentality of the State of Georgia and a public corporation and which by that name, style, and title such body may contract and be contracted with, bring and defend actions, and implead and be impleaded. The authority shall consist of seven members, as follows: the Governor, an appointee of the Governor who is not the Attorney General, the state auditor, the chairman of the State Board of Education, the chairman of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, the State School Superintendent, and the chancellor of the University System of Georgia.

(b) The authority shall elect one of its members as chairman and another as vice-chairman and a secretary and treasurer, who need not necessarily be a member of the authority but who shall be the same as the secretary and treasurer of the Georgia Education Authority (University). The majority of the members of the authority shall constitute a quorum. No vacancy on the authority shall impair the right of the quorum to exercise all the rights and perform all the duties of the authority. The members of the authority shall not be entitled to compensation for their services but shall be entitled to and shall be reimbursed for their actual expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties. The staff of the authority shall be the same as the staff of the Georgia Education Authority (University). The authority shall make rules and regulations for its own government. It shall have perpetual existence. Any change in name or composition of the authority shall in no way affect the vested rights of any person under this part or impair the obligations of any contracts existing under this part.

(c) The authority is assigned to the Department of Administrative Services for administrative purposes only as prescribed in Code Section 50-4-3.