MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Education

By: Representative West

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-7-717, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE THE AUTHORITY OF BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNING AUTHORITIES IN COUNTIES COMPRISING A SPECIAL MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO APPOINT THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF SUCH SCHOOL DISTRICT; TO AMEND SECTION 37-7-715, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE THE REQUIREMENT THAT AGREEMENTS BETWEEN BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNING AUTHORITIES ESTABLISHING THE MANNER FOR THE SELECTION OF THE TRUSTEES OF SUCH SCHOOL DISTRICT BE ENTERED INTO WITHIN SIXTY DAYS OF THE ORGANIZATION OF SUCH SCHOOL DISTRICT; TO AMEND SECTION 37-7-703, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 37-7-717, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-7-717. Upon complying with the terms and provisions of Section 37-7-715, * * * the board of supervisors of any county wherein there is a special municipal separate school district and the governing authorities of the municipality may provide that the board of trustees of such special municipal separate school district shall be organized and constituted in one (1) of the following manners:

(a) In case of a special municipal separate school district which embraces the entire county, the board of trustees may be constituted and selected in accordance with the terms and provisions of Sections 37-7-707 through 37-7-711, with the exception that one (1) member of such board shall be elected by each supervisors district and shall be a resident and qualified elector of the district from which he is elected.

(b) In case of a special municipal separate school district embracing the entire county, the board of trustees may be constituted and selected in accordance with the terms and provisions of Section 37-7-713.

SECTION 2. Section 37-7-715, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-7-715.  * * * The board of supervisors of a county wherein a special municipal separate school district is located and the governing authorities of the municipality may, by an order spread upon their minutes * * * expressing an agreement between both such governing authorities, choose to constitute the board of such special municipal separate school district under one (1) of the optional methods of organization set out in Section 37-7-717. In the event that both the governing authorities hereinabove referred to shall enter such an order * * *, then the * * * board of trustees shall be thereafter constituted and selected according to the terms of such agreement, provided such agreement is in conformity with the terms of Section 37-7-717. It is further expressly provided that irregularities of a procedural nature in the adoption of such orders shall not affect the validity of the same or the validity of any acts of the board of trustees which may be constituted by virtue thereof.

SECTION 3. Section 37-7-703, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-7-703. In all such special municipal separate school districts which embrace the entire county in which, according to the latest available federal census, a majority of the inhabitants of the county reside within the corporate limits of the municipality, the board of trustees of such special municipal separate school district shall be chosen and selected in the manner provided by paragraph (a) of Section 37-7-717, and all of the provisions thereof shall be fully applicable in all respects to the selection and constitution of such board of trustees.

SECTION 4. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.