Senate Bill 2549

AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE ELECTION OF ALL SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS IN MUNICIPAL SEPARATE AND SPECIAL MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS BEGINNING WITH THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN THE YEAR 2009; TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-7-203 AND 37-7-703, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE MEMBERS OF SCHOOL BOARDS OF MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND SPECIAL MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS FROM SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICTS BY THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS OF SUCH DISTRICTS, TO DIRECT THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNING AUTHORITIES TO APPORTION THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS INTO FIVE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICTS, AND TO PRESCRIBE THE TIME AND MANNER OF SUCH ELECTIONS AND THE MANNER IN WHICH VACANCIES ON THE SCHOOL BOARDS SHALL BE FILLED; TO AMEND SECTION 37-7-201, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; TO REPEAL SECTION 37-7-204, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM BOARD MEMBERS TO FILL CERTAIN VACANCIES ON THE SCHOOL BOARDS OF COUNTYWIDE MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS; TO REPEAL SECTIONS 37-7-209 THROUGH 37-7-219, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDE CERTAIN METHODS FOR ELECTING TRUSTEES FROM ADDED TERRITORY OF MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS; TO REPEAL SECTIONS 37-7-705 THROUGH 37-7-717, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDE CERTAIN METHODS FOR SELECTING TRUSTEES OF SPECIAL MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 37-7-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-7-203. (1) The school boards * * * of all municipal separate school districts * * * shall consist of five (5) members. Beginning in 2009, each member shall be elected from a special school board member district, as provided for under subsection (2) of this section, by the qualified electors of that district.

(2) The municipal governing authority shall apportion the municipal separate school district, including any added territory, into five (5) single school board member districts. The school board member districts shall be as nearly equal as possible according to population. The municipal governing authority shall submit the school board member district lines to the Attorney General of the United States for preclearance or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for a declaratory judgment in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended. If the school board member district lines are precleared by the United States Department of Justice or approved by the United States District Court, the municipal governing authority and the school board of the municipal separate school district shall place upon their minutes the boundaries established for the five (5) school board member districts, and the school board shall publish the boundaries in a newspaper of general circulation within the school district for at least three (3) consecutive weeks. After having given notice of publication and recording the publication upon the minutes of the school board, the school board member district lines shall be effective. As soon as practicable after the results of the 2010 decennial census and every decennial census thereafter are published, the municipal governing authority shall reapportion the school board member districts in the manner prescribed in this subsection for the creation of the original districts.

(3) On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June 2009, and every four (4) years thereafter, an election shall be held in every municipal separate school district, in the same manner and at the same time as the general municipal elections are held, for the purpose of electing the members of the school board of the municipal separate school district. Provided, however, that in any special charter municipality where the general municipal election date is different from June 2009, the members of the school board of the municipal separate school district shall be elected as provided in this section in the same manner and at the same time as the general municipal elections are held in such special charter municipality. Candidates for the school board of the municipal separate school district shall file with the municipal election commissioners, not more than ninety (90) days and not less than sixty (60) days before the date of the general election, a petition of nomination signed by at least fifty (50) or twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of the school board member district, whichever is less. The name of each qualified candidate shall be placed on the ballot. The candidate in each school board member district who receives a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors in that district shall be elected. However, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election shall be held two (2) weeks after the election. The names of the candidate receiving the highest number of votes and the candidate, or candidates in the event of a tie, receiving the next highest vote for the office shall be placed on the ballot in the runoff election. The person receiving the highest number of votes cast by the qualified electors in the runoff election shall be elected. All persons elected to serve on the school board of the municipal separate school district shall take office on the first Monday of July next following the date of their election and shall serve for a term of four (4) years.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, in each municipal separate school district, the terms of all school board members, whether appointed or elected, existing on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June 2009 shall expire when their duly elected successors take office on the first Monday of July 2009, or on the first Monday of July following the general municipal election date in a special charter municipality.

(5) Whenever there is a vacancy in the membership of the school board of the municipal separate school district, the vacancy shall be filled, depending upon the length of the unexpired term of the vacated office, in the manner provided under this subsection.

(a) If the unexpired term of the vacated office is six (6) months or less, the remaining members of the school board shall appoint, within sixty (60) days after the vacancy occurs, a person to serve the unexpired portion of the term. The appointee shall be selected from the qualified electors of the school board member district in which the vacancy occurs. The chairman of the school board shall certify to the Secretary of State the fact of the appointment, and the Governor shall commission the person appointed.

(b) If the unexpired term of the vacated office is greater than six (6) months, an election shall be held to fill the vacancy. The school board shall certify in writing the fact of the vacancy to the governing authority of the municipality. At the next regular meeting of the governing authority after its receipt of certification of the vacancy from the school board, the governing authority shall make and enter on its minutes an order for an election to be held in the school board member district in which the vacancy exists and shall fix the date upon which the election shall be held, which date shall not be less than thirty (30) days nor more than forty-five (45) days after the date upon which the order is adopted.

The municipal clerk shall publish notice of the election in a newspaper of general circulation within the municipality once each week for three (3) successive weeks preceding the date of the election. The first notice must be published at least thirty (30) days before the date of the election. Notice also shall be given by the school board by posting a copy of the notice at three (3) public places in the school board member district in which the vacancy exists and at the administrative offices of the school board not less than twenty-one (21) days before the date of the election.

Candidates for the vacated office shall file with the municipal clerk, not less than ten (10) days before the date of the election, a petition of nomination signed by at least fifty (50) or twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of the school board member district, whichever is less. The election shall be held, as far as practicable, in the same manner as general elections are conducted under subsection (3) of this section. The candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors in the school board member district shall be elected. However, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election shall be held two (2) weeks after the election. The names of the candidate receiving the highest number of votes and the candidate, or candidates in the event of a tie, receiving the next highest vote for the office shall be placed on the ballot in the runoff election. The person receiving the highest number of votes cast by the qualified electors in the runoff election shall be elected. The clerk of the municipal election commission shall give a certificate of election to the person elected and shall return to the Secretary of State a copy of the order of holding the election and its results, certified by the municipal clerk. The Governor shall commission the person elected to serve the remainder of the unexpired term.

However, if nine (9) days before the date of the election only one (1) person has qualified as a candidate, the governing authority shall dispense with the election, and the remaining members of the school board shall appoint that candidate to fill the unexpired term. If no person has qualified at least nine (9) days before the election, the governing authority shall dispense with the election, and the remaining members of the school board shall appoint a person, selected from the qualified electors of the school board member district in which the vacancy exists, to fill the unexpired term. The chairman of the school board shall certify to the Secretary of State the fact of the appointment, and the Governor shall commission the person appointed.

SECTION 2. Section 37-7-703, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-7-703. (1) In all * * * special municipal separate school districts, beginning in 2009, * * * the school board * * * of such special municipal separate school district shall be elected in the manner provided in this section * * *.

(2) Each member of the school board of the special municipal separate school district shall be elected from a special school board member district by the qualified electors of that district. The municipal governing authority shall apportion the special municipal separate school district, including any added territory, into five (5) single school board member districts. The school board member districts shall be as nearly equal as possible according to population. The municipal governing authority shall submit the school board member district lines to the Attorney General of the United States for preclearance or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for a declaratory judgment in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended. If the school board member district lines are precleared by the United States Department of Justice or approved by the United States District Court, the municipal governing authority and the school board of the special municipal separate school district shall place upon their minutes the boundaries established for the five (5) school board member districts, and the school board shall publish the boundaries in a newspaper of general circulation within the school district for at least three (3) consecutive weeks. After having given notice of publication and recording the publication upon the minutes of the school board, the school board member district lines shall be effective. As soon as practicable after the results of the 2010 decennial census and every decennial census thereafter are published, the municipal governing authority shall reapportion the school board member districts in the manner prescribed in this subsection for the creation of the original districts.

(3) On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June 2009, and every four (4) years thereafter, an election shall be held in every special municipal separate school district, in the same manner and at the same time as the general municipal elections are held, for the purpose of electing the members of the school board of the special municipal separate school district. Provided, however, that in any special charter municipality where the general municipal election date is different from June 2009, the members of the school board of the municipal separate school district shall be elected as provided in this section in the same manner and at the same time as the general municipal elections are held in such special charter municipality. Candidates for the school board of the special municipal separate school district shall file with the municipal election commissioners, not more than ninety (90) days and not less than sixty (60) days before the date of the general election, a petition of nomination signed by at least fifty (50) or twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of the school board member district, whichever is less. The name of each qualified candidate shall be placed on the ballot. The candidate in each school board member district who receives a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors in that district shall be elected. However, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election shall be held two (2) weeks after the election. The names of the candidate receiving the highest number of votes and the candidate, or candidates in the event of a tie, receiving the next highest vote for the office shall be placed on the ballot in the runoff election. The person receiving the highest number of votes cast by the qualified electors in the runoff election shall be elected. All persons elected to serve on the school board of the special municipal separate school district shall take office on the first Monday of July next following the date of their election and shall serve for a term of four (4) years.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, in each special municipal separate school district, the terms of all school board members, whether appointed or elected, existing on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June 2009 shall expire when their duly elected successors take office on the first Monday of July 2009 or on the first Monday of July following the general municipal election date if such municipality is a special charter municipality.

(5) Whenever there is a vacancy in the membership of the school board of the special municipal separate school district, the vacancy shall be filled, depending upon the length of the unexpired term of the vacated office, in the manner provided under this subsection.

SECTION 3. Section 37-7-201, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-7-201. In order for a person to be eligible to hold the office of school board member of any school district, such person must be a bona fide resident and a qualified elector of * * * the school board member district entitled to such representation on the school board.

SECTION 4. Section 37-7-204, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for the appointment of interim board members to fill certain vacancies on the school boards of countywide municipal separate school districts, shall stand repealed from and after January 1, 2009.

SECTION 5. Sections 37-7-209, 37-7-211, 37-7-213, 37-7-215, 37-7-217 and 37-7-219, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provide certain methods for electing trustees from added territory of municipal separate school districts, shall stand repealed from and after January 1, 2009.

SECTION 6. Sections 37-7-705, 37-7-707, 37-7-709, 37-7-711, 37-7-713, 37-7-715 and 37-7-717, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provide various methods for selecting trustees of special municipal separate school districts, shall stand repealed from and after January 1, 2009.

SECTION 7. 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 8. 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.