Bill Text: MS HB531 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: School Boards; require elected members to be elected by majority vote and hold runoffs three weeks later.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Failed) 2014-02-04 - Died In Committee [HB531 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2014-HB531-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Education; Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Gipson
House Bill 531
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-5-9, 37-7-203 AND 37-7-711, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE CANDIDATES FOR THE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF CERTAIN MUNICIPAL AND SPECIAL MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS EMBRACING AN ENTIRE COUNTY TO BE ELECTED BY A MAJORITY OF THE VOTES CAST IN AN ELECTION AND TO REQUIRE A RUNOFF ELECTION THREE WEEKS AFTER THE GENERAL ELECTION IF NO CANDIDATE RECEIVES A MAJORITY OF THE VOTES; TO PROVIDE THAT ALL SUCH SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS SHALL BE HELD AT THE GENERAL NOVEMBER ELECTION; TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-7-215 AND 37-7-217, 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 37-5-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-5-9. (1) The
name of any qualified elector who is a candidate for the county board of
education shall be placed on the ballot used in the general elections by the
county election commissioners, provided that the candidate files with the
county election commissioners, not more than ninety (90) days and not less than
sixty (60) days prior to the date of such general election, a petition of
nomination signed by not less than fifty (50) qualified electors of the county
residing within each supervisors district. Where there are less than one
hundred (100) qualified electors in said supervisors district, it shall only be
required that said petition of nomination be signed by at least twenty percent
(20%) of the qualified electors of such supervisors district. The candidate in
each supervisors district who receives a majority of the * * * votes cast in the district
shall be declared elected. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes
cast in the general election, then the two (2) candidates who receive the
highest number of votes cast in the district shall have their names submitted
as candidates in a runoff election three (3) weeks after the date of the
general election, and the candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast
in the district in the runoff election must be declared elected.
(2) When any member
of the county board of education is to be elected from the county at large
under the provisions of this chapter, then the petition required by * * * subsection
(1) of this section shall be signed by the required number of qualified
electors residing in any part of the county outside of the territory embraced
within a municipal separate school district or special municipal separate
school district. The candidate who receives a majority of the * * * votes cast in the election shall be declared elected. If
no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast in the general election,
then the two (2) candidates who receive the highest number of votes cast in the
county shall have their names submitted as candidates in a runoff election
three (3) weeks after the date of the general election, and the candidate who
receives a majority of the votes cast in the county in the runoff election must
be declared elected.
(3) In no case shall any qualified elector residing within a municipal separate school district or special municipal separate school district be eligible to sign a petition of nomination for any candidate for the county board of education under any of the provisions of this section.
SECTION 2. Section 37-7-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-7-203. (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, the boards of trustees of all municipal separate school districts created under this chapter, either with or without added territory, shall consist of five (5) members, each to be chosen for a term of five (5) years, but so chosen that the term of office of one (1) member shall expire each year. In the event the added territory of a municipal separate school district furnishes fifteen percent (15%) or more of the pupils enrolled in the schools of such district, then at least one (1) member of the board of trustees of such school district shall be a resident of the added territory outside the corporate limits. In the event the added territory of a municipal separate school district furnishes thirty percent (30%) or more of the pupils enrolled in the schools of such district, then not more than two (2) members of the board of trustees of such school district shall be residents of the added territory outside the corporate limits. In the event the added territory of a municipal separate school district in a county in which Mississippi Highways 8 and 15 intersect furnishes thirty percent (30%) or more of the pupils enrolled in the schools of such district, then the five (5) members of the board of trustees of such school district shall be elected at large from such school district for a term of five (5) years each except that the two (2) elected trustees presently serving on such board shall continue to serve for their respective terms of office. The three (3) appointed trustees presently serving on such board shall continue to serve until their successors are elected in March of 1975 in the manner provided for in Section 37-7-215. At such election, one (1) trustee shall be elected for a term of two (2) years, one (1) for a term of three (3) years and one (1) for a term of five (5) years. Subsequent terms for each successor trustee shall be for five (5) years. In the event one (1) of two (2) municipal separate school districts located in any county with two (2) judicial districts, District 1 being comprised of Supervisors Districts 1, 2, 4 and 5, and District 2 being comprised of Supervisors District 3, with added territory embraces three (3) full supervisors districts of a county, one (1) trustee shall be elected from each of the three (3) supervisors districts outside the corporate limits of the municipality. In the further event that the territory of a municipal separate school district located in any county with two (2) judicial districts, District 1 being comprised of Supervisors Districts 1, 2, 4 and 5, and District 2 being comprised of Supervisors District 3, with added territory embraces four (4) full supervisors districts in the county, and in any county in which a municipal separate school district embraces the entire county in which Highways 14 and 15 intersect, one (1) trustee shall be elected from each supervisors district.
Except as otherwise provided herein, the trustees of such a municipal separate school district shall be elected by a majority of the governing authorities of the municipality at the first meeting of the governing authorities held in the month of February of each year, and the term of office of the member so elected shall commence on the first Saturday of March following. In the case of a member of the board of trustees who is required to come from the added territory outside the corporate limits as is above provided, such member of the board of trustees shall be elected by the qualified electors of the school district residing in such added territory outside the corporate limits at the same time and in the same manner as is otherwise provided in this article for the election of trustees of school districts other than municipal separate school districts.
In the event that a portion of a county school district is reconstituted, in the manner provided by law, into a municipal separate school district with added territory and in the event that the trustees to be elected from the added territory are requested to be elected from separate election districts within the added territory, instead of elected at large, by the Attorney General of the United States as a result of and pursuant to preclearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended, and in the event the added territory of a municipal separate school district of a municipality furnishes thirty percent (30%) or more of the pupils enrolled in the schools of such district, then two (2) members of the board of trustees shall be residents of the added territory outside the corporate limits of such municipality and shall be elected from special trustee election districts by the qualified electors thereof as herein provided. The board of trustees of the school district shall apportion the added territory into two (2) special trustee election districts as nearly as possible according to population and other factors heretofore pronounced by the courts. The board of trustees of the school district shall thereafter publish the same in a newspaper of general circulation within that school district for at least two (2) consecutive weeks; and after having given notice of publication and recording the same upon the minutes of the board of trustees of the school district, the new district lines shall thereafter be effective. Any person elected from the new trustee election districts constituted herein shall be elected in the manner provided for in Section 37-7-215 for a term of five (5) years. Any vacancy in the office of a trustee elected from such trustee election district, whether occasioned by redistricting or by other cause, shall be filled by appointment of the governing authorities of the municipality, provided that the person so appointed shall serve only until the next general election following his appointment, at which time a person shall be elected for the remainder of the unexpired term in the manner provided in Section 37-7-215.
In any county organizing a countywide municipal separate school district after January 1, 1965, the trustees thereof to be elected from outside the municipality, such trustees shall be elected by the board of supervisors of such county, and the superintendent of such school district shall have authority to pay out and distribute the funds of the district. In the event a municipal separate school district should occupy territory in a county other than that in which the municipality is located and fifteen percent (15%) or more of the pupils enrolled in the schools of such district shall come from the territory of the district in the county other than that in which the municipality is located, the territory of such county in which the municipality is not located shall be entitled to one (1) member on the board of trustees of such school district. The trustee shall be a resident of the territory of that part of the district lying in the county in which the municipality is not located and shall be elected by the qualified electors of the territory of such county at the same time and in the same manner as is provided for the election of trustees of school districts other than municipal separate school districts having territory in two (2) or more counties.
All vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired terms by appointment of the governing authorities of the municipality; except that in the case of the trustees coming from the added territory outside the corporate limits, the person so appointed shall serve only until the next general election following his appointment, at which time a person shall be elected for the remainder of the unexpired term in the manner otherwise provided herein.
No person who is a member of such governing body, or who is an employee of the municipality, or who is a member of the county board of education, or who is a trustee of any public, private or sectarian school or college located in the county, inclusive of the municipal separate school district, or who is a teacher in or a trustee of the school district, shall be eligible for appointment to the board of trustees.
(2) In counties of less than fifteen thousand (15,000) people having a municipal separate school district with added territory which embraces all the territory of a county, one or more trustees of the school district shall be nominated from each supervisors district upon petition of fifty (50) qualified electors of that supervisors district, or twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of such district, whichever number shall be smaller. One (1) trustee must be elected from each supervisors district of the county. The person nominated in each supervisors district who receives a majority of the votes cast in the school district for the office of trustee from that supervisors district must be declared elected. If no person in a supervisors district receives a majority of the votes cast, then the two (2) persons residing in that supervisors district who receive the highest number of votes cast in the school district for the office of trustee from that supervisors district shall have their names submitted as candidates in a runoff election three (3) weeks after the date of the election, and the person who receives a majority of the votes cast in the runoff election must be declared elected. In such counties embraced entirely by a municipal separate school district, there shall be no county board of education after the formation of such district, and the county superintendent of education shall act as superintendent of schools of the district and shall be appointed by the board of trustees of that district, and the provisions of subsection (1) of this section and the first paragraph of Section 37-7-211 shall not apply to such districts.
(3) In municipalities designated as having a mayor-council form of government under Chapter 8, Title 21, Mississippi Code of 1972, and having a population in excess of one hundred thousand (100,000) according to the 2000 decennial census, the boards of trustees of the municipal separate school district located in the municipality may, if authorized by ordinance of the municipal governing authority, consist of seven (7) members residing in each of the seven (7) wards in the municipality, to be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council as follows: (a) each board member shall reside in the ward from which he is appointed; (b) members serving on March 31, 2010, shall continue to serve until a new term commences and new members shall be selected from wards not currently represented on the board; (c) one (1) of the two (2) additional appointments shall serve a term of five (5) years and one (1) for a term of four (4) years, with all subsequent appointments for a five-year term; and (d) each new appointment shall be made by the mayor and confirmed by the city council of the municipality at the first meeting of the governing authorities held in the month of June following March 31, 2010, and thereafter each year, and the term of office of each member so selected shall commence on the first Saturday of July following.
SECTION 3. Section 37-7-711, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-7-711. In all such special municipal separate school districts which may be so organized, reorganized or reconstituted to embrace the entire county in which the majority of the inhabitants of the county reside outside the corporate limits of the municipality, the name of any qualified elector who is a candidate for the board of trustees of such special municipal separate school district, whether such person be a candidate for an unexpired term or for a full term, shall be placed on the ballot used in the elections, provided that the candidate files with the county election commissioners, not more than ninety (90) days and not less than thirty (30) days prior to the date of such general election, a petition of nomination signed by not less than one hundred fifty (150) qualified electors of the county. Provided, however, that in any such special municipal separate school district which embraces the entire county and which borders the Mississippi River and in which Interstate Highway 20 and United States Highway 61 intersect and having a population in excess of forty-seven thousand (47,000) according to the 1990 federal decennial census, the candidate shall be required to file a petition of nomination with the county election commissioners not less than sixty (60) days prior to the date of such general election, in addition to the other requirements prescribed herein.
The candidate in each
election who receives a majority of the * * * votes cast in the election
shall be declared to have been elected. If no candidate receives a majority
of the votes cast in the general election, then the two (2) candidates who
receive the highest number of votes cast shall have their names submitted as
candidates in a runoff election three (3) weeks after the date of the general
election, and the candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast in the
runoff election must be declared elected.
SECTION 4. Section 37-7-215, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-7-215. All such
elections shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November * * * and, except as otherwise
provided in this chapter, in * * * accordance with procedures followed in regular
general elections. In the event a runoff is necessary, the runoff
shall be held three (3) weeks thereafter.
SECTION 5. Section 37-7-217, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-7-217. (1) The county election commissioners shall indicate on the ballot which of the persons whose names appear thereon are candidates for a full term, and which of such persons, if any, are candidates for an unexpired term or terms.
(2) The qualified electors of each school district operating under Section 37-7-215 shall vote on the date specified in that section and at the special trustee election districts.
(3) A person elected shall assume the duties of his office for the full term on the first day of January if the election is for the full term. A person elected to an unexpired term shall assume office immediately.
(4) The county election commissioners shall forthwith certify the results of the election to the superintendent of the municipal separate or special municipal separate school district, as the case may be, which certificate shall be delivered to such superintendent within five (5) days following the first election.
(5) If a person does not receive a majority of the votes cast at the election, a runoff shall be held between the two (2) persons receiving the highest number of votes at the first election three (3) weeks after the date of the first election, and the candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast in the runoff election must be declared elected.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.
