Bill Text: FL H0307 | 2011 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: District School Board Membership

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-05-07 - Indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration [H0307 Detail]

Download: Florida-2011-H0307-Comm_Sub.html

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CS/CS/HB 307

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to district school board membership;
3	creating s. 1001.3615, F.S.; requiring that district
4	school boards consist of nine members in counties where
5	the population exceeds a certain number; providing for
6	single-member and at-large districts; requiring
7	nonpartisan elections; providing for the election of a
8	chair and vice chair of the school board; providing for 4-
9	year terms of office and staggered terms of members;
10	permitting changes in the boundaries of school board
11	member residence areas and providing the procedure for
12	publication of those changes; providing an effective date.
13
14	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16	Section 1.  Section 1001.3615, Florida Statutes, is created
17	to read:
18	1001.3615  Election of district school board members in
19	counties in which the population exceeds 2 million.-
20	(1)  Notwithstanding ss. 1001.36, 1001.361, and 1001.362,
21	in a county in which the population exceeds 2 million people,
22	the district school board shall consist of nine members. Seven
23	of the nine members shall reside one in each of seven residence
24	areas, the areas together covering the entire district and as
25	nearly equal in population as practicable, according to the most
26	recent decennial census, and each shall be elected only by the
27	qualified electors who reside in the same residence area as the
28	member. Two of the nine members shall be elected from the county
29	at large. Members shall be elected in a nonpartisan election as
30	provided in chapter 105.
31	(2)  Notwithstanding s. 1001.371, the school board members
32	elected at large shall serve as the chair and vice chair of the
33	school board. The ballot for the office of chair shall state:
34	"Chair of the School Board" followed by a list of candidates who
35	have qualified for that office. The ballot for the office of
36	vice chair shall state: "Vice Chair of the School Board"
37	followed by a list of candidates who have qualified for that
38	office. The candidate who receives the highest number of votes
39	in the general election shall be elected to the office for which
40	the candidate has qualified.
41	(3)  All members shall be elected for 4-year terms, but the
42	terms shall be staggered so that, alternately, one more or one
43	less than half of the members elected from residence areas and,
44	if applicable, one of the members elected at large from the
45	entire district are elected every 2 years. Any member may be
46	elected to an initial term of less than 4 years if necessary to
47	achieve or maintain such system of staggered terms.
48	(4)  In odd-numbered years, the district school board may
49	change the boundaries of the residence areas at any meeting of
50	the district school board.
51	(a)  The changes in boundaries shall be shown by resolution
52	spread upon the minutes of the district school board, shall be
53	recorded in the office of the clerk of the circuit court, and
54	shall be published at least once in a newspaper published in the
55	district within 30 days after the adoption of the resolution,
56	or, if there is no newspaper published in the district, shall be
57	posted at the county courthouse door for 4 weeks after the
58	adoption of the resolution. A certified copy of the resolution
59	shall be transmitted to the Department of State.
60	(b)  A change in a residence area that affects the
61	residence qualifications of an incumbent member does not
62	disqualify the incumbent member during the term for which he or
63	she is elected.
64	Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.