Bill Text: FL S0778 | 2011 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: District School Board Membership

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-04 - Withdrawn from Rules Subcommittee on Ethics and Elections; Rules [S0778 Detail]

Download: Florida-2011-S0778-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2011                              CS for SB 778
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Education Pre-K - 12; and Senator Diaz de la
       Portilla
       
       
       
       581-04583-11                                           2011778c1
    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
    5         where the population exceeds a certain number;
    6         providing for single-member and at-large districts;
    7         requiring nonpartisan elections; providing for the
    8         election of a chair and vice chair of the school
    9         board; providing for 4-year terms of office and
   10         staggered terms of members; permitting changes in the
   11         boundaries of school board member residence areas and
   12         providing the procedure for publication of those
   13         changes; providing an effective date.
   14  
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Section 1001.3615, Florida Statutes, is created
   18  to read:
   19         1001.3615 Election of district school board members in
   20  counties in which the population exceeds 2 million.—
   21         (1) Notwithstanding ss. 1001.36, 1001.361, and 1001.362, in
   22  a county in which the population exceeds 2 million people, the
   23  district school board shall consist of nine members. Seven of
   24  the nine members shall reside one in each of seven residence
   25  areas, the areas together covering the entire district and as
   26  nearly equal in population as practicable, according to the most
   27  recent decennial census, and each shall be elected only by the
   28  qualified electors who reside in the same residence area as the
   29  member. Two of the nine members shall be elected from the county
   30  at large. Members shall be elected in a nonpartisan election as
   31  provided in chapter 105.
   32         (2) Notwithstanding s. 1001.371, the school board members
   33  elected at large shall serve as the chair and vice chair of the
   34  school board. The ballot for the office of chair shall state:
   35  “Chair of the School Board” followed by a list of candidates who
   36  have qualified for that office. The ballot for the office of
   37  vice chair shall state: “Vice Chair of the School Board”
   38  followed by a list of candidates who have qualified for that
   39  office. The candidate who receives the highest number of votes
   40  in the general election shall be elected to the office for which
   41  the candidate has qualified.
   42         (3) All members shall be elected for 4-year terms, but the
   43  terms shall be staggered so that, alternately, one more or one
   44  less than half of the members elected from residence areas and,
   45  if applicable, one of the members elected at large from the
   46  entire district are elected every 2 years. Any member may be
   47  elected to an initial term of less than 4 years if necessary to
   48  achieve or maintain such system of staggered terms.
   49         (4)(a) In odd-numbered years, the district school board may
   50  change the boundaries of the residence areas at any meeting of
   51  the district school board.
   52         (b) The changes in boundaries shall be shown by resolution
   53  spread upon the minutes of the district school board, shall be
   54  recorded in the office of the clerk of the circuit court, and
   55  shall be published at least once in a newspaper published in the
   56  district within 30 days after the adoption of the resolution,
   57  or, if there is no newspaper published in the district, shall be
   58  posted at the county courthouse door for 4 weeks after the
   59  adoption of the resolution. A certified copy of the resolution
   60  shall be transmitted to the Department of State.
   61         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.