Mississippi Advisory Opinions January 07, 2011: No. 2010-00662 (January 7, 2011)

No. 2010-00662.

Dear Mr. Mayfield:

Attorney General Jim Hood has received your request for an official opinion and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

Do the remaining three (3) members of the Noxubee County School Board have to unanimously agree on the appointments to fill the vacancies, or can two (2) of them agree and fill the vacancies?

It is the opinion of this office that two of the three remaining members of the Noxubee County School Board constitute a majority for filling vacancies in the membership on the school board.

In your letter, you state that two vacancies will exist on the Noxubee County School Board at the beginning of the 2011 school year. The vacancies result from the Noxubee County Election Commission's disqualification of all candidates for the two school board posts. The terms for the two board members will expire in December 2010.

Miss. Code Ann. Section 37-5-19, which governs the filling of vacancies on county boards of education, provides:

Vacancies in the membership of the county board of education shall be filled by appointment , within 60 days after the vacancy occurs, by the remaining members of the county board of education. Said appointee shall be selected from the qualified electors of the district in which the vacancy occurs, and shall serve until the first Monday of January next succeeding the next general election, at which general election a member shall be elected to fill the remainder of the unexpired term in the same manner and with the same qualifications applicable to the election of a member for the full term.

In the event the vacancy occurs more than five months prior to the next general election and the remaining members of the county board of education are unable to agree upon an individual to be appointed, any two of the remaining members may certify such disagreement to the county election commission. Upon the receipt of such a certificate by the county election commission, or any member thereof, the commission shall hold a special election to fill the vacancy, which said election, notice thereof and ballot shall be controlled by the laws concerning special elections to fill vacancies in county or county district offices. The person elected at such a special election shall serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.

Where there are but three remaining members on a school board, two of the three remaining members constitute a majority for filling vacancies in the membership on the school board. In the event the remaining members cannot agree on the interim appointments until the next general election, two of the remaining members may certify their disagreement to the county election commission, which shall conduct a special election for filling the vacancies.

Accordingly, it is the opinion of this office that a majority of the three remaining members of the Noxubee County School Board must agree on the appointees for filling vacancies in the membership on the board pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. Section 37-5-19. If the remaining members cannot agree on the interim appointments, a special election shall be held to fill the vacancies in accordance with Section 37-5-19.

Please contact our office if we may be of further assistance.

Very truly yours,

JIM HOOD, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By:

Margarette L. Meeks

Special Assistant Attorney General