Mississippi Advisory Opinions October 02, 1985: 19851002 (October 02, 1985)
Collection: Mississippi Attorney General Opinions
Docket: 19851002
Date: Oct. 2, 1985
Advisory Opinion Text
Honorable William R. Sanders
Post Office Box 112
Charleston, Mississippi 38921
Dear Mr. Sanders:
Attorney General Pittman has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. As attorney for the Tallahatchie County School Board you submit the following:
This is in regard to the eligibility of School Board members of a consolidated district continuing to serve after changing their residence from the area in which they were elected to another area in the school district.
The Tallahatchie County School Board voted in 1956 to organize Tallahatchie County Schools into two consolidated districts. In February of 1957, the Tallahatchie County School Board appointed members from specified areas from two districts to serve on the consolidated board. These areas have continued to be the designated sectors from which board members have been elected. However, the voters vote on each member at large.
My questions are: (1) If an elected trustee moves from the area in which he originally ran to another area, is he elibible to remain on the consolidated school board? (2) If the trustees run from specified areas, can the electorate as a whole, vote on each candidate?
Mississippi Code Annotated § 37-7-207 (Supp. 1984) provides for the selection and term of trustees of consolidated school districts. Section 37-7-207(1) states in part:
After such original appointments, the trustees of such school districts shall be elected by the qualified electors of such school districts in the manner provided for in sections 37-7-223 to 37-7-229, with each trustee to be elected for a term of five (5) years. . . .
Pursuant to this provision of § 37-7-207(1) all qualified electors within the district would vote for each trustee in an election.
The qualifications of members of boards of trustees of any school district are provided for in Mississippi Code Annotated Section 37-7-201 (1972) as follows:
In order for a person to be eligible to hold the office of trustee of any school district, such person must be a bona fide resident and a qualified elector of such school district, . . .
§ 37-7-207(1) does not limit the residence of a trustee of a consolidated school district to a particular area in the district, but that person must be a bona fide resident and a qualified elector of the school district as required by § 37-7-201.
Sincerely yours,
Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Attorney General.