Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 09, 2018: AGO 2018-00188
Collection: Mississippi Attorney General Opinions
Docket: AGO 2018-00188
Date: July 9, 2018
Advisory Opinion Text
Carlos D. Palmer, Esquire
Board Attorney
Greenwood Municipal
Separate School District
Post Office Box 272
Greenwood, Mississippi 38935
Re: Prospective Consolidation of the Greenwood Municipal Separate School District and the Leflore County School District
Dear Mr. Palmer:
Attorney General Jim Hood has received your opinion request and has assigned it to me for research and reply.
Issues Presented
In your request, you provide:
I am writing to request an official Attorney General's Opinion concerning the prospective consolidation of the Greenwood Municipal Separate School District (“GMSSD”) and Leflore County School District (“LCSD”) via Mississippi Code Ann. Section 37-7-104.6 (as promulgated from House Bill 987, 07/01/16).
Particularly, I have the following questions regarding the language of said statute:
1. Can a sitting school board member of one of the pre-consolidated school districts, whose term has not expired, run for a position on the prospective consolidated school board, if his/her district is up for election? Specifically, could sitting board members, who reside in Districts 2 and 3, run for the open seats of their Districts in 2018 regarding the prospectively consolidated school district?
2. If the answer to the Question #1 is in the affirmative, how would any vacancy be filled that occurs on the prospectively consolidated school board? What person would be qualified to serve in filling the vacant position? How long would that person serve? Specifically, if said board members of District 2 and 3 won the 2018 elections for their open seat of their Districts on the prospectively consolidated school district, but their terms did not expire until the end of 2019 and 2020, respectively, how would those vacancies be filled, what person would be qualified to serve in filling each vacant position, and what length of time would those persons filling those vacancies serve?
3. If a sitting school board member is not successful in running for the open seat within his/her District, would that board member continue to serve their unexpired term on the prospectively consolidated school board? Specifically, if said board members of Districts 2 and 3 were not successful in their bids for the open seats, would those board members continue to serve their unexpired term on the prospectively consolidated school board?
Applicable Law
Section 37-7-104.6(3)(a) provides:
(3)(a) On July 1, 2018, the State Board of Education shall serve the local school boards of the Leflore County School District and the Greenwood Municipal Separate School District with notice and instructions regarding the timetable for action to be taken to comply with the administrative consolidation required in this section. The State Board of Education shall require the administrative consolidation of Leflore County School District and the Greenwood Municipal Separate School District on or before July 1, 2019. In the new Greenwood-Leflore School District, there shall be a new phased-in County Board of Education comprised of five (5) members elected to staggered terms of office from single member supervisors districts in the manner prescribed in this subsection. Current members of the Board of Trustees of the Greenwood Public School District serving on November 1, 2017, shall continue in office as the new County Board of Education of the Greenwood-Leflore School District until their successors are elected as follows:
(i) The two (2) appointed board members of the Greenwood Public School District whose terms are nearest to expiration shall expire on January 1, 2019, and thereafter become permanently elected positions to be filled by persons elected as board members from Supervisors Districts 2 and 3 in a November 2018 election held for that purpose, in the manner prescribed in Section 37-7-203, and the newly elected members will take office on January 1, 2019, for a term of four (4) years; (ii) The final two (2) appointed board members of the Greenwood Public School District whose terms are the farthest removed from expiration shall expire on January 1, 2020, and thereafter become permanently elected positions to be filled by persons elected as board members from Supervisors Districts 4 and 5 in a November 2019 election held for that purpose, in the manner prescribed in Section 37-7-203, and the newly elected members will take office on January 1, 2020, for a term of four (4) years; and
(iii) One (1) appointed board member of the Greenwood Public School District whose term is next nearest to expiration shall expire on January 1, 2021, and thereafter become a permanently elected position to be filled by a person elected as a board member from Supervisors District 1 in a November 2020 election held for that purpose, in the manner prescribed in Section 37-7-203, and the newly elected members will take office on January 1, 2021, for a term of four (4) years.
(b) All subsequent members shall be elected for a term of four (4) years at the regular general election held on the first Monday in November next preceding the expiration of the term of office of the respective members, and shall take office on January 1 next succeeding the election.
(c) No previous school board member of the former school district that was placed under conservatorship residing in the proper territory shall be eligible for selection to the new Board of Education for the Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District.
On May 25, 2018, our office opined that vacancies on the GMSSD and the LCSD, both pre consolidation and post consolidation, should be filled pursuant to Section 37-5-19, which states:
Vacancies in the membership of the county board of education shall be filled by appointment, within sixty (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 school district is under conservatorship and no members of the county board of education remain in office, the Governor shall call a special election to fill the vacancies and said election will be conducted by the county election commission.
In the event the vacancy occurs more than five (5) 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 (2) 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.
Responses
Response 1: Yes. There is no statutory prohibition against a sitting school board member of one of the pre-consolidated school districts, whose term has not expired, running for a position on the prospective consolidated school board, provided he meets all of the qualifications to hold the position.
Response 2: Vacancies on the GMSSD and the LCSD, both pre consolidation and post consolidation, should be filled pursuant to Section 37-5-19. MS AG Op., Palmer (May 25, 2018). As we understand your questions, you are describing a situation in which, for example, a vacancy is created by the election as a representative of District 2 of a current board member who would ultimately be replaced in 2020 by a representative from District 4. In this scenario, it is the opinion of this office that the appointee selected by the remaining members of the county board of education should be a qualified elector of District 4 who meets all the requirements to serve in that position. In accordance with Section 37-5-19, that appointee would 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.”
Response 3: There is no statutory requirement that a sitting school board member resign from his current seat to run for a different open seat within the same public school district. Unless the sitting board member chooses to resign, he would continue to serve his unexpired term if he is not successful in his bid for the open seat in District 2 or 3.
Very truly yours,