Mississippi Advisory Opinions October 05, 2001: AGO 000014736 (October 05, 2001)

AGO 000014736.

Dear Mr. Rounsavall:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your request for an official opinion from this office and has assigned it to me for research and reply. Your letter states:

On behalf of the Western Line School District Board of Trustees, I submit the following background information and queries to your office for an official opinion.

1) All five (5) current school board trustees for the Western Line School District were elected to office by a special election held March 13, 2001, pursuant to an Order entered in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. A copy of said Order is attached hereto as Exhibit "A". Said Order holds that trustees be elected to staggered terms and that members elected under the plan submitted at the initial election shall be elected as follows:

a) District One with said term to run from January 1, 2001 or upon being sworn in to December 31, 2001.

b) District Two with said term to run from January 1, 2001 or upon being sworn in to December 31, 2002.

The same provisions apply to Districts Three, Four and Five with staggered terms.

2) The current trustees were sworn into office on April 5, 2001. Pursuant to the Order previously mentioned, the school board, at a regularly scheduled meeting on July 5, 2001, made a motion requesting the Washington County Board of Supervisors to call a regular election in November, 2001 for Western Line District with the current re-districting plan or the new plan of the 2000 census if requirements can be worked out with such.

3) On September 10, 2001, the Washington County Board of Supervisors voted to postpone the election of trustee of District One of the Western Line School District until November of 2002. As a result of said action, the Western Line School District Board of Trustees made a motion on September 13, 2001 rescinding its previous motion dated July 5, 2001 and submitted the following to the Washington County Board of Supervisors pursuant to a request from the Board of Supervisors:

The Western Line School District Boar of Trustees moved to send a letter to the Washington County Board of Supervisors requesting an election and the School Board will abide by whatever decision the Board of Supervisors makes regarding this matter whether the election is held in November of 2001 based on the 1990 census plan or whether the election is held in November of 2002 based on the 2000 census plan, assuming that the 2000 census plan is pre-cleared by the United States Justice Department.

4) On September 17, 2001, the Washington County Board of Supervisors did not accept the Western Line School District recommendation and requested the Western Line School District Board to give a specific recommendation if the Board wished to postpone the election in November of 2001 for District One.

Based upon the above information, I submit the following queries:

1) Does the Western Line School District Board of Trustees have the authority to recommend to the Washington County Board of Supervisors that the election for District One trustee scheduled for November, 2001 be postponed? If so, is the school board's recommendation binding on the Washington County Board of Supervisors?

2) If the School Board has such authority, should the election of a trustee for District One be held at a special election of a trustee for District One be held at a special election set after the 2000 census re-districting plan has been pre-cleared by the U.S. Justice Department or should the election be simultaneous with the election of a Trustee for District Two in November of 2002?

3) Does the Western Line School District Board of Trustees have the authority to postpone an election of a trustee for District One until the 2000 census re-districting plan has been pre-cleared by the U.S. Justice Department so as to assure that the voters of District One under the 2000 census re-districting plan are fairly represented?

Mississippi Code Annotated, Section 37-7-207(2) (Revised 2001) provides in part:

On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in any year in which any line consolidated school district shall elect to utilize the authority to create single member election districts, an election shall be held in each such district in this state for the purpose of electing the board of trustees of such district. At said election the member of said board from District One shall be elected for a term of one (1) year, the member from District Two shall be elected for a term of two (2) years, the member from District Three shall be elected for a term of three (3) years, the member from District Four shall be elected for a term of four (4) years, and the member from District Five shall be elected for a term of five (5) years. Thereafter, members shall be elected at general elections as vacancies occur for terms of five (5) years each.

In response to your inquiry, the election in question is scheduled by the above quoted statute. In the absence of a court order to the contrary, we find no authority for either a school board or a county board of supervisors to postpone an election that is set by statute.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By:

Phil Carter

Special Assistant Attorney General