Mississippi Advisory Opinions February 24, 1982: 19820224 (February 24, 1982)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mr. Lex Cain

Superintendent

Prentiss County Schools

P. O. Box 147

Booneville, Mississippi 38829

Re: Schools—Qualifications of County Superintendent

Dear Mr. Cain:

Attorney General Allain has received your letter of request dated February 22, 1982, and has assigned it to me for research and reply. Your inquiry states as follows:

This will confirm our telephone conversation of February 22, 1982, concerning House Bill #67 that was passed by the 1981 Mississippi Legislature.

Please inform me of the legal period of time that I would have to be a resident of the county in order to be eligible as a candidate for Superintendent next term. I have enclosed a copy of House Bill #67 and have underlined the particular paragraphs concerning this matter.

H. B. #67 of the 1981 Legislature amended Mississippi Code Annotated § 37-5-71 in pertinent part as follows:

(6) In any county traversed by the Natchez Trace Parkway wherein U.S. Highway 45 and Mississippi Highway 4 intersect and having a population of seventeen thousand nine hundred forty-nine (17, 949) according to the 1960 federal census, the qualified electors residing within any municipal separate school district shall not participate in the election of the county superintendent of education, and such county superintendent of education shall not be a resident of a municipal separate school district . (Emphasis supplied.)

This language is applicable to the election of the county superintendent in Prentiss County.

Section 37-5-73 (1) (1972) sets forth the qualifications of a county superintendent which includes the following:

Before anyone shall be eligible to hold by election the office of county superintendent of education he shall be a qualified elector and a citizen of the state for four years, and of the county for two years immediately preceding his election.

Although § 37-5-71 (6) (Supp. 1981) prohibits the county superintendent in Prentiss County from being a resident of a municipal separate school district, no statutes indicate how long his residence must be in the territory outside the municipal separate school districts. Therefore, there is no time period required for residency in the territory outside the municipal separate school districts, although the residency requirements of § 37-5-73 (1) remain applicable and do require residency within Prentiss County regardless of the location for two years immediately preceding the election.

If this office can be of benefit in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Bill Allain Attorney General.