Senate Bill sb2872

    Florida Senate - 2003        (NP)                      SB 2872

    By Senator Miller





    18-722-03

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the Pinellas County School

  3         District; providing procedures for the

  4         conversion from districtwide elections of all

  5         school board members to a system that combines

  6         single-member districts and districtwide

  7         representation; providing for the school board

  8         to draw the single-member district lines;

  9         providing an effective date.

10  

11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

12  

13         Section 1.  Notwithstanding any provisions to the

14  contrary in chapter 2001-294, Laws of Florida, the following

15  procedures apply to the conversion from districtwide election

16  of five Pinellas County school board members to the election

17  of four school board members from single-member districts and

18  three additional members from the entire school board

19  district, which transition was mandated through a referendum

20  passed on November 5, 2002:

21         (1)  DESIGNATION OF AT-LARGE AND SINGLE-MEMBER

22  DISTRICTS.--In calendar year 2003, the three seats to be

23  filled from the county at large shall be designated District

24  5, District 6, and District 7, respectively. The four seats to

25  be filled from single-member districts shall be designated

26  District 1, District 2, District 3, and District 4,

27  respectively. During calendar year 2003, the school board

28  shall determine the geographic boundaries for the four

29  single-member districts, which together must cover the entire

30  county and must be as nearly equal in population as is

31  practicable. The newly designated boundaries of Districts 1

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    Florida Senate - 2003        (NP)                      SB 2872
    18-722-03




 1  and 3 shall be effective for the first primary election in

 2  calendar year 2004 and thereafter, and the newly designated

 3  boundaries of Districts 2 and 4 shall be effective for the

 4  first primary election in calendar year 2006 and thereafter;

 5  however, residence within the newly designated boundaries does

 6  not disqualify a school board member before the end of his or

 7  her current term.

 8         (2)  BEGIN IMPLEMENTATION.--The first election in which

 9  the transition to single-member representation on the district

10  school board shall be implemented is the election of district

11  school board members held in conjunction with the first

12  primary election in calendar year 2004 and the runoff, if any,

13  during the general election of that year. In calendar year

14  2004, school board members shall be elected from the newly

15  created single-member Districts 1 and 3 and the at-large seat

16  for which the election is to be held in 2004, hereafter

17  designated as District 7. An incumbent school board member

18  from the previously existing school board member residence

19  area 1 or residence area 3 and the incumbent in the at-large

20  seat elected in calendar year 2000 may seek reelection from

21  one of the newly created single-member Districts 1 or 3 if he

22  or she resides within such district, or may seek reelection

23  from at-large District 7.

24         (3)  COMPLETE IMPLEMENTATION.--

25         (a)  The change to single-member representation shall

26  be fully implemented with the elections for district school

27  board members held in conjunction with the first primary and

28  general elections in calendar year 2006. In calendar year

29  2006, school board members shall be elected from the newly

30  created single-member Districts 2 and 4 and the newly created

31  at-large Districts 5 and 6. An incumbent school board member

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    Florida Senate - 2003        (NP)                      SB 2872
    18-722-03




 1  from the previously existing school board member residence

 2  areas 2, 4, or 5 and the incumbent in the at-large seat

 3  elected in 2002 may seek reelection from the newly created

 4  single-member District 2 or District 4 if he or she resides

 5  within such district, or may seek reelection from at-large

 6  District 5 or District 6.

 7         (b)  Thereafter, the school board shall consist of

 8  seven members, including four members from single-member

 9  districts and three members from the county at large, as

10  provided in this act. An election of a district school board

11  member must be nonpartisan and must be held at the same time

12  as the first primary and general elections, as provided by

13  law, and school board members shall be elected to

14  appropriately staggered terms of 4 years. Each candidate for

15  election to the district school board must be a qualified

16  elector of the county and, if he or she is seeking election to

17  a single-member residence area, a registered voter of that

18  residence area at the time of qualifying. Each person elected

19  to the district school board from a single-member residence

20  area shall be elected only by the electors who reside in the

21  single-member district in which he or she qualifies to run.

22  Each person elected to the district school board shall take

23  office on the third Tuesday after the first Monday in November

24  of the year in which he or she was elected. If certification

25  of the election is delayed, the elected person shall take

26  office at the next regular meeting of the school board after

27  the final certification takes place.

28         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

29  law.

30  

31  

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