HB 0823, Engrossed 1 2003
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the Pinellas County School Board; revising
3	procedures for the election of school board members; providing
4	guidelines for implementation; providing an effective date.
5
6	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
7
8	Section 1. The following procedures shall apply to the
9	conversion of the election of Pinellas County School Board
10	members from the districtwide election of all members to the
11	election of four school board members from single-member
12	districts and the election of three school board members
13	districtwide:
14	(1) Year 2003; designation of at-large and single-member
15	districts.--The three seats to be filled from the county at
16	large shall be designated District 1, District 2, and District
17	3, respectively. The four seats to be filled from single-member
18	districts shall be designated District 4, District 5, District
19	6, and District 7, respectively. During the year 2003, the
20	school board shall determine the geographic boundaries for the
21	four single-member districts, which shall together cover the
22	entire county and be as nearly equal in population as
23	practicable. The newly designated boundaries of Districts 4 and
24	5 shall be effective for the first primary election in the year
25	2004 and thereafter, and the newly designated boundaries of
26	Districts 6 and 7 shall be effective for the first primary
27	election in the year 2006 and thereafter. However, the newly
28	designated boundaries shall not have the effect of disqualifying
29	a school board member before the end of his or her current term.
30	(2) Year 2004; begin implementation.--Implementation of
31	the conversion to single-member representation on the district
32	school board shall begin with the election of district school
33	board members held in conjunction with the first primary
34	election in the year 2004 and with the runoff, if any, during
35	the general election of that year. In the year 2004, school
36	board members from the newly created single-member Districts 4
37	and 5 and the at-large seat for which election is to be held in
38	that year, hereafter designated as District 1, shall be elected.
39	An incumbent school board member from the previously existing
40	school board member residence area 1 or area 3 and the incumbent
41	in the at-large seat elected in the year 2000 may seek
42	reelection from one of the newly created single-member Districts
43	4 and 5 if he or she resides within such district, or may seek
44	reelection from at-large District 1.
45	(3) Year 2006; complete implementation.--The conversion to
46	single-member representation on the district school board shall
47	be fully implemented with the election of district school board
48	members held in conjunction with the first primary and general
49	elections in the year 2006. In the year 2006, school board
50	members from the newly created single-member Districts 6 and 7
51	and the newly created at-large Districts 2 and 3 shall be
52	elected. An incumbent school board member from the previously
53	existing school board member residence area 2, area 4, or area 5
54	and the incumbent in the at-large seat elected in the year 2002
55	may seek reelection from one of the newly created single-member
56	Districts 6 and 7 if he or she resides within such district, or
57	may seek reelection from at-large District 2 or 3.
58	(4) Subsequent years.--Thereafter, the governing body of
59	the district school board shall consist of seven members, with
60	four members from single-member districts and three members from
61	the county at large as provided in this act. All elections for
62	district school board members shall be nonpartisan and held at
63	the same time as the first primary and general elections as
64	provided by law, and district school board members shall be
65	elected to appropriately staggered terms of 4 years. Each
66	candidate for election to the district school board must be a
67	qualified elector of the county and, if seeking election to a
68	single-member residence area, a registered voter of that
69	residence area at the time of qualifying. Each person elected to
70	the district school board from a single-member residence area
71	shall be elected only by the electors residing in the single-
72	member district for which he or she qualified. Each person
73	elected to the district school board shall take office on the
74	third Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the year in
75	which he or she was elected. If certification of the election is
76	delayed, the person elected shall take office at the next
77	regular meeting of the district school board after final
78	certification.
79	Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
80	law.