Florida Senate - 2011 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 778
Barcode 530934
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
04/14/2011 .
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The Committee on Education Pre-K - 12 (Benacquisto) recommended
the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Section 1001.3615, Florida Statutes, is created
6 to read:
7 1001.3615 Election of district school board members in
8 counties in which the population exceeds 2 million.—
9 (1) Notwithstanding ss. 1001.36, 1001.361, and 1001.362, in
10 a county in which the population exceeds 2 million people, the
11 district school board shall consist of nine members. Seven of
12 the nine members shall reside one in each of seven residence
13 areas, the areas together covering the entire district and as
14 nearly equal in population as practicable, according to the most
15 recent decennial census, and each shall be elected only by the
16 qualified electors who reside in the same residence area as the
17 member. Two of the nine members shall be elected from the county
18 at large. Members shall be elected in a nonpartisan election as
19 provided in chapter 105.
20 (2) Notwithstanding s. 1001.371, the school board members
21 elected at large shall serve as the chair and vice chair of the
22 school board. The ballot for the office of chair shall state:
23 “Chair of the School Board” followed by a list of candidates who
24 have qualified for that office. The ballot for the office of
25 vice chair shall state: “Vice Chair of the School Board”
26 followed by a list of candidates who have qualified for that
27 office. The candidate who receives the highest number of votes
28 in the general election shall be elected to the office for which
29 the candidate has qualified.
30 (3) All members shall be elected for 4-year terms, but the
31 terms shall be staggered so that, alternately, one more or one
32 less than half of the members elected from residence areas and,
33 if applicable, one of the members elected at large from the
34 entire district are elected every 2 years. Any member may be
35 elected to an initial term of less than 4 years if necessary to
36 achieve or maintain such system of staggered terms.
37 (4)(a) In odd-numbered years, the district school board may
38 change the boundaries of the residence areas at any meeting of
39 the district school board.
40 (b) The changes in boundaries shall be shown by resolution
41 spread upon the minutes of the district school board, shall be
42 recorded in the office of the clerk of the circuit court, and
43 shall be published at least once in a newspaper published in the
44 district within 30 days after the adoption of the resolution,
45 or, if there is no newspaper published in the district, shall be
46 posted at the county courthouse door for 4 weeks after the
47 adoption of the resolution. A certified copy of the resolution
48 shall be transmitted to the Department of State.
49 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
50
51 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
52 And the title is amended as follows:
53 Delete everything before the enacting clause
54 and insert:
55 A bill to be entitled
56 An act relating to district school board membership;
57 creating s. 1001.3615, F.S.; requiring that district
58 school boards consist of nine members in counties
59 where the population exceeds a certain number;
60 providing for single-member and at-large districts;
61 requiring nonpartisan elections; providing for the
62 election of a chair and vice chair of the school
63 board; providing for 4-year terms of office and
64 staggered terms of members; permitting changes in the
65 boundaries of school board member residence areas and
66 providing the procedure for publication of those
67 changes; providing an effective date.