Florida Senate - 2011 CS for SB 778
By the Committee on Education Pre-K - 12; and Senator Diaz de la
Portilla
581-04583-11 2011778c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to district school board membership;
3 creating s. 1001.3615, F.S.; requiring that district
4 school boards consist of nine members in counties
5 where the population exceeds a certain number;
6 providing for single-member and at-large districts;
7 requiring nonpartisan elections; providing for the
8 election of a chair and vice chair of the school
9 board; providing for 4-year terms of office and
10 staggered terms of members; permitting changes in the
11 boundaries of school board member residence areas and
12 providing the procedure for publication of those
13 changes; providing an effective date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Section 1001.3615, Florida Statutes, is created
18 to read:
19 1001.3615 Election of district school board members in
20 counties in which the population exceeds 2 million.—
21 (1) Notwithstanding ss. 1001.36, 1001.361, and 1001.362, in
22 a county in which the population exceeds 2 million people, the
23 district school board shall consist of nine members. Seven of
24 the nine members shall reside one in each of seven residence
25 areas, the areas together covering the entire district and as
26 nearly equal in population as practicable, according to the most
27 recent decennial census, and each shall be elected only by the
28 qualified electors who reside in the same residence area as the
29 member. Two of the nine members shall be elected from the county
30 at large. Members shall be elected in a nonpartisan election as
31 provided in chapter 105.
32 (2) Notwithstanding s. 1001.371, the school board members
33 elected at large shall serve as the chair and vice chair of the
34 school board. The ballot for the office of chair shall state:
35 “Chair of the School Board” followed by a list of candidates who
36 have qualified for that office. The ballot for the office of
37 vice chair shall state: “Vice Chair of the School Board”
38 followed by a list of candidates who have qualified for that
39 office. The candidate who receives the highest number of votes
40 in the general election shall be elected to the office for which
41 the candidate has qualified.
42 (3) All members shall be elected for 4-year terms, but the
43 terms shall be staggered so that, alternately, one more or one
44 less than half of the members elected from residence areas and,
45 if applicable, one of the members elected at large from the
46 entire district are elected every 2 years. Any member may be
47 elected to an initial term of less than 4 years if necessary to
48 achieve or maintain such system of staggered terms.
49 (4)(a) In odd-numbered years, the district school board may
50 change the boundaries of the residence areas at any meeting of
51 the district school board.
52 (b) The changes in boundaries shall be shown by resolution
53 spread upon the minutes of the district school board, shall be
54 recorded in the office of the clerk of the circuit court, and
55 shall be published at least once in a newspaper published in the
56 district within 30 days after the adoption of the resolution,
57 or, if there is no newspaper published in the district, shall be
58 posted at the county courthouse door for 4 weeks after the
59 adoption of the resolution. A certified copy of the resolution
60 shall be transmitted to the Department of State.
61 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.