Text: HF02137 Text: HF02139 Text: HF02100 - HF02199 Text: HF Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. Section 39.24, Code 1999, is amended to read as
1 2 follows:
1 3 39.24 SCHOOL OFFICERS.
1 4 Members of boards of directors of community and independent
1 5 school districts, boards of directors of area education
1 6 agencies, and boards of directors of merged areas shall be
1 7 elected at the school election. Their terms of office shall
1 8 be three years, except as otherwise provided by section
1 9 260C.11, 273.8, or 275.23A.
1 10 Sec. 2. Section 273.8, subsection 2, Code 1999, is amended
1 11 by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the
1 12 following:
1 13 2. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. The board of directors of the
1 14 area education agency shall be elected at the regular school
1 15 election. The election notice shall be made a part of the
1 16 local school election notice published as provided in section
1 17 49.53 in each local school district where voting is to occur
1 18 in the merged area election and the election shall be
1 19 conducted by the county commissioner of elections pursuant to
1 20 chapters 39 to 53 and section 277.20.
1 21 An area education agency board member may be a member of a
1 22 local school district board of directors and shall be an
1 23 elector and a resident of the director district, and shall not
1 24 be a school district employee. Directors shall be elected so
1 25 that as nearly as possible one-third of the members of the
1 26 board shall be elected each year. Vacancies shall be filled
1 27 by election and the provisions of section 69.12 shall control.
1 28 A candidate for member of the board of directors of an area
1 29 education agency area shall be nominated by a petition signed
1 30 by not less than fifty eligible electors of the director
1 31 district from which the member is to be elected. The petition
1 32 shall state the number of the director district from which the
1 33 candidate seeks election, and the candidate's name and status
1 34 as an eligible elector of the director district. Signers of
1 35 the petition, in addition to signing their names, shall show
2 1 their residence, including street and number if any, the
2 2 school district in which they reside, and the date they signed
2 3 the petition. A person may sign nomination petitions for more
2 4 than one candidate for the same office, and the signature is
2 5 not invalid solely because the person signed nomination
2 6 petitions for one or more other candidates for the office.
2 7 The petition shall include the affidavit of the candidate
2 8 being nominated, stating the candidate's name and residence,
2 9 and that the individual is a candidate, is eligible for the
2 10 office sought, and if elected will qualify for the office.
2 11 Nomination papers in behalf of candidates for member of the
2 12 board of directors of an area education agency shall be filed
2 13 with the secretary of the area education agency not earlier
2 14 than sixty-five days nor later than five p.m. on the fortieth
2 15 day prior to the election at which members of the board are to
2 16 be elected. The secretary shall deliver all nomination
2 17 petitions so filed to the county commissioner of elections who
2 18 is responsible under section 47.2 for conducting elections
2 19 held for the merged area, not later than five p.m. on the day
2 20 following the last day on which nomination petitions can be
2 21 filed. That commissioner shall certify the names of
2 22 candidates to all county commissioners of elections in the
2 23 area education agency area by the thirty-fifth day prior to
2 24 the election.
2 25 The votes cast in the election shall be canvassed and
2 26 abstracts of the votes cast shall be certified as required by
2 27 section 277.20. In each county whose commissioner of
2 28 elections is responsible under section 47.2 for conducting
2 29 elections held for an area education agency area, the county
2 30 board of supervisors shall convene on the last Monday in
2 31 September or at the last regular board meeting in September,
2 32 canvass the abstracts of votes cast, and declare the results
2 33 of the voting. The commissioner shall at once issue
2 34 certificates of election to each person declared elected.
2 35 Members elected to the board of directors of a merged area
3 1 shall qualify by taking the oath of office prescribed in
3 2 section 277.28.
3 3 Sec. 3. Section 273.8, subsection 5, Code 1999, is amended
3 4 by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the
3 5 following:
3 6 5. DIRECTOR DISTRICTS.
3 7 a. The board of a merged area may change the number of
3 8 directors on the board and shall make corresponding changes in
3 9 the boundaries of director districts. Changes shall be
3 10 completed not later than June 1 for the regular school
3 11 election to be held the next following September. As soon as
3 12 possible after adoption of the boundary changes, notice of
3 13 changes in the director district boundaries shall be submitted
3 14 by the merged area to the county commissioner of elections in
3 15 all counties included in whole or in part in the merged area.
3 16 b. The board of the merged area shall redraw boundary
3 17 lines of director districts in the merged area after each
3 18 census to compensate for changes in population if changes in
3 19 population have taken place. To the extent possible the board
3 20 shall provide that changes in the boundary lines of director
3 21 districts of area education agencies shall not lengthen or
3 22 diminish the term of office of a director of an area education
3 23 agency board. Initial terms of office shall be set by the
3 24 board so that as nearly as possible the terms of one-third of
3 25 the members expire annually.
3 26 c. Boundary lines of director districts shall be drawn
3 27 according to the following standards:
3 28 (1) All boundaries shall follow precinct boundaries or
3 29 school director district boundaries unless a merged area
3 30 director district boundary follows the boundary of a school
3 31 district which divides one or more election precincts.
3 32 (2) To the extent possible in order to comply with
3 33 paragraph "a", all districts shall be as nearly equal as
3 34 practicable to the ideal population for the districts as
3 35 determined by dividing the number of districts to be
4 1 established into the population of the merged area.
4 2 (3) All districts shall be composed of contiguous
4 3 territory as compact as practicable.
4 4 (4) Consideration shall not be given to the addresses of
4 5 incumbent officeholders, political affiliations of registered
4 6 voters, previous election results, or demographic information
4 7 other than population head counts, except as required by the
4 8 Constitution and the laws of the United States.
4 9 (5) Cities shall not be divided into two or more districts
4 10 unless the population of the city is greater than the ideal
4 11 size of a district. Cities shall be divided into the smallest
4 12 number of districts possible.
4 13 d. If more than one incumbent officeholder resides in a
4 14 district redrawn during reprecincting, their terms of office
4 15 expire after the next regular school election.
4 16 Sec. 4. Section 273.8, subsections 6 and 7, Code 1999, are
4 17 amended by striking the subsections.
4 18 Sec. 5. Section 277.1, Code 1999, is amended to read as
4 19 follows:
4 20 277.1 REGULAR ELECTION.
4 21 The regular election shall be held annually on the second
4 22 Tuesday in September in each school district for the election
4 23 of officers of the district, area education agency, and merged
4 24 area and for the purpose of submitting to the voters any
4 25 matter authorized by law.
4 26 Sec. 6. Section 277.20, unnumbered paragraph 2, Code 1999,
4 27 is amended to read as follows:
4 28 The abstracts of the votes cast for members of the board of
4 29 directors of any merged area, and of the votes cast on any
4 30 public question submitted to the voters of any merged area, or
4 31 for members of the board of directors of any area education
4 32 agency, shall be promptly certified by the commissioner to the
4 33 county commissioner of elections who is responsible under
4 34 section 47.2 for conducting the elections held for that merged
4 35 area or area education agency.
5 1 Sec. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE AND TRANSITION. This Act takes
5 2 effect January 1, 2001, for purposes of the transition from
5 3 election of directors of area education agencies annually at
5 4 the director district convention to annually at the regular
5 5 school election. The first election at which directors whose
5 6 terms expire shall be elected is the regular school election
5 7 held in September 2001.
5 8 The board of directors of each area education agency shall
5 9 review the expiration dates of the terms of office of its
5 10 directors and shall adopt by resolution a plan for shortening
5 11 terms of the members for the annual school election in
5 12 September 2001, so that the members whose terms expire at the
5 13 regular school election held in September 2001 will be elected
5 14 to three-year terms. The board shall submit a copy of the
5 15 resolution adopting its plan to the state commissioner of
5 16 elections no later than June 1, 2001. In developing the plan,
5 17 the board of directors shall take into consideration the terms
5 18 for which the members were elected and the number of votes the
5 19 members received in relation to the number of votes other
5 20 candidates received at the applicable director district
5 21 convention.
5 22 EXPLANATION
5 23 This bill provides for the election of the directors of
5 24 area education agency boards on the regular school election
5 25 day in September of each year. Currently, area education
5 26 agencies are required by law to elect board members at their
5 27 director district conventions. In order to accomplish these
5 28 purposes, the bill provides for a transition period.
5 29 The bill takes effect upon enactment for purposes of
5 30 holding the first regular school election in September 2001.
5 31 LSB 5116YH 78
5 32 sc/as/5
Text: HF02137 Text: HF02139 Text: HF02100 - HF02199 Text: HF Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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