Bill 867

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               867
Ratification Number:       719
Act Number                 792
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   Election of members of Spartanburg County
                           Board of Education

(A792, R719, S867)

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR SPARTANBURG COUNTY, PROVIDE FOR THE TERMS OF OFFICE, STAGGERING TERMS, METHOD BY WHICH CANDIDATES' NAMES MAY BE PLACED ON THE BALLOT, AND FOR FILLING OF VACANCIES; TO AMEND ACT 612 OF 1984, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE METHOD OF CONDUCTING AN ELECTION FOR TRUSTEES OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY, SO AS TO AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION TO FILL VACANCIES IN THE BOARDS AND TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD TO CONTRACT TO PURCHASE AND HOLD REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Election of members of county board of education

SECTION 1. (A) Beginning with the election held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November of 1989, and every odd-numbered year thereafter, the members of the Spartanburg County Board of Education must be elected in a nonpartisan election by the qualified electors who elect members of the two school districts. The applicable laws governing elections in this State apply to the election of members, mutatis mutandi. The county commissioners of election shall prepare the necessary ballots, appoint managers for the voting precincts in the county and do all things necessary to carry out the election. The district must pay from its school funds the cost of the election. The managers shall report the results to the county commissioners of election who shall declare its results and hear, pass, and decide on any contest. The decision of the commissioners of election may be appealed to a court of competent jurisdiction.

(B) Terms of office of the members of the board expire in the following manner and each member shall run for election as provided in this act. The members whose terms expire in 1988 and 1990 are extended for one year in which they expire. After November 1995, all members must be elected under the provisions of this act. All terms of office begin December first of the year following the election. Any member of the board may succeed himself.

(C) To place the name of a candidate on the ballot, qualified electors of the county shall file with the Spartanburg County Election Commission, not less than sixty days before the date of the election, a petition which must contain the names of qualified electors of a number equal to not less than three hundred percent of the total number of electors of the district, whichever is the lesser.

(D) If a vacancy occurs and it is more than one hundred eighty days prior to the election of board members, a special election must be conducted by the county commissioners of election to fill the vacancy as provided in this act. If there is less than one hundred eighty days prior to the election of board members when the vacancy occurs, no special election may be called, and the vacancy must be filled at the time of the election of board members.

Filling vacancies

SECTION 2. Section 1 of Act 612 of 1984, as last amended by Act 617 of 1986, is amended by adding:

"(E) The county board of education shall fill any vacancy in the governing body of any school district."

Board may contract to purchase and hold real and personal property

SECTION 3. The Spartanburg County Board of Education is authorized to contract, to the extent of its school fund, to purchase and hold real and personal property as it may have or come into possession of, by will or other means.

Time effective

SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.