SECTIONS 5090-5095 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 5090-5095

5090. Vacancies on school district governing boards or community
college district boards are caused by any of the events specified in
Section 1770 of the Government Code, or by a failure to elect. A
vacancy resulting from resignation occurs when the written
resignation is filed with the county superintendent of schools having
jurisdiction over the district, except where a deferred effective
date is specified in the resignation so filed, in which case the
resignation shall become effective on that date. A written
resignation, whether specifying a deferred effective date or
otherwise, shall, upon being filed with the county superintendent of
schools be irrevocable.

5091. (a) Whenever a vacancy occurs, or whenever a resignation has
been filed with the county superintendent of schools containing a
deferred effective date, the school district or community college
district governing board shall, within 60 days of the vacancy or the
filing of the deferred resignation, either order an election or make
a provisional appointment to fill the vacancy. A governing board
member may not defer the effective date of his or her resignation for
more than 60 days after he or she files the resignation with the
county superintendent of schools.
In the event that a governing board fails to make a provisional
appointment or order an election within the prescribed 60-day period
as required by this section, the county superintendent of schools
shall order an election to fill the vacancy.
(b) When an election is ordered, it shall be held on the next
established election date provided pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing
with Section 1000) of Division 1 of the Elections Code not less than
130 days after the order of the election.
(c) (1) If a provisional appointment is made within the 60-day
period, the registered voters of the district may, within 30 days
from the date of the appointment, petition for the conduct of a
special election to fill the vacancy. A petition shall be deemed to
bear a sufficient number of signatures if signed by at least the
number of registered voters of the district equal to 1 1/2 percent of
the number of registered voters of the district at the time of the
last regular election for governing board members, or 25 registered
voters, whichever is greater. However, in districts with registered
voters of less than 2,000 persons, a petition shall be deemed to bear
a sufficient number of signatures if signed by at least 5 percent of
the number of registered voters of the district at the time of the
last regular election for governing board members.
(2) The petition shall be submitted to the county superintendent
of schools having jurisdiction who shall have 30 days to verify the
signatures. If the petition is determined to be legally sufficient by
the county superintendent of schools, the provisional appointment is
terminated, and the county superintendent of schools shall order a
special election to be conducted no later than the 130th day after
the determination. However, if an established election date, as
defined in Section 1000 of the Elections Code, occurs between the
130th day and the 150th day following the order of the election, the
county superintendent of schools may order the special election to be
conducted on the regular election date.
(d) A provisional appointment made pursuant to subdivision (a)
confers all powers and duties of a governing board member upon the
appointee immediately following his or her appointment.
(e) A person appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold office only
until the next regularly scheduled election for district governing
board members, whereupon an election shall be held to fill the
vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term. A person elected at
an election to fill the vacancy shall hold office for the remainder
of the term in which the vacancy occurs or will occur.
(f) (1) Whenever a petition calling for a special election is
circulated, the petition shall meet all of the following
requirements:
(A) The petition shall contain the estimate of the elections
official of the cost of conducting the special election.
(B) The name and residence address of at least one, but not more
than five, of the proponents of the petition shall appear on the
petition, each of which proponents shall be a registered voter of the
school district or community college district, as applicable.
(C) None of the text or other language of the petition shall
appear in less than six-point type.
(D) The petition shall be prepared and circulated in conformity
with Sections 100 and 104 of the Elections Code.
(2) If any of the requirements of this subdivision are not met as
to any petition calling for a special election, the county
superintendent of schools shall not verify the signatures, nor shall
any further action be taken with respect to the petition.
(3) No person shall permit the list of names on petitions
prescribed by this section to be used for any purpose other than
qualification of the petition for the purpose of holding an election
pursuant to this section.
(4) The petition filed with the county superintendent of schools
shall be subject to the restrictions in Section 6253.5 of the
Government Code.
(g) Elections held pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c) shall be
conducted in as nearly the same manner as practicable as other
governing board member elections.

5092. Whenever a provisional appointment is made to the governing
board of a school district pursuant to Section 5091, the board shall,
within 10 days of the provisional appointment of a person to fill a
vacancy which occurs or will occur, post notices of both the actual
vacancy or the filing of a deferred resignation and also the
provisional appointment in three public places in the district and
shall publish a notice pursuant to Section 6061 of the Government
Code. If there is no newspaper of general circulation published in
the district, notice need not be published.
The notice shall state the fact of the vacancy or resignation and
the date of the occurrence of the vacancy or the date of the filing
of, and the effective date of, the resignation. The notice shall also
contain the full name of the provisional appointee to the board and
the date of his appointment, and a statement that unless a petition
calling for a special election, containing a sufficient number of
signatures, is filed in the office of county superintendent of
schools within 30 days of the date of the provisional appointment, it
shall become an effective appointment.

5093. (a) There shall be no special election or appointment to fill
a vacancy on a governing board if the vacancy occurs within four
months of the end of the term of that position.
(b) Section 5091 shall not apply to a vacancy on a governing board
if the vacancy occurs, or a resignation specifying a deferred
effective date is filed with the county superintendent of schools,
during the period between six months and 130 days prior to a
regularly scheduled governing board election and the position is not
scheduled to be filled at such election. In such a case, the position
shall be filled at a special election for that position to be
consolidated with the regular election. A person elected to fill a
position under this subdivision shall take office at the next
regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board following the
certification of the election and shall serve only until the end of
the term of the position which he or she was elected to fill.
(c) If a special election pursuant to Section 5091 could be
consolidated with the next regular election for governing board
members, and the vacant position is scheduled to be filled at such
regular election, there shall be no special election.

5094. If for any reason vacancies should occur in a majority of the
offices on any school district or community college district
governing board, the president of the county board of education
having jurisdiction may appoint members of the county board of
education to the district governing board until new members of the
governing board are elected or appointed.

5095. Whenever any of the offices on any school district governing
board or community college district governing board is vacant, the
remaining governing board member or members, if any, and any
governing board member or members elected or appointed to fill the
vacancies, who have qualified, shall have all the powers and perform
all the duties of the governing board.