22.1-57.3 - Election of school board members; appointment of tie breaker. - Virginia Statutes

§ 22.1-57.3. Election of school board members; appointment of tie breaker.

A. If a majority of the qualified voters voting in such referendum vote infavor of changing the method of selecting school board members to directelection by the voters, then the members of the school board shall be electedby popular vote. Elections of school board members in a county, city, or townshall be held to coincide with the elections for members of the governingbody of the county, city, or town at the regular general election in Novemberor the regular general election in May, as the case may be.

B. The initial elected board shall consist of the same number of members asthe appointed school board it replaces, and the members shall be elected fromthe established county or municipal election districts, at large, or acombination thereof, on the same basis as the school board previously wasappointed. If the appointed school board being replaced has not beenappointed either on an at-large basis or on the basis of the establishedcounty or municipal election districts, or a combination thereof, the membersshall be elected at large unless the governing body of the county, city, ortown provides for the election of school board members on the basis of theestablished county or municipal election districts. If the appointed schoolboard being replaced has been appointed at large, the governing body of thecounty, city, or town may establish school election districts for theelection of school board members. The governing body may provide for alocality-wide district, one or more districts comprised of a part of thelocality, or any combination thereof, and for the apportionment of one ormore school board members to any district.

The terms of the members of the elected school board for any county, city, ortown shall be the same as the terms of the members of the governing body forthe county, city, or town. In any locality in which both the school board andthe governing body are elected from election districts, as opposed to beingelected wholly on an at-large basis, the elections of the school board memberand governing body member from each specific district shall be heldsimultaneously except as otherwise provided in §§ 22.1-57.3:1 and22.1-57.3:1.1.

At the first election for members of the school board, so many members shallbe elected as there are members to be elected at the regular election for thegoverning body. At each subsequent regular election for members of thegoverning body, the same number of members of the school board shall beelected as the number of members to be elected at the regular election to thegoverning body. However, if the number of members on the school board differsfrom the number of members of the governing body, the number of memberselected to the school board at the first and subsequent general electionshall be either more or less than the number of governing body members, asappropriate, to the end that the number of members on the initial electedschool board is the same as the number of members on the appointed boardbeing replaced.

Except as provided in §§ 22.1-57.3:1 and 22.1-57.3:1.1, the terms of themembers of the school board shall be staggered only if the terms of themembers of the governing body are staggered. If there are more, or fewer,members on the school board than on the governing body, the number of membersto be elected to the school board at the first and subsequent election forschool board members shall be the number required to establish the staggeredterm structure so that (i) a majority of the members of the school board iselected at the same time as a majority of the members of the governing body;(ii) if one-half of the governing body is being elected and the school boardhas an even number of members, one-half of the members of the school board iselected; (iii) if one-half of the governing body is being elected and theschool board has an odd number of members, the majority by one member of theschool board is elected at the first election and the remainder of the schoolboard is elected at the second election; or (iv) if a majority of the membersof the governing body is being elected and the school board has an evennumber of members, one-half of the members of the school board is elected.

If the school board is elected at large and the terms of the members of theschool board are staggered, the school board members to be replaced at thefirst election shall include all appointed school board members whoseappointive terms are scheduled to expire on December 31 or on June 30, as thecase may be, next following the first election of county, city or town schoolboard members. If the number of school board members whose appointive termsare so scheduled to expire is zero or less than the number of school boardmembers to be elected at the first election, the appointed school boardmembers to be replaced at the first election shall also include those whoseappointive terms are scheduled to expire next subsequent to the date on whichthe terms of office of the first elected school board members will commence.If the appointive terms of more than one school board member are scheduled toexpire simultaneously, but less than all of such members are to be replacedat the first election, then the identity of such school board member ormembers to be replaced at the first election shall be determined by a drawingheld by the county or city electoral board at least ten days prior to thelast day for a person to qualify as a candidate for school board member.

In any case in which school board members are elected from electiondistricts, as opposed to being elected from the county, city, or town atlarge, the election districts for the school board shall be coterminous withthe election districts for the county, city, or town governing body, exceptas may be specifically provided for the election of school board members in acounty, city, or town in which the governing body is elected at large.

C. The terms of office for the school board members shall commence on January1 or July 1, as the case may be, following their election. On December 31 orJune 30, as the case may be, following the first election of county, city ortown school board members, the terms of office of the members of the schoolboard in office through appointment shall expire and the school boardselection commission, if there is one, shall be abolished. If the entireschool board is not elected at the first election of school board members,only the terms of the appointed members being replaced shall so expire andthe terms of the appointed members being replaced at a subsequent electionshall continue or be extended to expire on December 31 or June 30, asappropriate, of the year of the election of the school board membersreplacing them.

D. Except as otherwise provided herein, a vacancy in the office of anyelected school board member shall be filled pursuant to §§ 24.2-226 and24.2-228. In any county that has adopted the urban county executive form ofgovernment and that has adopted an elected school board, any vacancy on theelected school board shall be filled in accordance with the procedures setforth in § 15.2-802, mutatis mutandis. Notwithstanding any provision of lawor charter to the contrary, if no candidates file for election to a schoolboard office and no person who is qualified to hold the office is elected bywrite-in votes, a vacancy shall be deemed to exist in the office as ofJanuary 1 or July 1, as the case may be, following the general election. Forthe purposes of this subsection and Article 6 (§ 24.2-225 et seq.) of Chapter2 of Title 24.2, local school boards comprised of elected and appointedmembers shall be deemed elected school boards.

E. In order to have their names placed on the ballot, all candidates shall benominated only by petition as provided by general law pursuant to § 24.2-506.

F. For the purposes of this section, the election and term of the mayor orchairman of the board of supervisors shall be deemed to be an election andterm of a member of the governing body of the municipality or county,respectively, whether or not the mayor or chairman is deemed to be a memberof the governing body for any other purpose.

G. No employee of a school board shall be eligible to serve on the board withwhom he is employed.

H. Any elected school board may appoint a qualified voter who is a residentof the county, city, or town to cast the deciding vote in case of a tie voteof the school board as provided in § 22.1-75. The term of office of eachtiebreaker so appointed shall be four years whether the appointment is tofill a vacancy caused by expiration of term or otherwise.

(1992, c. 594; 1993, c. 878; 1994, c. 723; 1996, c. 873; 2000, c. 1045; 2006,c. 29; 2007, c. 100; 2010, c. 95.)