South Carolina General Assembly
104th Session, 1981-1982

Bill 3890

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               3890
Ratification Number:       575
Act Number                 518
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Revise the membership of the Berkeley
                           County Board of Education and provide for the
                           election of the members
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(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A518, R575, H3890)

AN ACT TO REVISE THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE BERKELEY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION AND PROVIDE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE MEMBERS THEREOF FROM SINGLE-MEMBER ELECTION DISTRICTS IN NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS, TO PROVIDE THAT THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION SHALL BE APPOINTED BY THE BOARD, TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD TO PREPARE AN OPERATIONAL BUDGET FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF BERKELEY COUNTY AND TO SET THE NECESSARY TAX MILLAGE TO SUPPORT SUCH BUDGET, AND TO REPEAL ACT 602 OF 1971 AND ACT 224 OF 1981, RELATING TO THE BERKELEY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.

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

Composition of Berkeley County School Board

Section 1. The governing body of the School District of Berkeley County shall be a board to be known as the Berkeley County Board of Education. The board shall consist of eight members who beginning with the 1982 election shall be elected in the manner hereinafter specified in this act. The present members of the Berkeley County Board of Education shall continue to serve until January 1, 1983, at which time the members of the board elected in the manner provided for in this act shall take office. The county superintendent of education shall continue to serve until the term for which he was elected expires, and the person elected to that office in the general election of 1982 shall serve the full term for which elected. Thereafter the county superintendent of education shall be appointed by the board.

Election of members of the board

Section 2. The members of the board shall be elected in a nonpartisan election to be held at the same time as the 1982 general election for terms of four years; provided, however, that of those first elected the members from Districts 1, 3, 5, and 7 shall serve initial terms of two years. Successors to such members shall be elected in a nonpartisan election to be held at the same time as the general election thereafter. All members of the board shall serve until their successors are elected and qualify. Members shall take once on the first day of January following the election. At any election the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be deemed elected.

Any vacancy occurring for any reason other than expiration of a term shall be filled by election of the board by majority vote until the next scheduled election at which time a successor shall be elected for the remainder of the unexpired term. The present county superintendent of education and the person elected to that office in November, 1982, shall serve as chairman of the board. Commencing July 1, 1987, the board shall elect from among the members thereof one person to serve as chairman for a term of one year, provided that no chairman shall be eligible to serve more than two consecutive terms. Also commencing July 1, 1987, the county superintendent of education appointed by the board shall not be a member thereof.

District divided into single-member election districts

Section 3. For the purpose of electing members of the Berkeley County Board of Education, the School District of Berkeley County is hereby divided into eight single-member election districts which shall be the same as the single-member election districts from which members of the governing body of Berkeley County are elected.

Election of members

Section 4. One member of the Berkeley County Board of Education shall be elected from each of the eight single-member election districts established in Section 3 of this act. Each member of the board must be a resident of the district in which he is elected and shall be elected by the qualified electors of that district. All persons desiring to qualify as a candidate shall file written notice of such candidacy with the county election commission at least thirty days before the date set for any such election but not earlier than sixty days prior to an election. This notice of candidacy must be a sworn statement and shall include the candidate's name, age, voting precinct, single-member election district in which the candidate resides, period of residence in the district, and such other information as the county election commission shall require.

The county commissioners of election shall conduct and supervise all elections for members of the board in the manner governed by the election laws of this State mutatis mutandi. The commissioners shall prepare the necessary ballots, appoint managers for the voting precincts and do all things necessary to carry out such elections, including the counting of ballots and declaring the results thereof. The commissioners shall advertise the date of any such election sixty days preceding the election in the newspapers of general circulation published in Berkeley County and shall publish a second notice two weeks thereafter. The cost of the elections shall be borne by Berkeley County. The results of the elections shall be determined in accordance with the nonpartisan plurality method prescribed by Section 1 of Act 81 of 1977.

Board empowered to prepare operational budget

Section 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Berkeley County Board of Education is empowered to prepare an operational budget for the school district and to set the necessary tax millage for general school purposes of the district as reflected in the budget. For this purpose, the board shall furnish to the Auditor and Treasurer of Berkeley County before the second day of September of each year the school budget of the district for the ensuing year together with a certification as to the tax millage set by the board in order to finance the general school purposes of the district for that year as reflected in the budget. This tax levy shall be assessed and collected in the same manner as other ad valorem property taxes are assessed and collected.

Repeal

Section 6. (a) Act 602 of 1971 is repealed (which act collectively amends Sections 21-1451, 21-1454, 21-1455, and 21-1456 of the 1962 Code which are also repealed hereby).

(b) Act 224 of 1981 is repealed.

Time effective

Section 7. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor except as to Section 5 and that part of Section 6 relating to Section 4 of Act 602 of 1971 (Section 21-1456 of the 1962 Code), and as to them, this act shall take effect July 1, 1986.