1985-1986 Bill 4011: Consolidation of Dorchester County School District No. 1 and Dorchester County School District No. 3 into a single school district to be known as Dorchester County School District No. 4

South Carolina General Assembly
106th Session, 1985-1986

Bill 4011

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               4011
Ratification Number:       632
Act Number:                536
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Consolidation of Dorchester County School
                           District No. 1 and Dorchester County School
                           District No. 3 into a single school district
                           to be known as Dorchester County School
                           District No. 4

View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A536, R632, H4011)

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE CONSOLIDATION OF DORCHESTER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 AND DORCHESTER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 3 INTO A SINGLE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO BE KNOWN AS DORCHESTER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 4; TO PROVIDE FOR THE INITIAL COMPOSITION OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE NEW DISTRICT; TO ESTABLISH A SINGLE-MEMBER ELECTION METHOD FOR MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BODY; TO PROVIDE FOR THE TERMS; TO PROVIDE FOR A TRANSITION PERIOD; TO PROVIDE FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE ELECTION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD; TO PROVIDE THAT THE CONSOLIDATION TAKES EFFECT UPON APPROVAL BY THE UNITED STATES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT; TO PROVIDE THAT ALL ATTENDANCE AREAS IN DORCHESTER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTS 1 AND 3 EXISTING ON THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ACT ARE NOT AFFECTED BY THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT AND TO PROVIDE AN EXCEPTION; TO PROHIBIT THE CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS 2 AND 4 UNLESS APPROVED BY FAVORABLE REFERENDUM OF THE ELECTORS RESIDING IN EACH DISTRICT; TO REPEAL ACT 268 OF 1985 RELATING TO THE PROHIBITION UPON CONSOLIDATING THE THREE SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN DORCHESTER COUNTY, EXCEPT UPON PETITION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES IN THE DISTRICTS TO BE CONSOLIDATED AND APPROVAL OF A MAJORITY OF THE REGISTERED VOTERS OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO BE CONSOLIDATED VOTING IN A REFERENDUM AND RATIFIED BY THE DORCHESTER COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION; TO PROVIDE FOR THE ALTERATION OF THE BOUNDARIES OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS NOS. 1 AND 3 SO THAT THE ROSINVILLE COMMUNITY IS INCORPORATED INTO DORCHESTER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 AND TO PROVIDE FOR A DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA AND THE DATE THE ALTERATION IS EFFECTIVE; AND TO AMEND ACT 535 OF 1982, RELATING TO THE REQUIREMENT THAT MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF SUMMERVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 2 OF DORCHESTER COUNTY MUST BE ELECTED RATHER THAN APPOINTED AND TO PROVIDE THE MANNER IN WHICH THESE TRUSTEES MUST BE ELECTED, SO AS TO DELETE THE REQUIREMENT THAT A PERSON WISHING TO BECOME A CANDIDATE FOR ELECTION TO THE BOARD SHALL FILE A PETITION BEARING THE SIGNATURE OF THREE PERCENT OF THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS OF THE DISTRICT WITH THE COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSION AND TO REQUIRE INSTEAD THAT CANDIDATES SHALL FILE A WRITTEN NOTICE OF CANDIDACY WITH THE COMMISSION; TO REQUIRE THAT THE EXPENSES OF THE ELECTION OF BOARD MEMBERS MUST BE BORNE BY THE DISTRICT INSTEAD OF THE COUNTY; AND TO AMEND SECTION 7-7-230, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE DESIGNATION OF VOTING PRECINCTS AND VOTING PLACES IN DORCHESTER COUNTY, SO AS TO CHANGE THE VOTING PLACE IN PRECINCT NO. 16 (CLEMSON) FROM THE INDUSTRIAL BUILDING, HIGHWAY 78, TO THE DUBOSE MIDDLE SCHOOL.

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

PART I

School districts consolidated into single

district

SECTION 1. Upon approval of this Part by the United States Department of Justice pursuant to the Voting Rights Act, Dorchester County School District No. 1 and Dorchester County School District No. 3 are consolidated into a single school district to be known as Dorchester County School District No. 4, which is a body politic and corporate as provided in Section 59-17-10 of the 1976 Code and is vested with all of the powers, duties, and assets of the former districts.

Governing body, executive committee

SECTION 2. (A) The governing body of Dorchester County School District No. 4 is the executive committee as provided for in Section 3 of this Part.

(B) The board must be composed initially of the present members of the board of trustees of Dorchester County School District No. 1 and Dorchester County School District No. 3, who shall serve until the terms of the office to which they were elected or appointed expire or they resign or until the members succeeding them elected and appointed in 1988 assume office, whichever occurs first. Following the election of 1988, the board must be composed of seven members.

(C) In 1988 five members of the board of trustees of Dorchester County School District No. 4 must be elected from each of the five equally apportioned single-member election districts which the General Assembly establishes in 1987 based on the 1980 general census figures and two members must be appointed from the district at large by a majority vote of the Dorchester County Legislative Delegation for terms of two years. In 1992, all seven members of the board must be elected from seven single-member districts which the General Assembly shall establish.

(D) Trustees must be elected for terms of office of four years each and shall serve until their successors are elected and qualified except that of those first elected in 1988 from single-member districts, the member receiving the fewest votes shall serve for a term of two years and until his successor is elected and qualifies. Trustees elected by the qualified electors of the respective single-member districts must be elected in nonpartisan elections to be conducted at the same time as the general election of the applicable year.

(E) Trustees, including executive committee members serving pursuant to Section 3 of this act, shall receive no salary, but may receive the usual mileage, subsistence, and per diem allowed by law for members of state boards, committees, and commissions.

Board of education to select executive

committee

SECTION 3. Upon approval of this Part by the United States Department of Justice pursuant to the Voting Rights Act, the Dorchester County Board of Education shall select from the fourteen-member board a seven-member executive committee, who shall serve for terms determined by the Dorchester County Board of Education or until replaced by elected and appointed trustees in 1988, whichever occurs first. The committee must initially consist of four members from Dorchester County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees and three members from Dorchester County School District No. 3 Board of Trustees. The executive committee shall function as the governing body of the district. The members of the executive committee shall meet promptly after their appointment and shall elect from their number a chairperson and vice-chairperson. The members of the executive committee shall elect a superintendent who shall report directly and exclusively to the executive committee. Any vacancies on the executive committee must be filled by appointment by the Dorchester County Board of Education.

Budget to be prepared

SECTION 4. The Executive Committee of Dorchester County School District No. 4 shall promptly prepare and submit to the appropriate taxing authority a budget for the ensuing year.

Election from single-member election districts

SECTION 5. The popularly elected members of the board of trustees must be residents of the single-member district from which they are elected and must be elected as provided in this Part. The members appointed by the Dorchester County Legislative Delegation must be qualified electors of the district. All persons desiring to qualify as candidates and be elected to the board by the qualified electors shall file written notice of candidacy with the Dorchester County Election Commission at least sixty days before the date set for the election but not earlier than ninety days prior to the election. This notice of candidacy must be a sworn statement and must include the candidate's name, age, voting precinct, period of residence in the applicable single-member district, and other information the commission requires.

The Dorchester County Election Commission shall conduct and supervise the elections in the manner governed by the election laws of this State, mutatis mutandi. The commission shall prepare the necessary ballots, appoint managers for the voting precincts, and do all things necessary to carry out the elections, including the counting of ballots and declaring the results of the elections. The commission shall advertise the date of the election ninety days preceding the election in a newspaper of general circulation published in the district and shall publish a second notice thirty days before the election. The costs of the election must be borne by the district.

The results of the election must be determined in accordance with the nonpartisan plurality method prescribed by Section 5-15-61 of the 1976 Code.

Attendance areas not affected

SECTION 6. Except for the transfer of the area to School District No. 1 as provided in Part II of this act, all attendance areas existing on the effective date of this act are not affected by the provisions of this act.

Districts prohibited from consolidation -

conditions

SECTION 7. Dorchester County School District No. 4, created under the provisions of this Part, and Dorchester County School District No. 2 are prohibited from consolidating unless the registered electors of each school district approve a consolidation of the two districts which must be conducted at the time of a general election.

Repeal

SECTION 8. Act 268 of 1985 is repealed.

PART II

Boundary of school districts altered

SECTION 1. The boundaries of Dorchester County School District Nos. 1 and 3 are altered in accordance with Section 59-17-20, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, so that the Rosinville community is incorporated into Dorchester County School District No. 1. The area transferred to School District No. 1 is described as follows: Beginning at a point on Road 37 at Indian Field Swamp and running thereon in a northeasterly direction until the same intersects with U. S. Highway 178, then continuing in a northeasterly direction until the same intersects with Road 50 and then from the point of intersection of Road 50 and Road 37 in a straight line to the beginning of an unnamed branch of the Pee Dee Branch, then northwesterly to the intersection with I-26, then northwesterly in a straight line to a point in Four Hole Swamp approximately one and one-quarter miles south of Highway 15.

Effective date of alteration

SECTION 2. The alteration of school district lines provided in this Part are effective beginning with the 1986 ad valorem tax year and the 1986-87 school year.

PART III

Summerville School District No. 2, composition

of board, election

Subsection (b) of Section 2 of Act 535 of 1982 is amended to read:

"(b) Beginning January 1, 1983, the board of trustees of Summerville School District No. 2 shall consist of seven members who must be residents of the district they represent and who must be elected at large by the qualified electors of that district. Members of the board must be elected in a nonpartisan election conducted by the county election commission at the time of the 1982 general election. The seven candidates receiving the highest number of votes are elected. The four elected members of the board receiving the highest vote shall serve terms of four years and the three elected members receiving the next highest vote shall serve initial terms of two years each. Thereafter, their successors must be elected in nonpartisan elections held at the time of the general election every two years, as terms expire, for terms of four years but in no case may any trustee serve more than two successive four-year terms. All members of the board shall serve until their successors are elected and qualify. Vacancies on the board must be filled by appointment of the county legislative delegation until the next general election at which time a successor must be elected in the same manner provided herein for the unexpired term or for a full term as the case may be. Any person who wishes to become a candidate for election to the board shall file written notice of candidacy with the Dorchester County Election Commission at least sixty days before the date set for the election but not earlier than ninety days prior to the election. This notice of candidacy must be a sworn statement and must include the candidate's name, age, voting precinct, period of residence in the district, and other information the commission may require. When validated the commission shall place the name of the candidate on the ballot without regard to party affiliation.

A separate, nonpartisan ballot must be used for the election of the board. It shall comply substantially with the provisions of Article 3 of Chapter 13 of Title 7 of the 1976 Code, mutatis mutandi. The expenses of the election must be borne by the district."

PART IV

Voting place changed

Item 16 of Section 7-7-230 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 294 of 1984, is further amended to read:

"16. Clemson Dubose Middle School."

PART V

Time effective

This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.