Maine

20-A M.R.S.A. § 1251

MAINE REVISED STATUTES ANNOTATED

TITLE 20-A. EDUCATION

PART 2. SCHOOL ORGANIZATION

CHAPTER 103. SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICTS

SUBCHAPTER III. SCHOOL DIRECTORS

§ 1251. Board of directors

Provisions for a board of directors shall be as follows.

1. Size. The size shall be determined by the joint meeting under section 1203 or by the reapportionment committee under section 1255, but shall not be less than 5. It shall include at least one director from each municipality or subdistrict.

2. Term of office. In municipalities with annual elections, directors shall serve a 3-year term. In municipalities with biennial elections, directors shall serve a 4-year term. A director shall serve until a successor is elected and qualified.

3. Terms of office under district formation. The newly elected directors under a district formation or reapportionment plan shall meet and draw lots for the length of term specified as follows.

A. In municipalities with annual elections, 1/3 of the directors shall serve one-year terms, 1/3 shall serve 2-year terms and 1/3 shall serve 3-year terms. If the number of directors is not evenly divisible by 3, the first remaining director shall serve a 3-year term and the 2nd a 2-year term.

B. In municipalities with biennial elections, 1/2 of the directors shall serve a 4-year term and 1/2 a 2-year term. If the number of directors is not divisible by 2, the remaining director shall serve a 4-year term.

C. The directors shall serve their terms as determined at the organizational meeting and an additional period until the next regular election of the municipalities. Thereafter, the directors' terms of office shall be established in accordance with the provisions of section 1003.

4. Compensation. Compensation for attendance at a school board meeting shall be between $10 and $25 per meeting. Whenever the directors recommend to increase their compensation, they shall submit their recommendation to the district voters for approval.

A. On notification by the school board, the municipal officers shall, at the next regular or special town meeting or city election, prepare a warrant or ballot for the purpose of voting on the proposed increase.

The question shall be in the following form.

"Should the School Administrative District No. ________ directors be paid compensation at the rate of $________ for each meeting which each director attends?"

B. No increase in compensation is effective unless approved by a majority of the voters voting on the question.

5. Secretary and treasurer. The superintendent shall serve as secretary and treasurer of the school board and shall give a bond to the district of a sum and with the sureties as the school board shall determine. The bond shall be deposited with the chairman. The expense of that bond shall be paid by the district. The bond premium, compensation paid directors for attendance at meetings and expenses of the district shall be paid from funds of the district by the treasurer on vouchers presented and certified by the superintendent and approved by a majority of the school board or a finance committee duly elected annually by that board.

6. Oath of office. Before their first meeting, newly elected directors must take the following oath or affirmation before a dedimus justice or notary public.

"I ... do swear that I will faithfully discharge to the best of my abilities the duties encumbent on me as a school director of School Administrative District No. ... according to the Constitution and laws of this State. So help me God."

A. A director shall take the oath or affirmation and return a certificate documenting that the oath has been taken to the secretary of the district to place in the district records.

B. If a director is conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, the word "affirm" may be used instead of "swear" and the words "this I do under the pains and penalty of perjury" instead of the words "so help me God."

7. Election of officers. The board of directors shall elect a chairman and vice-chairman and other officers as may be necessary.

20-A M.R.S.A. § 1252

§ 1252. Methods of representation

The following are methods of representation.

1. Method A: Subdistrict representation. Directors shall represent subdistricts.

A. The subdistricts, as far as practicable, shall be whole municipalities. If the municipalities are divided into subdistricts, then they shall be divided into subdistricts of approximately equal size as determined by the latest Federal Decennial Census or Federal Estimated Census. The municipal officers shall provide a separate voting place for each subdistrict of the municipality.

B. The boundaries of each subdistrict shall be determined by a majority vote of the joint meeting or reapportionment committee. Each subdistrict shall have one director, except that in a municipality comprised of 2 or more subdistricts, the joint meeting may authorize the election of directors-at- large.

2. Method B: Weighted votes. Directors shall cast weighted votes.

A. The committee shall apportion 1,000 votes among all the members of the board. The ratio of the number of votes cast by the directors representing a municipality in relation to the number 1,000 shall be the same ratio to the nearest whole number as the population of the municipality is in relation to the population of all municipalities in the district, as determined by the latest Federal Decennial Census or Federal Estimated Census.

B. To assure the use of whole numbers, the 1,000 votes apportioned among the board members may be increased or decreased by not more than 5 votes.

C. A plan may not permit the voting power of any director to exceed by more than 2% the percentage of voting power the director would have if all 1,000 votes were apportioned equally among the directors.

D. In a municipality served by 2 or more directors, the votes cast by them shall be divided equally among them. The directors shall be elected at large within the municipality unless otherwise provided by municipal charter.

3. Method C: At-large voting. Directors shall be elected at large by all of the voters in the district.

4. Method D: Other. Directors may be elected by any other method that meets the requirements of the one-man, one-vote principle that is not included in Methods A, B or C.

20-A M.R.S.A. § 1253

§ 1253. Election

For the purpose of nominations, school directors shall be considered municipal officials and shall be nominated in accordance with Title 30-A, chapter 121, > [FN1] or with a municipal charter, whichever is applicable.

1. Initial meeting on district formation. On the election of the school directors, the clerk of each municipality within the school administrative district shall forward the names of the directors elected for that municipality to the state board with other data with regard to their election as the state board may require. On receipt of the names of all of the directors, the state board shall set a time, place and date for the first meeting of the directors and give notice to the directors in the manner set forth in section 1202, subsection 3, paragraph A.

2. Special provisions. In the election for representation under the methods provided in section 1252 the following shall apply.

A. Under Method A:

(1) Within 60 days, but no earlier than 45 days after notification by the board of directors of the approval or reapportionment plan, the municipal officers shall call a special election to elect directors to serve under the plan for the school administrative district;

(2) Nomination papers must be furnished by the secretary of the district at least 10 days before the deadline for filing of nomination papers. Notwithstanding any other section of this Title, directors must be nominated by obtaining a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 50 signatures of registered voters residing within the subdistrict. The secretary shall notify the municipal officers of the names of candidates in each subdistrict;

(3) The ballots must be prepared in accordance with subparagraph (7);

(4) The clerks of each municipality shall forward to the secretary the results of the vote by subdistrict;

(5) The board of directors shall meet and total the votes cast for each candidate within each subdistrict and shall immediately notify the clerks in each municipality, the candidates and the commissioner of the results of the vote;

(6) The terms of the directors elected under the original municipal representation system cease on the date that the newly elected directors are sworn into office; and

(7) Notwithstanding any other provision of statute, directors must be elected by secret ballot. The ballots must be prepared for and distributed to the municipalities or subdistricts by the secretary of the district.

A-1 Under Method B:

(1) Reductions in the number of directors must take place in accordance with section 1255, subsection 1, paragraph B;

(2) Additional directors must be added in accordance with section 1255, subsection 1, paragraph C; and

(3) The term of office of additional directors must be determined in accordance with section 1251, subsection 3.

B. Under Method C:

(1) Nominations for directors shall be made on petitions provided by the district secretary. The petitions shall be signed as provided in Title 30- A, section 2528, subsection 4, or if the candidate is a voting resident in a municipality having less than 200 population, signed by at least 20% of the registered voters of that municipality;

(2) The petitions shall be submitted to the registrar of voters in the respective municipalities for certification of the voting residence of the director nominated and of the voters signing the petition;

(3) The registrar of voters shall return the certified petitions to the district secretary not later than 30 days prior to the date of the annual election to be held in the municipality;

(4) The ballot shall be prepared and distributed by the district secretary. It shall give the number of offices to be filled and list the candidates by municipalities or subdistricts in which they are resident;

(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, school directors shall be elected by secret ballot;

(6) If all member municipalities do not conduct the election for directors on the same date, then all ballots cast in the elections shall be impounded by the clerk of each municipality:

(a) After all municipalities have voted, the clerks and one or more election supervisors designated by the municipal officers of each municipality shall meet at an agreed upon location and tally the ballot;

(b) The tally shall be completed within one day of the last member municipality election;

(c) The election supervisors shall select from among their members a chairman who shall supervise the tally of ballots; and

(d) The clerk of each municipality shall as promptly as possible after the election certify to the board of directors the result of the voting in that municipality; and

(7) Any recount petitions shall be filed with the secretary of the board of directors and recounts shall be conducted in each member municipality in accordance with the applicable laws.

20-A M.R.S.A. § 1254

§ 1254. Vacancies

Declaration and filling of vacancies shall be as follows.

1. Definition of vacancy. A vacancy occurs:

A. When the term of the office of a school director expires;

B. When a school director changes residency from the municipality or subdistrict from which elected. Evidence that an individual is registered to vote in a municipality is prima facie evidence of that individual's residency;

C. On the death of a school director;

D. When a school director resigns; or

E. Except in municipalities having a municipal charter, when a director is absent without excuse from 3 consecutive regular board meetings, the board may declare that a vacancy exists.

2. School board. The board of directors shall notify the municipal officers of the municipalities within the district before the annual town meeting or before the regular city election of the vacancy.

3. Filling vacancies. Vacancies shall be filled as follows.

A. The municipal officers of the municipality in which the director resided shall select an interim director for the municipality or subdistrict to serve until the next annual municipal election. The interim director shall serve until a successor is elected and qualified.

B. The municipal officers shall provide at the next municipal or subdistrict election for the election of a director to fill the vacancy.

20-A M.R.S.A. § 1002

§ 1002. Prohibited appointments and employment

The following provisions apply to members of a school board.

1. Definition. "Full-time employee" means a person regularly employed on a weekly basis regardless of remuneration or the number of hours worked.

2. Employment by school administrative unit, school union, academy. A member of a school board or spouse of a member may not be employed as a full-time employee in a public school within the jurisdiction of the school board to which the member is elected or contract high school or academy located within a supervisory union in which the member is a representative on the union committee.

3. Appointment to civil office and other employment. A school board member may not, during the term for which the member serves on the board and for one year after the member ceases to serve on the board, be appointed to any civil office of profit or employment position, which has been created or the compensation of which has been increased by the action of the school board during the time the member serves on the board.

4. Employees serving on school boards in school unions. An employee or the spouse of an employee of a school administrative unit may not serve on the school board of another school administrative unit when the 2 school administrative units are members of the same school union and have the same superintendent of schools.

20-A M.R.S.A. § 2305

§ 2305. Terms; vacancies; restrictions

1. Length of term. School committee members shall be elected for staggered 3- year terms or, in municipalities with biennial elections, 4-year terms.

2. Commencement of term. The term of newly elected school board members shall start as determined under section 1003.

3. Vacancy. A vacancy on a school committee shall be declared:

A. When the term of office of a member expires;

B. When a member changes residency from the municipality or subdistrict from

which elected. Evidence that an individual is registered to vote in a municipality is prima facie evidence of that individual's residency;

C. On the death of a member;

D. When a member resigns; or

E. Except in municipalities having a municipal charter, when a member is absent without excuse from 3 consecutive regular committee meetings, the committee may declare that a vacancy exists.

4. Filling a vacancy. A vacancy may be filled:

A. By the school committee within 30 days. The term of a member appointed by the school committee to fill a vacancy shall expire at the next annual meeting; or

B. Whenever the remaining members of the school committee fail to appoint a person to fill a vacancy, by election at a town meeting called for the purpose.