I’ve blogged on the topic of January board vacancies before, but we’ve received so many questions on this topic recently, it seems appropriate to push out another communication.
Nearly every election, there are a handful of districts across the state who have more open seats on their board of education than interested candidates (e.g. two potential candidates running for three open seats). Last Monday (Aug. 24) was the deadline for write-in candidates to file, so you should know by now whether your district will face this issue in November. Most county boards of election post the names of the interested candidates on their websites, so you can determine how many candidates will be running in your district.
A board that finds itself in this position will have a vacancy on its board as of January 1 and the “normal” procedures for filling a board vacancy should be followed by the board. These procedures are outlined in statute and summarized by OSBA in its Filling board of education vacancies fact sheet. The board may have adopted policy language that more specifically spells out the process the board will use to fill any vacancies, so be sure to check your policy manual prior to filling the vacancy.
Because the vacancy will not occur on the board until January 1, it is the new board that is responsible for filling the vacancy. Under the statute, the board must act to fill a vacancy at its next regular or special meeting after the vacancy occurs, not earlier than ten days after the vacancy occurs. Because boards of education are also required to hold their organizational meeting in early January, the timing issues of filling the vacancy can be confusing.
- Date of Organizational Meeting is January 1-10
Vacancy cannot be filled at the organizational meeting. Board must call a separate special meeting to fill the vacancy. This special meeting must occur after January 10, but prior to January 31.
- Date of Organizational Meeting is January 11-15
Vacancy must be filled at the organizational meeting.
An ESC board has until January 30 to hold its organizational meeting, but still must wait until at least January 11 to fill any vacancy on the board.
I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please contact OSBA's Division of Legal Services.