2018 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 22 - Public Schools
Article 5 - Local School Boards
Section 22-5-3.1 - Local school boards; reversion to five members.
A. Any seven-member local school board of a school district in the state may by resolution provide for the local school board of that school district to be composed of five qualified electors of the state who reside within the school district.
B. If the resolution specified in Subsection A of this section is adopted, the existing local school board at the first election at which the terms of three members expire shall by lot:
(1) eliminate two positions if the next succeeding election is one at which the terms of two members expire;
(2) eliminate two positions if the next succeeding election is one at which the term of one member expires, and at the next election at which the terms of three members expire designate one position for a two-year term; provided that thereafter all terms shall be four-year terms; or
(3) eliminate two positions if the next succeeding election is one at which the terms of three members expire, and at the succeeding election designate one position for a two-year term; provided that thereafter all terms shall be four-year terms.
C. Any resolution adopted pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be effective thirty days after its adoption unless a petition signed by the qualified electors of the school district in a number equal to at least twenty percent of all voters in the school district voting at the last regular school board election is presented to the local school board on or before the thirtieth day asking that an election be held on the question of decreasing the membership of the local school board to five members.
D. Upon receipt and verification of the petition, the local school board shall within thirty days call a special election to vote upon the question of decreasing the membership of the local school board in that school district to five members.
E. If the voters of the school district approve the decrease in the local school board's membership to five members, the resolution shall be in effect, and the elimination of two members at subsequent elections as provided in Subsection B of this section shall be valid.
History: 1978 Comp., § 22-5-3.1, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 302, § 1; 2015, ch. 145, § 96.
The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, amended terms for certain school board positions; in Subsection A, after "local", added "school", after "board of that", added "school", and after "reside within the", added "school"; in Paragraph (2) of Subsection B, after "all terms shall be", deleted "six-year" and added "four-year"; in Paragraph (3) of Subsection B, after "all terms shall be", deleted "six-year" and added "four-year"; in Subsection C, after "all voters in the", added "school", and after "membership in the local", added "school"; and in Subsection D, after "call a special", deleted "school", and after "school board in that", added "school".
