Gov. Jay Nixon today signed Senate Bill 450, which allows the Ft. Zumwalt School District Board of Education, located in O'Fallon, Mo., to retain three-year terms.
Under state law, school districts become classified as "urban school districts" when the population of the community in which they are located exceeds 70,000. Once a district is classified as an urban district, members of its school board serve six-year terms, with a limit of two terms. Board members in districts not classified as urban serve three-year terms, with no limit on the number of terms served.
After the 2010 census, the city of O'Fallon, Mo., exceeded the population threshold, and the Ft. Zumwalt School District was classified as an urban district. The bill signed by Gov. Nixon today exempts Ft. Zumwalt from that classification under law and allows its board to retain three-year terms.
Other districts that have been exempted from the urban classification are Columbia, Lee's Summit and Springfield.
The bill contained an emergency clause, which means it became effective upon Gov. Nixon's signature. The district will elect two board members tomorrow (Tuesday, April 3).
"Signing this bill today gives voters in the Ft. Zumwalt School District clarity and certainty about tomorrow's election," Gov. Nixon said. "I appreciate the overwhelming, bipartisan coalitions in both the Senate and the House that moved this bill quickly to my desk."
Source: http://governor.mo.gov/newsroom/2012/Gov_Nixon_signs_SB_450_bill_allows_Ft_Zumwalt_Schools_to_retain_three_year_terms
