A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to change the composition of the lexington city board of education from a nine‑member appointed board of education to a seven‑member board of education elected on a nonpartisan basis in odd‑numbered years.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Beginning in 2017, the Lexington City Board of Education shall be composed of seven members elected on a nonpartisan plurality basis by the voters of the Lexington City School Administrative Unit on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in odd‑numbered years, with the results determined as provided by G.S. 163‑292. One member shall be elected from each of the six wards of the City of Lexington, and one member shall be elected to represent the citizens of Davidson County who shall reside (i) within the jurisdictional area of the Lexington City School Administrative Unit and (ii) outside of the corporate limits of the City of Lexington. A member shall reside in the Ward or in the area that the member represents for the length of his or her term. No member of the Board shall serve for more than two consecutive full terms without an intervening period of four years. A vacancy filled by appointment or election for an unexpired portion of a term shall not be considered a full term.
Beginning in 2017 and quadrennially thereafter, the members elected from Wards 4, 5, and 6 and the member elected as the representative of Davidson County shall serve four‑year terms. Members elected in 2017 from Wards 1, 2, and 3 shall serve initial terms of two years. Beginning in 2019 and quadrennially thereafter, members elected from Wards 1, 2, and 3 shall serve four‑year terms.
Except as otherwise provided by this act, elections shall be administered in accordance with Articles 23 and 24 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes.
SECTION 2.  Beginning with members elected to the Lexington City Board of Education in 2017, members shall take office and qualify on the first Monday in December of the year of election and the terms of their predecessors shall expire at that same time. Members shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified. 
SECTION 3.  Beginning with members elected to the Lexington City Board of Education in 2017, vacancies on the Lexington City Board of Education shall be filled in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37(f). To be eligible to fill a vacancy, the member shall reside in the Ward or in the area that the vacancy represents.
SECTION 4.  The terms of members appointed to the Lexington City Board of Education who are serving their terms at the time of the 2017 election shall expire upon the qualification of members elected to the Board in accordance with this act.
SECTION 5.  Section 2 of Chapter 26 of the Private Laws of 1935, as amended by Chapter 700 of the Session Laws of 1943, Chapter 56 of the Session Laws of 1949, Chapter 342 of the Session Laws of 1957, Chapter 892 of the Session Laws of 1973, and Chapter 192 of the Session Laws of 1987, is repealed. All other laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
SECTION 6.  This act is effective when it becomes law.