NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1967 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 30

HOUSE BILL 49

 

 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE REORGANIZATION AND CONSOLIDATION OF THE EDENTON CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE CHOWAN COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION AND TO CREATE AND ESTABLISH ONE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD FOR ALL OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN CHOWAN COUNTY.

 

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1. As used in this Act certain terms are defined as follows:

(a)       The term "City Board" shall mean the Edenton City Board of Education.

(b)       The term "County Board" shall mean the Chowan County Board of Education.

(c)       The term "Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education" shall mean the members of the Edenton City Board of Education and the members of the Chowan County Board of Education acting jointly and together for the administration of all of the public schools within Chowan County for the interim period hereinafter provided in this Act.

(d)       The term "City Administrative Unit" shall mean the geographical territory over which the Edenton City Board of Education exercises authority in administering and operating the public schools of said Unit.

(e)       The term "County Administrative Unit" shall mean the geographical territory over which the Chowan County Board of Education exercises authority in administering and operating the public schools of said Unit.

(f)        The term "County Commissioners" shall mean the Board of County Commissioners of Chowan County.

(g)       The term "Edenton-Chowan Board of Education" shall mean the single Board hereinafter established by this Act for the purpose of operating and administering all of the public schools of Chowan County, including those schools now operated and administered by the Edenton City Board of Education and now operated and administered by the Chowan County Board of Education.

Sec. 2. The newly constituted and established Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall consist of seven members, and each of said members shall be residents and qualified voters of the townships according to the membership allocations hereinafter made to said townships as follows:

The First Township shall be entitled to four members; the Second Township shall be entitled to one member; the Third Township shall be entitled to one member; the Fourth Township shall be entitled to one member.

Sec. 3. At the time of the primary and election of State and County Officers for the year 1970, there shall be nominated and elected seven members who shall constitute the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education. Each of said members shall be residents and electors of the townships as set forth in Section 2 of this Act, and each of said members shall be nominated by the voters of Chowan County at large in said primary. The candidate in each township receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared to be nominated, and there shall be no second primary. The persons or candidates so nominated from the townships shall be voted upon by the voters of Chowan County at large in said election. Each candidate for nomination for membership on the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall file a notice of candidacy with the Board of Elections showing the township of which said candidate is a resident and also showing the candidate's party affiliation. All candidates for nomination from the various townships shall file such notice of candidacy by noon on or before the sixth Saturday before the date on which the primary is to be held and shall pay a filing fee of ten dollars ($10.00). The nomination and election of said members of the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall be held, conducted and supervised by the Board of Elections, and except as herein provided the general election laws and regulations for the nomination and election of county officers, as set forth in Chapter 163 of the General Statutes, as amended, shall apply and govern as to the holding of said primary and election. The seven candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the election shall be certified and declared by the Board of Elections to be elected members of the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education. There shall be three members elected to serve for a term of six years, two of which shall be from the First Township and one from the Second Township. There shall be two members elected to serve for a term of four years, one of which shall be from the First Township and one from the Third Township. There shall be two members elected to serve for a term of two years, one of which shall come from the First Township and one from the Fourth Township. Of those four members elected from the First Township, the two receiving the greater number of votes shall serve the six year terms; the member receiving the highest number of votes shall serve the four year term; and the member receiving the next highest number of votes shall serve the two year term. The members of the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall be inducted into and take the oath of office on January 1, 1971. Biennially, thereafter, in each primary and election for nomination and election of State and County Officers, the vacancies occurring in the membership of said Board shall be filled by nomination and election as the said terms of the members expire, and all such members so elected shall hold office for terms of six years, but in no event shall a member serve for more than two successive six year terms. All vacancies in the membership of the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education by reason of death, resignation, removal from township or otherwise shall be filled within 30 days after such vacancy occurs by the remaining members of said Board for the complete unexpired term, provided that the person appointed to fill a vacancy must be a resident and elector from the township of the member he is appointed to replace. The Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman to preside over its meetings, and the Vice Chairman may preside in the absence of the Chairman. The Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall control, administer and operate all of the public schools in Chowan County, including the public schools now located in the Edenton City Administrative Unit, as well as the public schools now located in the Chowan County Administrative Unit. The Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall exercise all the powers, authority and duties as are now exercised and performed by city and county boards of education and as provided by Chapter 115 of the General Statutes, as revised and amended, and as the same may hereafter be revised and amended. All members of the said Board shall hold their offices until their successors are elected and qualified.

Sec. 4. In the event the qualified electors of Chowan County by a majority of those voting, shall approve this Act by a special election or referendum or as hereinafter provided, the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall on the first Monday of the month following the certification of the results of the special election or referendum assume the authority and shall control, operate and administer public schools of Chowan County, including those public schools located and situated in the City Administrative Unit. In the event the majority of the electors of Chowan County voting in an election or referendum which shall be held as authorized and directed by the Board of Commissioners of Chowan County shall approve the provisions of this Act, then the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall assume authority and shall control, operate and administer public schools of Chowan County, including the schools located in the City Administrative Unit, and shall begin such public school administration on the first Monday of the month following the certification of the results of the special election or referendum. The Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall consist of the members of the City Board and the County Board acting jointly and by a majority of all members present, and the members of said Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall elect their own Chairman and Vice Chairman to preside at meetings, and the Chairman and Vice Chairman shall have a vote on all matters considered by the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education but shall have no authority to vote to create a tie and then again vote to break the tie. All vacancies in the membership of the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, should the total number of Board members become less than seven during the interim period, shall be filled by the remaining members of the said Interim Board to complete the term remaining in the interim period. The Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall have power and authority to prepare and submit to the Board of County Commissioners all necessary budgets, including supplemental budgets and at the time required by law shall prepare and submit to the Board of Commissioners all necessary capital outlay, debt service, current expense budgets, including proper notice to the Board of Commissioners to include any supplemental tax with all other taxes to be levied by the Board of Commissioners for school purposes. The Board of Commissioners may approve or disapprove all budgets, in whole or in part, and shall levy such taxes as are necessary to provide for the approved budget, including the supplemental purposes, not exceeding the amount of the tax levy authorized by vote of the people. The Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall expend all funds in conformity with the approved budgets, and in the event of a disagreement between the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners as to the amount of the supplemental tax levy to be made or as to any budgetary items, such disagreement shall be resolved by the procedure provided by the General Statutes of North Carolina in Section 115-87 and Section 115-88. For the period of time in which its authority is exercised the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall exercise all the powers and duties that can and may be exercised by City and County Boards of Education as provided by Chapter 115 of the General Statutes as amended, and as the same may be hereafter revised and amended. When the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall assume authority as herein provided in this Act; all authority and power of the City Board and County Board shall cease and terminate, and the same shall be vested in the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education. The Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education is authorized and empowered to employ a Superintendent, Associate Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent, and to employ all necessary principals, teachers, clerical assistants, janitors, maids, and all other necessary school employees and personnel as now provided by the Public School Law, provided that no present employee of the Edenton City or Chowan County Board of Education shall lose his employment or be lowered in salary because of the provisions of this merger. In the event the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall assume power and authority to administer the public school system of the County of Chowan, including the public schools of the City Administrative Unit, then its power and authority for such purposes shall cease and terminate on January 1, 1971, when the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall assume authority and its members take office as herein provided.

Sec. 5. In the year 1971, and in each subsequent year, at the same time the other budgets are filed, the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall file a supplemental budget and request that a sufficient levy be made by the Board of Commissioners on all taxable property located within said county not to exceed the rate voted by the people in said county. The Board of Commissioners may approve or disapprove the supplemental budget, in whole or in part, and shall levy such taxes as are necessary to provide for the approved budget for supplemental purposes, not exceeding the amount of the tax levy authorized by the vote of the people. The expenditure of the proceeds of said levy shall be in accordance with the aforesaid supplemental budget as approved by the Board of Commissioners. In the event of a disagreement between the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners as to the amount of the supplemental tax levy to be made, such disagreement shall be resolved by the procedure provided in G. S. 115-87 and G. S. 115-88.

Sec. 6. The Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall appoint a treasurer of all the school funds which are appropriated and provided for all the public schools of the county; provided that all school debt service funds shall be deposited with the County Treasurer in the manner specified by the General Statutes of North Carolina. The treasurer so appointed shall continue to fill such position at the will of the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, until January 1, 1971, and thereafter at the will of the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education. No person authorized to make the expenditures or draw vouchers therefor, or to approve the same, shall act as treasurer of said funds. The treasurer shall give bond for the faithful performance of his duties in such amount as the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education may prescribe, and after January 1, 1971, as may be prescribed by the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, but in no event shall said bond be for less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00). Except as herein otherwise provided, treasurer shall perform the duties prescribed by the applicable provisions of Chapter 115 of the General Statutes as amended, and as the same may be hereafter revised and amended, and shall be subject to all such provisions. All sums appropriated by said Board of Commissioners for capital outlay, current expenses and to supplement the current expenses fund from State and County allotments shall be paid over to said treasurer at reasonable periods after the receipt of said funds by the Auditor or other proper official of Chowan County; provided, however, that the Board of Commissioners shall hold and administer the proceeds of school bond sales as now provided by law; provided further that the County Accountant shall countersign all checks, warrants, and orders of the Board of Education, as provided by Section 115-90 of the General Statutes of North Carolina. In accordance with the provisions of G. S. 115-50 (Replacement 1960) as amended, the monthly payroll therein provided for, as to each school, shall be signed by the principal of the school, and it shall not be required that Committee Chairmen sign the same. Whenever the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and thereafter the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall take office as herein provided, shall have authorized the execution of any contract, conveyance, or other instrument, the Vice Chairman shall have the same authority as the Chairman to execute the same on behalf of such Board. In the event of the absence or inability of both the Chairman and Vice Chairman to attend any meeting or meetings, the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and thereafter the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, by resolution duly adopted and spread upon the minutes of any meeting, may authorize any other member to execute any contract, for and on behalf of such Board.

Sec. 7. The superintendent of schools shall be ex officio secretary of the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and thereafter for the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, as provided by G. S. 115-56. The said Board may elect an assistant secretary to serve at the pleasure of said Board. The assistant secretary may be, but shall not be required to be, a member of the said Board. Such assistant secretary may perform the duties of the secretary of the said Board when the secretary is absent from any meeting or for any other reason he is unable to perform his duties as secretary. The assistant secretary shall have authority to attest all contracts, conveyances, and other instruments which are required by law to be attested by the secretary. The secretary, or in his absence the assistant secretary, shall keep the minutes of all meetings of the said Board and it shall be the duty of such secretary or assistant secretary to furnish each member of the said Board with a copy of the minutes as soon after any meeting as may be reasonably practicable. In addition to the election of a superintendent of schools in the manner provided by the general law, the said Board may employ such associate superintendents and assistant superintendents and such other administrative officers as it may deem necessary and proper, and prescribe their duties. They may be elected to serve at the pleasure of the Board for such terms as may be fixed by the Board, but the terms of any associate superintendents or assistant superintendents shall not exceed the term for which the superintendent is employed. Except as modified by other provisions of this Act, all principals and teachers shall be elected in the manner prescribed by the general law. The Board may delegate to the superintendent of schools, or to one or more associate superintendents or assistant superintendents or to other administrative officers, authority to employ and prescribe the duties of all other employees or classes of employees, including janitors and maids, and to fix the compensation within such limits as the Board may prescribe and to determine the terms or periods for which they shall be employed. The compensation of administrative officers of the Board shall be fixed by the Board. Out of any local supplement the Board may pay to any employee or employees such compensation, in addition to compensation paid such employee or employees by the State, as it may deem proper.

Sec. 8. The Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and thereafter the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, as herein created, may appoint school committees for some or all of the districts within Chowan County in accordance with the provisions of the general public school law, but neither of said boards shall be required to appoint school committees in any of the districts, and in any district within which no school committee is appointed, the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and thereafter the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall itself exercise those functions which are given to school committees under the general law.

Sec. 9. Title to all property of the City Board of Education and all property of the County Board of Education, both real and personal, of every kind and description, shall be vested in the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education as of the first day of the month following the referendum or election of the voters of Chowan County approving said merger. Thereafter, on January 1, 1971, all of the property, both real and personal, of every kind and description, vested in the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall be vested in the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education. The City Board and the County Board shall have full and ample authority prior to the merging of said Boards to execute all such deeds and other writings as may be deemed necessary to vest record title to any such property in the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education. All claims and demands of every kind which the City Board and the County Board may have prior to the merger of said Boards, shall pass and be transferred to the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and said Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education shall have the same power and authority to enforce said claims and demands as said City Board and County Board would have had in the event of their continuing existence. Any obligations and liabilities of the City Board or County Board existing prior to the merger of the said Boards shall be and become the obligations and liabilities of the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education and thereafter the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and such obligations and liabilities may be enforced against said Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, thereafter the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, to the same extent that they might have been enforced against the City Board or the County Board had they continued in existence. All unexpended taxes collected by the auditor or other proper officer of Chowan County on account of school supplement levies made within the first and fourth townships prior to the merger of said Boards shall be paid by the said Auditor or other proper officer to the treasurer of the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education as soon as is reasonably possible after the merger of said Boards.

Sec. 10. The compensation of the Chairman of the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and thereafter the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, is hereby fixed at fifteen dollars ($15.00)  per meeting and the compensation of the other members of said Board is hereby fixed at ten dollars ($10.00) per member per meeting.

Sec. 11. The Board of Commissioners shall direct that the Board of Elections call a special election or referendum on such date and at such time as shall be designated by the Board of Commissioners on the question of the approval of this Act. If no special election or referendum is called, then an election or referendum on the question of the approval of this Act shall be held in Chowan County at the general election for State and County officers in the year 1968. In the event a special election or referendum is called by the Board of Elections of Chowan County, and the provisions of G. S. 115-116 (g) and other provisions of Article 14 of Chapter 115 of the General Statutes, dealing with elections and related matters, shall be applicable to said special election or referendum insofar as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act. At any special election or referendum or at any election or referendum held at the time of the election of State and County officers in the year 1968, there shall be submitted to the vote of the people of Chowan County the question of the reorganization and consolidation of the City Board and County Board and the creation of one administrative board for all the public schools in Chowan County and for providing a supplemental school tax throughout Chowan County not to exceed fifteen cents (15¢) on the one hundred dollars ($100.00)            valuation. Said supplemental school tax shall be in lieu of any and all supplemental school taxes presently enforced in the First and Fourth Townships of said County. The ballot at such special election or referendum or at such election or referendum held at the time of the general election of State and County officers in 1968, as the case may be, shall contain substantially the following:

"For consolidation and reorganization of the Edenton City Board of Education and the Chowan County Board of Education and the creation of one administrative board for all of the public schools in Chowan County and a supplemental school tax throughout Chowan County not to exceed fifteen cents (15¢) on the one hundred dollars ($100.00) valuation." "Against consolidation and reorganization of the Edenton City Board of Education and the Chowan County Board of Education and the creation of one administrative board for all of the public schools in Chowan County and a supplemental school tax throughout Chowan County not to exceed fifteen cents (15¢) on the one hundred dollars ($100.00) valuation."

If at such election or referendum whether the same be a special election or referendum or whether the same be held at the time of the general election in 1968, the majority of the votes cast favor the reorganization and consolidation of the City Board and County Board and the creation of the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and thereafter the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and a supplemental school tax not to exceed fifteen cents (15¢) on the one hundred dollars ($100.00) valuation, the preceding Sections of this Act shall be operative as of the first Monday of the month following the results and determination of said election or referendum, with the exception of those Sections which by their nature would become operative prior to said date, and the supplemental school tax authorization shall become effective on July 1 next following the election. If the majority of the votes so cast at said election or referendum is against such reorganization and consolidation and creation of the Interim Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, thereafter the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, and is against such supplemental school tax, then in such event, the preceding Sections of this Act shall not become operative.

Sec. 12. All general or public laws inconsistent with and in conflict with this Act to said extent are hereby repealed.

Sec. 13. All Special, Local, Public-Local or Private Laws inconsistent with and in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 14. If any clause, sentence, paragraph or provisions of this Act shall for any reason be adjudged by any court to be unconstitutional or invalid, such judgment shall not affect or invalidate the remainder of this Act but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph or provision adjudged unconstitutional or invalid.

Sec. 15. This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 8th day of March, 1967.