OROL: Senate Bill 2 Summary

Prepared by John H. Powers
Superintendent of Schools
October 11, 1995

Senate Bill 2 (SB 2) amends NH RSA 40 by a new subdivision to enable any school district which raises and appropriates funds through an annual school district meeting to use the official ballot for voting on all warrant articles.

The school board by voter petition or by vote shall place on the warrant of the annual school district meeting the question, "Shall we adopt the provisions of RSA 40:13 to allow official ballot voting on all issues before the annual school district meeting?"

A public hearing on the question shall be conducted by the school board at least 15 days but not more than 30 days before the question is to be voted on. In multi-town districts, a duly called public hearing shall be held in each town embraced by the district, none of which shall be held on the same day.

Conduct vote at annual school district meeting. Sixty percent (60%) majority is required for passage. The question shall be voted upon by official ballot in accordance with the procedures established in RSA 669:19-29, RSA 670:5 7, and RSA 671:20-30, including all requirements pertaining to absentee voting, polling places, and polling hours.

"The second Tuesday in March shall be deemed the annual meeting date for purposes of all applicable statutes pertaining to hearings, notice, petitioned articles, and warrants...." The warrant shall prescribe the place, day, and hour for each of two separate sessions of the annual school district meeting.

The first session of the annual meeting for the transaction of all business, other than voting by official ballot, shall be held between the second Tuesday of March and the Saturday following the second Tuesday of March. The session shall consist of explanation, discussion, and debate of each warrant article. Warrant articles may be amended and placed on the official ballot for a final vote on the main motion, as amended.

A duly called public hearing shall be held by the school board on the results of the first session at least 10 days but not more than 20 days before the second session.

The second session of the annual meeting will be held on the second Tuesday of April to vote by official ballot on 1) school district officers, and 2) all warrant articles with amendments from the first session. The second Tuesday in April is thus deemed the "annual school district election date."

If the operating budget is not approved at session II of the April election, the voters shall be deemed to have approved the same appropriations as contained in the operating budget authorized for the previous year, reduced and increased as the case may be by debt service, contracts, and other obligations previously incurred or mandated by law,"

or the school board may call for a special school district meeting to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only.

The special meeting will repeat the first and second session of the regular annual meeting as described above, with the second session held "not fewer than 28 days nor more than 60 days following the first session."

Recognize that newly elected board members will join in the question of whether to hold a special meeting, and further to determine any change in the operating budget. Time will be needed following the session on the second Tuesday of April for the new board to organize, deliberate, and make decisions affecting a special meeting. An optimal timeline in 1997 for establishing a special meeting following the second Tuesday of April (April 8, 1997) might be as follows:

Session I         May 13, 1997   Discussion of operating budget warrant article
Public Hearing    May 27, 1997   Hear results of session I
Session II       June 10, 1997   Official ballot vote on proposed operating budget

Last update on 29-Mar-99 at 9:26 PM.

http://www.orol.org/district/elections/1996/sb2_powers.html

This page is edited by David K. Taylor. Please send questions or comments to editor@orol.org.