Private Acts of 2022 Chapter 64

SECTION 1. Chapter 118 of the Private Acts of 2002, and any other acts amendatory thereto, are repealed. 

SECTION 2. Polk County shall be divided into four (4) school districts of substantially equal population, which shall be coextensive with the four (4) county commissioner districts as established by resolution of the county legislative body of Polk County. 

SECTION 3. The Polk County Board of Education shall consist of ten (10) members, three (3) of whom are from and are to represent School District 1, two (2) of whom are from and are to represent School District 2, three (3) of whom are from and are to represent School District 3, and two (2) of whom are from and are to represent School District 4. Polk County Board of Education members shall be elected by the qualified voters in each school district. Board members shall be elected to staggered four-year terms so that every two (2) years the terms of approximately one-half (1/2) of the members of the Board shall expire. Persons elected in the regular August election shall take office on September 1 following the elections and shall serve until their successors are duly elected and qualified. 

SECTION 4. The current terms of incumbent members of the Polk County Board of Education shall not be cut short as a result of changes in the school districts as provided in this act. In order to establish staggered four-year terms and to increase the number of board members from nine (9) to ten (10), one (1) board member shall be elected to a four-year term from School Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4 at the August 2022 election. Additionally, school District 4 shall also elect one (1) board member to a two-year term. At the August 2024 election, two (2) board members shall be elected from each of School Districts 1 and 3, and one ( 1) board member shall be elected from School Districts 2 and 4. Thereafter, board members shall be elected to four-year terms as each respective board member's term expires. The process for filling vacancies in county offices under Tennessee Code Annotated § 5-1-104 shall govern the initial election for the two-year term in District 4. 

SECTION 5. The Polk County Board of Education shall have the same powers, duties, privileges and qualification as other county boards or education established pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49. 

SECTION 6. If any provision of this act or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to that end, the provisions of this act are declared to be severable. 

SECTION 7. This act shall have no effect unless it is approved by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the legislative body of Polk County. Its approval or nonapproval shall be proclaimed by the presiding officer of the legislative body and certified to the secretary of state. 

SECTION 8. For the purpose of approving or rejecting the provisions of this act, it shall be effective upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it. For all other purposes, it shall become effective as provided in Section 7. 

Passed: May 25, 2022.