§52. Election and qualification of members; term of office

           A.(1) There shall be elected by the qualified voters of each parish police jury ward, or the equivalent thereof, of each parish of the state a member of the school board of the parish for each police juror in said ward, or the members of a parish school board shall be elected by the qualified voters in accordance with the school board reapportionment plan then in effect as authorized by law, or the members of a parish school board shall be elected in accordance with any special law applicable to the board, as the case may be. Except as provided in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, members of parish school boards shall be elected at the congressional elections. Members elected in 1986 and thereafter shall serve four-year concurrent terms beginning January 1 following their election.

           (2)(a) Any school board may, by resolution, adopt a plan for holding school board elections at the same time as the fall gubernatorial election in accordance with R.S. 18:402. No such plan shall be revocable by the school board.

           (b) Any plan adopted pursuant to this Paragraph shall be filed with the secretary of state no later than July 1, 2026.

           (c) Any school board that complies with the provisions of this Paragraph may hold its elections at the fall gubernatorial election in accordance with R.S. 18:402. The first election under the plan shall be held at the 2031 fall gubernatorial election.

           (d) The members elected under the plan shall take office on the first day of January following their election and shall hold their office for four years. However, the members of a school board that complies with this Paragraph who are elected at school board elections held at the same time as the 2026 congressional election, as provided by R.S. 18:402, shall serve until their successors elected under the plan take office on January 1, 2032.

           (e) If no election is held on the day authorized by the plan adopted by a school board or if a vacancy in any school board office elective by the people occurs or if a member elected fails to qualify, such vacancy shall be filled in accordance with the provisions of Article VI, Section 13 of the Constitution of Louisiana or as otherwise provided by law.

           B. When the parish school board has no jurisdiction over or control of the public schools of a city in the parish, and when the limits of a ward of such parish extend beyond the limits of such city, only that part of the ward lying outside the limits of the city shall be represented on the parish school board, and that part shall have only one member on the parish school board, who shall be an elector of the ward living outside the limits of the city and shall be elected by the voters of the ward living and voting outside the limits of the said city.

           C. Members of the parish school boards shall be elected in accordance with the provisions of the Louisiana Election Code.

           D. Each member of a parish school board, in addition to the qualifications otherwise prescribed by law, shall be able to read and write.

           E.(1) Any person who, at the time of qualification as a candidate for the school board, has attained the age of eighteen, possesses a high school diploma or its equivalent as determined by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, has resided in the state for the preceding two years, and has been actually domiciled for the preceding year in the parish, ward, or district from which the person seeks election is eligible for membership on the school board. However, at the next regular election for members of the school board following a reapportionment, an elector may qualify as a candidate from any district created in whole or in part from a district existing prior to reapportionment if the elector was domiciled in the prior district for at least one year immediately preceding his qualification and was a resident of the state for the two years preceding his qualification.

           (2) The seat of any member who changes his domicile from the district he represents or, if elected after reapportionment, whose domicile is not within the district he represents at the time he is sworn into office shall be vacated thereby, any declaration of retention of domicile to the contrary notwithstanding.

           (3) For purposes of this Section, "domicile" means a person's principal or habitual place of residence.

           F. Any person who has been convicted of or has pled nolo contendere to a crime listed in R.S. 15:587.1(C) is not eligible to qualify as a candidate for membership on a school board.

           Acts 1960, No. 539, §1, Acts 1975, No. 432, §1; Acts 1977, No. 321, §1; Acts 1980, No 285, §1, eff. July 14, 1980; Acts 1990, No. 1039, §1; Acts 2024, No. 204, §1, eff. August 1, 2024; Acts 2025, No. 354, §1, eff. August 1, 2025.