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

            A. 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. 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. In order to implement the concurrent terms provided for herein, those members of the parish school boards who are elected in 1980 shall serve six-year terms beginning January first following their election, those members of the parish school boards who are elected in 1982 shall serve four-year terms beginning January first following their election, and those members of the parish school boards who are elected in 1984 shall serve two-year terms beginning January first following their election.

            For purposes of the election of school board members in the election years 1980, 1982, and 1984 the parish school boards of the several parishes, as occasion may arise on account of the increase in the membership by the creation of additional wards or the increase of membership for any single ward, shall by proper resolution maintain the three divisions of the membership of the school boards existing on July 28, 1948, as nearly equal as possible by allotting such new members to one of the three divisions, and when so allotted the term of office of such new member or members shall expire at the same time as the terms of the other members of the said division. Thereafter, the election of additional school board members shall be in accordance with the provisions herein made applicable to the election of school board members in the election year 1986.

            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.