A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to change the method of election for members of the craven county board of education to partisan electoral DISTRICTS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding the Plan for the Merger of Craven County Board of Education and New Bern City Board of Education and to Create and Establish One Administrative Unit for Both of the Public School Units in Craven County, as filed with the Secretary of State under former G.S. 115‑74.1 on May 17, 1979, and Chapter 236 of the 1983 Session Laws, and Chapter 67 of the 1995 Session Laws, beginning in 2022, the Craven County Board of Education, as renamed by Chapter 851 of the 1991 Session Laws, shall consist of seven members who shall be nominated and elected on a partisan basis in each even‑numbered year as terms expire. Candidates shall be nominated at the same time and manner as other county officers. One member shall be elected from each of the seven districts, as established by the Craven County Board of Education in 2011. The qualified voters of each district shall nominate candidates and elect members of the Craven County Board of Education for that district. Candidates must reside in the district for which they seek to be elected. As the terms of the present members expire, beginning with the primary and election to be held in 2022, and every two years thereafter, members of the Craven County Board of Education shall be elected for staggered four‑year terms. Except as otherwise provided by this act, elections shall be conducted in accordance with Chapter 163 of the General Statutes.
SECTION 2.  Vacancies on the Craven County Board of Education shall be filled as follows:
(1)	Vacancies for positions elected on a nonpartisan basis in 2018 or 2020 shall be filled in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37(f).
(2)	Beginning the first Monday in December of 2022, vacancies for positions elected on a partisan basis in 2022 and thereafter shall be filled in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37.1.
SECTION 3.  This act does not affect the terms of office of any person elected in 2018 or 2020 to the Craven County Board of Education. The members of the Craven County Board of Education elected in 2018 or 2020, or any member appointed by the remaining members of the Board to fill a vacancy of a member elected in 2018 or 2020, shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified.
SECTION 4.  Effective on the first Monday in December of 2022, G.S. 115C‑37.1(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	This section shall apply only in the following counties: Alleghany, Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Craven, Dare, Davie, Graham, Guilford, Harnett, Hyde, Iredell, Lee, Madison, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Rutherford, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Vance, Washington, and Yancey."
SECTION 5.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to elections held on or after that date.