Chapter VI — BOARD OF EDUCATION

• (a) The control of the School Department shall be vested in a Board of Education which shall consist of five (5) members elected at large by the qualified voters of the City at a general municipal election to be held therein every even-numbered year in the same manner and time as for the members of the Council. They shall serve for a term of four (4) years and until their respective successors qualify.

No person not an elector of the City shall be eligible to hold office as a member of the Board of Education, and no person shall be eligible for nomination for such office without having been a resident of the City for thirty (30) days immediately preceding nomination.

Three members of the Board of Education shall be elected at the regular Municipal Election as herein provided in 1954 and two (2) members thereof at such election in 1956 and thereafter in similar rotation each even-numbered year.

Not more than thirty (30) days after this section becomes effective, the Board of Education shall appoint a successor to replace the member of the City Council serving on the Board of Education. The term of this appointee shall expire at the next regular Municipal Election. (Amended, ratified, August 7, 1952; November 5, 1974)

• (b) Regular meetings of the Board shall be held at such times as the Board may prescribe, provided that at least one regular meeting shall be held in each calendar month. All meetings of the Board shall be open to the public.

• (c) The Board shall have the entire management of the public schools of the City and, in addition to the powers and duties prescribed by the provisions of this Charter, shall have all the powers that are now, or may hereafter be, conferred and discharge the duties imposed by law upon City Boards of Education.

• (d) Inspection of accounts by City. Deleted. (Ratified July 2, 1970)

• (e) The Board shall make such rules and regulations governing its meetings and procedure as may seem proper. A majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum, but the affirmative vote of three members shall be necessary to authorize the payment of public money or the election of a superintendent, principals, teachers and all officers and employees who the Board is authorized to elect or appoint.

• (f) Any vacancy of the Board shall be filled by the vote of a majority of the Board until the next general city election for Municipal Officers, when a member shall be elected to fill the unexpired term.

In the event that three (3) or more such vacancies exist at one time, sufficient vacancies shall be filled by the appointment by the County Superintendent of Schools to make a majority of such Board to act and fill the remaining vacancies. Each such appointed member shall hold office until the next general City Election for Municipal Officers, when a member shall be elected to fill the unexpired term.

If any member of the Board of Education shall remove from the City or absent themselves therefrom for more than sixty (60) days consecutively without permission of the Board of Education, or shall fail to qualify, their office shall thereupon become vacant. (Amended, ratified, August 7, 1952; February 18, 1969; July 2, 1970; April 13, 1976; November 8, 2016)

ALBANY CODE

Any person who shall have been elected to two (2) successive terms as a member of the Board of Education shall be ineligible to serve again in that office until an intervening period of two (2) years has elapsed. Election to an unexpired term pursuant to Section 6.01 (f) of this Charter shall constitute election to a term as a member of the Board. This section shall not operate to create a vacancy or vacancies on the Board as constituted on the effective date of this section. (Added, ratified, April 15, 1975)

The order of names of candidates for the Board of Education shall be determined by lot, conducted by the City Clerk, and the names placed on the ballot as determined by the said lot drawing. (Added, ratified, April 15, 1975)

• (a) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the State Elections Code or other State or local law, persons 16 years old and above, who otherwise meet all qualifications for voter registration under State law other than those provisions that address age, and who are duly registered to vote with the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, may vote in Albany Unified School District elections for elected officials and ballot measures. Implementation of this Section shall be postponed until the Board of Education, by ordinance or resolution, finds that the Alameda County Registrar of Voters can feasibly accommodate a School District election that includes persons 16 and 17 years old as electors at a cost-effective price for the service. Once the Board of Education makes such finding, this Section shall be implemented at the next scheduled general or special district election and all district elections held thereafter shall include electors 16 years old and above as provided in this Section.

• (b) This Section only authorizes qualifying persons 16 years old and above to vote in school district elections. Nothing in this Section shall authorize persons under the age of 18 years old at the time of election to be elected to office as a member of the Board of Education.

(Added November 5, 2024)

CHARTER