§ 702. Definitions

As used in this chapter:

(1) “Board clerk” means the individual selected to be clerk of the board of a union school district by the members of the board from among their number pursuant to the provisions of sections 714 (initial members of union school district board), 729 (unified union district board members), and 747 (union elementary and union high school district board members) of this chapter.

(2) “District clerk” means the individual elected as clerk of a union school district by the voters of the district pursuant to the provisions of sections 715 (union school district organizational meeting), 735 (unified union school district officers and election), and 753 (union elementary and union high school district officers and election) of this chapter.

(3) “Forming districts” means all school districts, including union school districts, that are located within the geographical boundaries of a proposed or voter-approved union school district prior to the operational date of the union school district, which will potentially merge or have merged to form the new union school district.

(4) “Member district” means a school district, which can be a union school district, that is a member of a union elementary school district or a union high school district for certain grades, prekindergarten through grade 12, and is a distinct district organized to provide for the education of its resident students for all other grades, whether by operating one or more schools or paying tuition.

(5) “Operational date” means the date on which a union school district formed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter assumes full and sole responsibility for the education of all resident students in the grades for which it is organized.

(6) “School district” means a school district organized as a town school district, city school district, incorporated school district, or union school district, unless clearly inapplicable.

(7) In addition to its plain meaning, “town” means a city or incorporated village.

(8) In addition to its plain meaning, “town school district” means a city school district, or incorporated school district, and does not mean a union school district.

(9) “Town within a unified union school district” means each town located inside the geographic boundaries of a unified union school district and in which the district’s resident students live.

(10) “Transitional period” means the period of time beginning on the day on which a union school district becomes a legal entity pursuant to section 713 (certification of votes) of this chapter and continuing until its operational date.

(11) “Unified union school district” means a union school district organized to provide for the education of the district’s resident students in all grades, prekindergarten through grade 12.

(12) “Union elementary school district” and “union high school district” mean a union school district organized to provide for the education of the district’s resident students in fewer than all grades, prekindergarten through grade 12.

(13)(A) “Union school district” means a municipality formed under the provisions of this chapter that is governed by a single publicly elected board and that is responsible for the education of students residing in two or more towns in the grades for which the district is organized by:

(i) operating a school or schools for all grades;

(ii) operating a school or schools for all students in one or more grades and paying tuition for all students in the remaining grade or grades; or

(iii) paying tuition for all grades.

(B) Use of the term “union school district” or “union district” includes a union elementary school district, union high school district, and unified union school district unless the context clearly limits it to fewer than all options.

(14) “Weighted voting” means a system, sometimes used in the “proportional to town population” model of union school district board membership, set forth in subdivisions 711(d)(1), 711(e)(1), 730(a)(1), 748(a)(1), and 748(b)(1) of this chapter, where proportionality is achieved by assigning a different number of votes to each board member. (Added 2021, No. 176 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. June 7, 2022.)