OFFICIAL OPINION No. 5

OFFICIAL OPINION No. 5 Schools-Membership, board of directors of Intermediate Unit 18-Efject of reorganization-Applicability of Intermediate Unit Act. I. Thirteen present directors of Intermediate Unit 18 were properly elected originally, and requirement of Section 910-A(a) of Intermediate Unit Act, 24 p .S. § 9-960 (a), that when there are fewer than thirteen school districts within an intermediate unit there shall be at least one director from each school district, does not invalidate their election. 2. Having been properly elected and having assumed office, present directors shall hold office until law declares a vacancy to exist. 3. No vacancies exist at present, and each member of ex1stmg intermediate board is entitled to serve out the term for which he was elected. 4. As vacancies occur involving the districts with multiple representation, those vacancies must be filled by members of the boards of directors of the presently unrepresented districts. Dr. David H. Kurtzman Secretary of Educa1ion Deparment of Education Harrisburg, Pa. Dear Dr. Kurtzman: Harrisburg, Pa., March 3, 1971 This is in response to your inquiry of February 17, 1971, regarding the membership of the board of directors of Intermediate Unit 18. At the time the present board was elected, there were 21 separate school districts and each of the 13 directors elected was from a different district as required under Section 910-A(a) of the Intermediate Unit Act, 24 P. S. § 9-960(a). Due to reorganization, effective July 1, 1971, a number of these districts will be merged under Act No. 150 (1968), infra, so that there will be a 1otal of only 12 districts in Intermedia1e Unit 18. As a result, three directors will be from one of the new dis- tricts and two from another and three districts will have no representa- tion on the Intermediate Board. OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 15 The question arises as to whether this is proper in view of Section 910-A(a) which provides that when there are fewer than 13 school districts within an intermediate unit there shall be at least one director from each school district elected to the intermediate unit. The first fact to be noted is that the 13 present directors were prop- erly elected at that time. It therefore appears that, having been properly elected and having assumed office, these gentlemen shall hold that office to such time as the law declares a vacancy to exist. Section 91 OA ( d) provides that vacancies on an intermediate unit board of directors occur upon "the death, resignation, or removal of an intermediate unit director, or when he no longer holds office as a school director." Act of July 8, 1968, P. L. _, No. 150, Section 8(a), 24 P. S. § 2400.8(a) provides "All school directors of the component school dis- tricts forming an administrative unit . . . shall serve out the terms of office for which they were elected." As the gentlemen in question continue to be school directors under the above, no vacancies exist and each member of the present inter- mediate board is entitled to serve out the term for which he was elected to that board. Of course, as vacancies do occur involving the districts with multiple representation, those vacancies must be filled by mem- bers of the boards of directors of the presently unrepresented school districts. Sincerely yours, J. SHANE CREAMER, Attorney General.