The School Board derives its authority from the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, from the acts of the State Legislature, the electorate of the district and the regulations of the State Board of Education and State Board of Vocational Education.

As expressed in the law, the Board is the governing board of a school district, and is created “. . . for the purpose of organizing, maintaining, and locating schools and for providing educational opportunities and services for all citizens residing within the school district.”

The Board will consist of 5 members, elected at large by the registered voters of the district. Except as otherwise provided by law, Board members will hold office for terms of three years.

Notes: A statement under this code is usually statutory and informational in nature, not “policy” in the strict sense of the word. Include un­der this code the number of school board members and the length of a regular term.

A school district may have five, seven or nine members, depending upon its structure. A school district may in­crease or decrease the size of this Board by a majority vote of all electors vot­ing at an election held for this purpose. This process is begun by a pe­tition of 20 percent of the electors of a school district, as de­termined by the total vote cast at the last preceding annual elec­tion, filed with the business manager. No­tice of election is given as for any other school election.

Representative areas are authorized by SDCL 13-6-13.1 and SDCL 13-8-7.1

Districts reorganized prior to July 1, l977 should also cite SDCL 13-6-2, which establishes the legal status and number of members for boards of those districts.