HB 497 2022
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hb0497-00
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to the Lee County School District, Lee 2
County; providing legislative findings; repealing the 3
Lee County School Board resolution which provides for 4
an appointed superintendent of schools; providing for 5
an elected superintendent of schools; providing for a 6
referendum; providing effective dates. 7
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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 9
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Section 1. Legislative findings. —The Legislature finds 11
that on June 11, 1974, the Lee County School Board adopted a 12
resolution to change the position of the Lee County 13
Superintendent of Schools from an elected position to a position 14
appointed by the Lee County School Board and that said 15
resolution was approved by vote of the electors during the 16
November 5, 1974, general election. 17
Section 2. Repeal of resolution. —Pursuant to Section 5, 18
Article IX of the State Constitution, the resolution of the Lee 19
County School Board dated June 11, 1974, d escribed in section 1 20
of this act, is repealed. The Lee County Superintendent of 21
Schools shall be elected in a partisan election to a term of 4 22
years by vote of the qualified electors residing in Lee County, 23
beginning with the general election in 2024. 24
Section 3. Referendum election. — 25
HB 497 2022
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hb0497-00
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
(1) The referendum election called for by this act shall 26
be held on November 8, 2022, the 2022 General Election. 27
(2) The ballot title for the referendum question shall be 28
in substantially the following form: 29
REPEALING RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR AN APPOINTED, RATHER THAN AN 30
ELECTED, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. 31
(3) The referendum question shall be placed on the 32
ballot in substantially the following form: 33
Currently, by resolution of the Lee County School 34
Board, the Superintendent of Schools for the Lee 35
County School District is an appointed, rather than an 36
elected, position. Shall Chapter 2022 - , Laws of 37
Florida, which repeals the aforesaid resolution and 38
provides that the Superintendent of Schools shall no 39
longer be appointed by the Lee County School Board, 40
but rather shall be elected in a partisan election by 41
vote of qualified electors residing in Lee County for 42
a term of 4 years, beginning with the 2024 general 43
election, become effective? 44
( ) Yes. 45
( ) No. 46
(4) In the event this question is answered affirmatively 47
by a majority of the qualified electors voting in the 48
referendum, the resolution shall be repealed. The referendum 49
election shall be conducted by the Supervisor of Elections of 50
HB 497 2022
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0497-00
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
Lee County in accorda nce with the Florida Election Code. 51
Section 4. This act shall take effect upon its approval by 52
a majority vote of the qualified electors of Lee County voting 53
in a referendum conducted in accordance with the provisions of 54
law relating to elections curre ntly in force, except this 55
section and section 3 shall take effect upon becoming a law. 56