PCSSD board adopts Act 503-related policy changes, selects six-year terms and approves budget resolution

Pulaski County Special School District trustees on July 8 approved a package of policy changes to comply with Act 503, set future board-member terms at six years for newly elected members, approved a preliminary budget resolution and designated a board member to cast the district's required November millage ballot.

Board Chair Delaney opened the new-business discussion with an overview of the state law changes: "Act 503 ... says that all school elections have to be on even years now," he said, explaining why the district needed several policy revisions and two resolutions to meet new election timing and millage requirements.

Why it matters: Act 503 moved school board elections to even-numbered years and removed November as a regular election date, forcing districts to revise policies that referenced old election timing and term lengths. PCSSD must still publish a preliminary budget and satisfy an annual millage requirement despite the election-date changes; the board approved a special process that permits a single designated elector to cast the ballot in November rather than holding a full public election when the millage rate is unchanged.

Major votes and outcomes - Delete-and-replace of Policy 1.2 (align vacancies and remove references to five-year terms): Motion by Potter, second by Maynard. Passed (unanimous). - Delete-and-replace of Policy 1.21 (align annual election timing to state law): Motion by Smith, second by Maynard. Passed (unanimous). - Selection of term length (Policy 1.19): Motion by Dr. Tate to adopt six-year terms for newly elected board members; second by Potter. Vote: 5-2 (Yes: Tate, Smith, Potter, Keller, Delaney; No: Ward, Maynard). The board chair emphasized this change affects only future, newly elected members: "This change will take effect only for newly elected board members during the 2026 election cycle," he said. - Preliminary budget resolution (nonbinding, required before the election): Motion by Maynard, second by Keller. Passed (unanimous). The board noted the district's final fiscal-year budget will be prepared in September. - Designated-elector resolution to satisfy the November millage vote requirement: Motion by Maynard, second by Potter. Passed (unanimous). The board designated board member Smith as the elector who will appear at the county elections office in November to cast the ballot for the district's unchanged millage rate. Smith accepted the commitment.

Additional policy votes The board also approved a series of policy updates and administrative manuals presented as part of routine compliance and housekeeping. Votes passed on the following items (motions and seconders noted in the meeting record): adoption of the certified PPC (policy and practice council) manual; updates to entrance requirements (policy 4.2); changes to the absences policy (4.7); disruption-at-school language (4.2 disruption); student harassment policy (4.27); bullying policy (4.43) (recorded vote: Maynard opposed; 6-1); foster-student deadline change (4.52); extracurricular/transfer/homeschool/private-school participation policies (4.56, 4.562, 4.563); antisemitism-related policy and prohibited conduct update (4.65 and 4.18); and concurrent/dual-credit policy split (5.22P and 5.22P1). All motions carried as recorded in the meeting.

Context and next steps Board members and counsel discussed technical implications: because Act 503 eliminated November as a regular election date but did not remove the requirement that districts publish a budget and present millage annually, the state election commission allowed a designated-elector mechanism to avoid costly full elections when the millage rate does not change. The board will publish the preliminary budget as required, finalize the formal FY26 budget in September and rely on the designated elector in November to satisfy the millage/notice requirement.

The board chair summarized the outcome: "That is all. We have now complied with Act 503. We picked 6 year terms. Nobody gets a 6 year term until they win an election, and all our elections in the future will be in the spring with the primary."