In a press release dated June 24, KCS announced that Indya Kincannon, second district school board member, will step down from the Knox County board of Education after the August 6 BOE meeting in order to accompany her family to Slovenia, where her husband was recently awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant.

Kincannon has served the second district since 2004. It was generally assumed that the successor to complete her third term, which runs through August 2016, would be appointed by the County Commission. But Mike Donila reports that because school board seats are non-partisan, it is possible for the county to put the race on the November ballot.

According to Knox County Law Director Bud Armstrong, Donila is correct. He cited TCA 49-2-201, “vacancies occurring on the board shall be filled by the local legislative body… Any person so appointed shall serve until a successor is elected and qualifies according to law. The successor shall be elected at the next general election for which candidates have a sufficient time to qualify under the law.” The state election rule requires qualification of candidates no less than 55 days prior to the general election, while the Knox County Charter has a 60 day qualification period.

The county election commission has asked the state for an opinion. Timing is everything.