(1) The governance of the center and the school shall be vested in a board of trustees. The board shall consist of nine members appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate. The board shall be composed of a resident from each of the state's congressional districts and may include:

(a) One member who is deaf or hard of hearing;

(b) Two members who are experienced educational professionals;

(c) One member who is experienced in providing residential services to youth; and

(d) One member who is the parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing and who is receiving or has received educational services related to deafness or hearing impairment from a public educational institution.

(2) No voting trustee may be an employee of the school or the center, a member of the board of directors of any school district, a member of the governing board of any public or private educational institution or an elected officer or member of the legislative authority of any municipal corporation. No more than two voting trustees may be school district or educational service district administrators appointed after July 1, 1986.

(3) Trustees shall be appointed by the governor to serve a term of five years, except that any person appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of a term shall be appointed within sixty days of the vacancy and appointed only for the remainder of the term. Of the initial members, three must be appointed for two-year terms, three must be appointed for three-year terms, and the remainder must be appointed for five-year terms.

(4) The board shall not be deemed unlawfully constituted and a trustee shall not be deemed ineligible to serve the remainder of the trustee's unexpired term on the board solely by reason of the establishment of new or revised boundaries for congressional districts. In such an event, each trustee may continue to serve in office for the balance of the term for which he or she was appointed so long as the trustee continues to reside within the boundaries of the congressional district as they existed at the time of his or her appointment. Vacancies which occur in a trustee position during the balance of any term shall be filled pursuant to subsection (3) of this section by a successor who resides within the boundaries of the congressional district from which the member whose office was vacated was appointed as they existed at the time of his or her appointment. At the completion of such term, and thereafter, a successor shall be appointed from the congressional district which corresponds in number with the congressional district from which the incumbent was appointed.

Findings—Intent—2009 c 381: See note following RCW 72.40.015.

Effective date—2002 c 209: "This act takes effect July 1, 2002, except that the governor may appoint the members of the board of trustees under section 7 of this act prior to the beginning of their terms of office on July 1, 2002." [ 2002 c 209 s 12.]