By Lewis of Tarrant H.B. No. 1746
74R4713 DRH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the method of selecting trustees in certain independent
1-3 school districts.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 23, Education Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 23.0231 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 23.0231. DISTRICTS WITH MORE THAN 65,000 SCHOLASTICS IN
1-8 CERTAIN COUNTIES. (a) This section applies only to an independent
1-9 school district with more than 65,000 students in average daily
1-10 attendance in a county having two or more municipalities with a
1-11 population of 250,000 or more. For purposes of this subsection, a
1-12 municipality is located in a county if more than 95 percent of the
1-13 municipality's population resides in that county.
1-14 (b) An independent school district, whether created by
1-15 special or general law, shall be under the management and control
1-16 of a board of nine trustees elected in accordance with this
1-17 section.
1-18 (c) All members of the board of trustees shall be elected by
1-19 the qualified voters of single-member districts. The board shall
1-20 elect one of its members as president of the board and another
1-21 member as vice president.
1-22 (d) At least 120 days before the first school board election
1-23 at which a district elects trustees under this section, the board
1-24 shall divide the school district into nine trustee districts that
2-1 are compact, contiguous, and contain as nearly as practicable an
2-2 equal population.
2-3 (e) Except as provided for the initial election under
2-4 single-member districts, a candidate seeking to represent a trustee
2-5 district must reside in the district he seeks to represent and
2-6 vacates his office if he ceases to reside in that district.
2-7 (f) A candidate must receive a majority of the votes cast in
2-8 a position to be elected.
2-9 (g) At least 120 days before an election to be held in the
2-10 second year following the calendar year in which the federal
2-11 decennial census is taken, the board shall redivide the district
2-12 into nine trustee districts if the census data indicate that the
2-13 population of the most populous district exceeds the population of
2-14 the least populous district by more than 10 percent.
2-15 (h) In districts that elect seven board members from
2-16 single-member districts on the date the district becomes subject to
2-17 this section, members of the board serving on that date shall serve
2-18 for the remainder of their terms, except those choosing to resign.
2-19 At the first election at which a district first elects trustees
2-20 under this section, five members shall be elected to serve for a
2-21 term of four years. The members of the board holding the offices
2-22 for which there was no election shall draw lots to determine which
2-23 trustee district they will represent during the remainder of their
2-24 terms. Thereafter, all members shall be elected to staggered terms
2-25 of four years.
2-26 (i) For the purposes of this section, average daily
2-27 attendance is defined as the number of students enrolled and in
3-1 attendance on average during the last 10 school days of September
3-2 in each school year.
3-3 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-4 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.