By Danburg H.B. No. 3329
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to election procedures for independent school districts
1-3 electing some or all trustees from single-member trustee districts.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 11.052, Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 11.052. SINGLE-MEMBER TRUSTEE DISTRICTS. (a) The
1-8 board of trustees of an independent school district, on its own
1-9 motion, may order that trustees of the district are to be elected
1-10 from single-member trustee districts or that not fewer than 70
1-11 percent of the members of the board of trustees are to be elected
1-12 from single-member trustee districts with the remaining trustees to
1-13 be elected from the district at large. Before adopting the order,
1-14 the board must:
1-15 (1) hold a public hearing at which residents
1-16 [registered voters] of the district are given an opportunity to
1-17 comment on whether or not they favor the election of trustees in
1-18 the manner proposed by the board; and
1-19 (2) publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper that
1-20 has general circulation in the district, not later than the seventh
1-21 day before the date of the hearing.
2-1 (b) An order of the board adopted under Subsection (a) must
2-2 be entered not later than the 150th [120th] day before the date of
2-3 the first election at which all or some of the trustees are elected
2-4 from single-member trustee districts.
2-5 (c) If at least 15 percent or 15,000 of the registered
2-6 voters of the school district, whichever is less, sign and present
2-7 to the board of trustees a petition requesting submission to the
2-8 voters of the proposition that trustees of the district be elected
2-9 from single-member trustee districts or that not fewer than 70
2-10 percent of the members of the board of trustees be elected from
2-11 single-member trustee districts with the remaining trustees to be
2-12 elected from the district at large, the board shall order that the
2-13 appropriate proposition be placed on the ballot at the first
2-14 regular election of trustees held after the 150th [120th] day after
2-15 the date of the board's order. The board must consider the
2-16 petition at the first board meeting for which notice can be posted
2-17 in compliance with Chapter 551, Government Code, following the
2-18 receipt of the petition [the petition is submitted to the board].
2-19 The proposition must specify the number of trustees to be elected
2-20 from single-member districts. Beginning with the first regular
2-21 election of trustees held after an election at which a majority of
2-22 the registered voters voting approve the proposition, trustees of
2-23 the district shall be elected in the manner prescribed by the
2-24 approved proposition.
2-25 (d) If single-member trustee districts are adopted or
3-1 approved as provided by this section, the board shall divide the
3-2 school district into the appropriate number of trustee districts,
3-3 based on the number of members of the board that are to be elected
3-4 from single-member trustee districts, and shall number each trustee
3-5 district. The trustee districts must be compact and contiguous and
3-6 must be as nearly as practicable of equal population. In a
3-7 district with 150,000 or more students in average daily attendance,
3-8 the boundary of a trustee district may not cross a county election
3-9 precinct boundary except at a point at which the boundary of the
3-10 school district crosses the county election precinct boundary.
3-11 Trustee districts must be drawn and adopted not later than the
3-12 150th [90th] day before the date of the first election of trustees
3-13 from single-member districts.
3-14 (e) Residents of each trustee district are entitled to elect
3-15 one trustee to the board. A trustee elected to represent a trustee
3-16 district at the first election of trustees must be a resident of
3-17 the district the trustee represents not later than:
3-18 (1) the 90th day after the date election returns are
3-19 canvassed; or
3-20 (2) the 60th day after the date of a final judgment in
3-21 an election contest filed concerning that trustee district. After
3-22 the first election of trustees from single-member trustee districts
3-23 and the first election after each redistricting, a candidate for
3-24 trustee representing a single-member trustee district must be a
3-25 resident of the district the candidate seeks to represent. A
4-1 person appointed to fill a vacancy in a trustee district must be a
4-2 resident of that trustee district. A trustee vacates the office if
4-3 the trustee fails to move into the trustee district the trustee
4-4 represents within the time provided by this subsection or ceases to
4-5 reside in the district the trustee represents. A candidate for
4-6 trustee representing the district at large must be a resident of
4-7 the school district.
4-8 (f) At the first election at which some or all of the
4-9 trustees are elected from trustee districts and after each
4-10 redistricting, the trustee district and at-large positions may be
4-11 filled as the staggered terms of incumbent trustees expire or the
4-12 board may determine that all trustee positions may be filed at the
4-13 first election after redistricting. Not later than the 150th day
4-14 before the date of the first election at which some or all of the
4-15 trustees are elected from trustee districts and after each
4-16 redistricting, the board shall determine the phase-in order of the
4-17 single-member and at-large positions, if any, providing for members
4-18 serving at the time of the first election or redistricting to serve
4-19 for the remainder of their terms. If the board determines that all
4-20 trustee positions may be filled at the first election or after each
4-21 redistricting, all positions on the board shall be filled[.] and
4-22 the [The] trustees then elected shall draw lots for staggered
4-23 terms as provided by Section 11.059.
4-24 (g) Not later than the 150th [90th] before the date of the
4-25 first regular school board election at which trustees may
5-1 officially recognize and act on the last preceding federal census,
5-2 the board shall redistrict [redivide] the school district into the
5-3 appropriate number of trustee districts if the census data
5-4 indicates that the population of the most populous trustee district
5-5 exceeds the population of the least populous trustee district by
5-6 more than 10 percent. Redistricting [Redivision] of the school
5-7 district shall be in the manner provided for division of the school
5-8 district under Subsection (d).
5-9 SECTION 2. Section 11.053, Education Code, is amended to
5-10 read as follows:
5-11 Sec. 11.053. TRANSITION TO SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS: OPTION
5-12 TO CONTINUE IN OFFICE. (a) For an independent school district
5-13 that adopts any single member district [a redistricting] plan under
5-14 Section 11.052 [providing for five members of the board to be
5-15 elected from single-member trustee districts and two members to be
5-16 elected at large], the board of trustees may provide in the plan
5-17 for the trustees in office to serve at large for the remainder of
5-18 their terms in accordance with this section.
5-19 (b) The trustee district and at-large positions provided by
5-20 the district's plan shall be filled as the staggered terms of
5-21 incumbent trustees expire. Not later than the 150th [90th] day
5-22 before the date of the first election from trustee districts, the
5-23 board shall determine the phase-in order of the single member and
5-24 at-large positions, if any, providing for members serving at the
5-25 time of the first election or redistricting to serve for the
6-1 remainder of their terms [by lot the order in which the positions
6-2 will be filled].
6-3 (c) The trustees of a district to which this section applies
6-4 may also provide for members serving at the time of a redistricting
6-5 to serve for the remainder of their terms.
6-6 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2000.
6-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
6-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-10 constitutional rule requiring bill to be read on three several days
6-11 in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, and
6-12 that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-13 passage, and is so enacted.