By Gallego H.B. No. 328
77R1260 BDH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to single-member trustee districts for certain school
1-3 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) Except
1-8 as provided by Subsection (b), the [The] board of trustees of an
1-9 independent school district, on its own motion, may order that
1-10 trustees of the district are to be elected from single-member
1-11 trustee districts or that not fewer than 70 percent of the members
1-12 of the board of trustees are to be elected from single-member
1-13 trustee districts with the remaining trustees to be elected from
1-14 the district at large.
1-15 (b) If a majority of the area of an independent school
1-16 district is located in a county with a population of less than
1-17 5,000, the board of trustees of the district, on its own motion,
1-18 may order that trustees of the district are to be elected from
1-19 single-member trustee districts or that not fewer than 50 percent
1-20 of the members of the board of trustees are to be elected from
1-21 single-member trustee districts with the remaining trustees to be
1-22 elected from the district at large.
1-23 (c) Before adopting an [the] order under Subsection (a) or
1-24 (b), the board must:
2-1 (1) hold a public hearing at which registered voters
2-2 of the district are given an opportunity to comment on whether or
2-3 not they favor the election of trustees in the manner proposed by
2-4 the board; and
2-5 (2) publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper that
2-6 has general circulation in the district, not later than the seventh
2-7 day before the date of the hearing.
2-8 (d) [(b)] An order of the board adopted under Subsection (a)
2-9 or (b) must be entered not later than the 120th day before the date
2-10 of the first election at which all or some of the trustees are
2-11 elected from single-member trustee districts authorized by the
2-12 order.
2-13 (e) [(c)] If at least 15 percent or 15,000 of the registered
2-14 voters of the school district, whichever is less, sign and present
2-15 to the board of trustees a petition requesting submission to the
2-16 voters of the proposition that trustees of the district be elected
2-17 in a specific manner, which must be generally described on the
2-18 petition and which must be a manner of election that the board
2-19 could have ordered on its own motion under Subsection (a) or (b)
2-20 [from single-member trustee districts or that not fewer than 70
2-21 percent of the members of the board of trustees be elected from
2-22 single-member trustee districts with the remaining trustees to be
2-23 elected from the district at large], the board shall order that the
2-24 appropriate proposition be placed on the ballot at the first
2-25 regular election of trustees held after the 120th day after the
2-26 date the petition is submitted to the board. The proposition must
2-27 specify the number of trustees to be elected from single-member
3-1 districts. Beginning with the first regular election of trustees
3-2 held after an election at which a majority of the registered voters
3-3 voting approve the proposition, trustees of the district shall be
3-4 elected in the manner prescribed by the approved proposition.
3-5 (f) [(d)] If single-member trustee districts are adopted or
3-6 approved as provided by this section, the board shall divide the
3-7 school district into the appropriate number of trustee districts,
3-8 based on the number of members of the board that are to be elected
3-9 from single-member trustee districts, and shall number each trustee
3-10 district. The trustee districts must be compact and contiguous and
3-11 must be as nearly as practicable of equal population. In a
3-12 district with 150,000 or more students in average daily attendance,
3-13 the boundary of a trustee district may not cross a county election
3-14 precinct boundary except at a point at which the boundary of the
3-15 school district crosses the county election precinct boundary.
3-16 Trustee districts must be drawn not later than the 90th day before
3-17 the date of the first election of trustees from those
3-18 [single-member] districts.
3-19 (g) [(e)] Residents of each trustee district are entitled to
3-20 elect one trustee to the board. A trustee elected to represent a
3-21 trustee district at the first election of trustees must be a
3-22 resident of the district the trustee represents not later than: (1)
3-23 the 90th day after the date election returns are canvassed; or (2)
3-24 the 60th day after the date of a final judgment in an election
3-25 contest filed concerning that trustee district. After the first
3-26 election of trustees from single-member trustee districts, a
3-27 candidate for trustee representing a single-member trustee district
4-1 must be a resident of the district the candidate seeks to
4-2 represent. A person appointed to fill a vacancy in a trustee
4-3 district must be a resident of that trustee district. A trustee
4-4 vacates the office if the trustee fails to move into the trustee
4-5 district the trustee represents within the time provided by this
4-6 subsection or ceases to reside in the district the trustee
4-7 represents. A candidate for trustee representing the district at
4-8 large must be a resident of the district.
4-9 (h) [(f)] At the first election at which some or all of the
4-10 trustees are elected in a manner authorized by this section [from
4-11 trustee districts] and after each redistricting, all positions on
4-12 the board shall be filled. The trustees then elected shall draw
4-13 lots for staggered terms as provided by Section 11.059.
4-14 (i) [(g)] Not later than the 90th day before the date of the
4-15 first regular school board election at which trustees may
4-16 officially recognize and act on the last preceding federal census,
4-17 the board shall redivide the district into the appropriate number
4-18 of trustee districts if the census data indicates that the
4-19 population of the most populous district exceeds the population of
4-20 the least populous district by more than 10 percent. Redivision of
4-21 the district shall be in the manner provided for division of the
4-22 district under Subsection (f) [(d)].
4-23 SECTION 2. Section 11.053(a), Education Code, is amended to
4-24 read as follows:
4-25 (a) For an independent school district that adopts a
4-26 redistricting plan under Section 11.052 providing for some [five]
4-27 members of the board to be elected from single-member trustee
5-1 districts and other [two] members to be elected at large, the board
5-2 of trustees may provide in the plan for the trustees then in office
5-3 to serve at large for the remainder of their terms in accordance
5-4 with this section.
5-5 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.