1-1 By: Gallego, Turner of Coleman, Hawley H.B. No. 328
1-2 (Senate Sponsor - Madla)
1-3 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 25, 2001;
1-4 April 26, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-5 Education; May 9, 2001, reported adversely, with favorable
1-6 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0;
1-7 May 9, 2001, sent to printer.)
1-8 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 328 By: Van de Putte
1-9 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-10 AN ACT
1-11 relating to single-member trustee districts for certain school
1-12 districts.
1-13 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-14 SECTION 1. Section 11.052, Education Code, is amended to
1-15 read as follows:
1-16 Sec. 11.052. SINGLE-MEMBER TRUSTEE DISTRICTS. (a) Except
1-17 as provided by Subsection (b), the [The] board of trustees of an
1-18 independent school district, on its own motion, may order that
1-19 trustees of the district are to be elected from single-member
1-20 trustee districts or that not fewer than 70 percent of the members
1-21 of the board of trustees are to be elected from single-member
1-22 trustee districts with the remaining trustees to be elected from
1-23 the district at large.
1-24 (b) If a majority of the area of an independent school
1-25 district is located in a county with a population of less than
1-26 10,000, the board of trustees of the district, on its own motion,
1-27 may order that trustees of the district are to be elected from
1-28 single-member trustee districts or that not fewer than 50 percent
1-29 of the members of the board of trustees are to be elected from
1-30 single-member trustee districts with the remaining trustees to be
1-31 elected from the district at large.
1-32 (c) Before adopting an [the] order under Subsection (a) or
1-33 (b), the board must:
1-34 (1) hold a public hearing at which registered voters
1-35 of the district are given an opportunity to comment on whether or
1-36 not they favor the election of trustees in the manner proposed by
1-37 the board; and
1-38 (2) publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper that
1-39 has general circulation in the district, not later than the seventh
1-40 day before the date of the hearing.
1-41 (d) [(b)] An order of the board adopted under Subsection (a)
1-42 or (b) must be entered not later than the 120th day before the date
1-43 of the first election at which all or some of the trustees are
1-44 elected from single-member trustee districts authorized by the
1-45 order.
1-46 (e) [(c)] If at least 15 percent or 15,000 of the registered
1-47 voters of the school district, whichever is less, sign and present
1-48 to the board of trustees a petition requesting submission to the
1-49 voters of the proposition that trustees of the district be elected
1-50 in a specific manner, which must be generally described on the
1-51 petition and which must be a manner of election that the board
1-52 could have ordered on its own motion under Subsection (a) or (b)
1-53 [from single-member trustee districts or that not fewer than 70
1-54 percent of the members of the board of trustees be elected from
1-55 single-member trustee districts with the remaining trustees to be
1-56 elected from the district at large], the board shall order that the
1-57 appropriate proposition be placed on the ballot at the first
1-58 regular election of trustees held after the 120th day after the
1-59 date the petition is submitted to the board. The proposition must
1-60 specify the number of trustees to be elected from single-member
1-61 districts. Beginning with the first regular election of trustees
1-62 held after an election at which a majority of the registered voters
1-63 voting approve the proposition, trustees of the district shall be
1-64 elected in the manner prescribed by the approved proposition.
2-1 (f) [(d)] If single-member trustee districts are adopted or
2-2 approved as provided by this section, the board shall divide the
2-3 school district into the appropriate number of trustee districts,
2-4 based on the number of members of the board that are to be elected
2-5 from single-member trustee districts, and shall number each trustee
2-6 district. The trustee districts must be compact and contiguous and
2-7 must be as nearly as practicable of equal population. In a
2-8 district with 150,000 or more students in average daily attendance,
2-9 the boundary of a trustee district may not cross a county election
2-10 precinct boundary except at a point at which the boundary of the
2-11 school district crosses the county election precinct boundary.
2-12 Trustee districts must be drawn not later than the 90th day before
2-13 the date of the first election of trustees from those
2-14 [single-member] districts.
2-15 (g) [(e)] Residents of each trustee district are entitled to
2-16 elect one trustee to the board. A trustee elected to represent a
2-17 trustee district at the first election of trustees must be a
2-18 resident of the district the trustee represents not later than:
2-19 (1) the 90th day after the date election returns are canvassed; or
2-20 (2) the 60th day after the date of a final judgment in an election
2-21 contest filed concerning that trustee district. After the first
2-22 election of trustees from single-member trustee districts, a
2-23 candidate for trustee representing a single-member trustee district
2-24 must be a resident of the district the candidate seeks to
2-25 represent. A person appointed to fill a vacancy in a trustee
2-26 district must be a resident of that trustee district. A trustee
2-27 vacates the office if the trustee fails to move into the trustee
2-28 district the trustee represents within the time provided by this
2-29 subsection or ceases to reside in the district the trustee
2-30 represents. A candidate for trustee representing the district at
2-31 large must be a resident of the district.
2-32 (h) [(f)] At the first election at which some or all of the
2-33 trustees are elected in a manner authorized by this section [from
2-34 trustee districts] and after each redistricting, all positions on
2-35 the board shall be filled. The trustees then elected shall draw
2-36 lots for staggered terms as provided by Section 11.059.
2-37 (i) [(g)] Not later than the 90th day before the date of the
2-38 first regular school board election at which trustees may
2-39 officially recognize and act on the last preceding federal census,
2-40 the board shall redivide the district into the appropriate number
2-41 of trustee districts if the census data indicates that the
2-42 population of the most populous district exceeds the population of
2-43 the least populous district by more than 10 percent. Redivision of
2-44 the district shall be in the manner provided for division of the
2-45 district under Subsection (f) [(d)].
2-46 SECTION 2. Section 11.053, Education Code, is amended to
2-47 read as follows:
2-48 Sec. 11.053. [TRANSITION TO SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS:]
2-49 OPTION TO CONTINUE IN OFFICE FOLLOWING ADOPTION OF SINGLE-MEMBER
2-50 PLAN OR REDISTRICTING. (a) The board of trustees of [For] an
2-51 independent school district that adopts a redistricting plan under
2-52 Section 11.052 [providing for five members of the board to be
2-53 elected from single-member trustee districts and two members to be
2-54 elected at large, the board of trustees] may provide [in the plan]
2-55 for the trustees [then] in office when the plan is adopted or the
2-56 school district is redistricted to serve [at large] for the
2-57 remainder of their terms in accordance with this section.
2-58 (b) The trustee district and any at-large positions provided
2-59 by the district's plan shall be filled as the staggered terms of
2-60 [incumbent] trustees then in office expire. Not later than the
2-61 90th day before the date of the first election from trustee
2-62 districts and after each redistricting, the board shall determine
2-63 [by lot] the order in which the positions will be filled.
2-64 [(c) The trustees of a district to which this section
2-65 applies may also provide for members serving at the time of a
2-66 redistricting to serve for the remainder of their terms.]
2-67 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
2-68 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
2-69 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
3-1 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
3-2 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
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