Education Code § 11.052

Sec. 11.052. SINGLE-MEMBER TRUSTEE DISTRICTS. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), the board of trustees of an independent school district, on its own motion, may order that trustees of the district are to be elected from single-member trustee districts or that not fewer than 70 percent of the members of the board of trustees are to be elected from single-member trustee districts with the remaining trustees to be elected from the district at large. (b) If a majority of the area of an independent school district is located in a county with a population of less than 10,000, the board of trustees of the district, on its own motion, may order that trustees of the district are to be elected from single-member trustee districts or that not fewer than 50 percent of the members of the board of trustees are to be elected from single-member trustee districts with the remaining trustees to be elected from the district at large. (c) Before adopting an order under Subsection (a) or (b), the board must: (1) hold a public hearing at which registered voters of the district are given an opportunity to comment on whether or not they favor the election of trustees in the manner proposed by the board; and (2) publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper that has general circulation in the district, not later than the seventh day before the date of the hearing. (d) An order of the board adopted under Subsection (a) or (b) must be entered not later than the 120th day before the date of the first election at which all or some of the trustees are elected from single-member trustee districts authorized by the order. (e) If at least 15 percent or 15,000 of the registered voters of the school district, whichever is less, sign and present to the board of trustees a petition requesting submission to the voters of the proposition that trustees of the district be elected in a specific manner, which must be generally described on the petition and which must be a manner of election that the board could have ordered on its own motion under Subsection (a) or (b), the board shall order that the appropriate proposition be placed on the ballot at the first regular election of trustees held after the 120th day after the date the petition is submitted to the board. The proposition must specify the number of trustees to be elected from single-member districts. Beginning with the first regular election of trustees held after an election at which a majority of the registered voters voting approve the proposition, trustees of the district shall be elected in the manner prescribed by the approved proposition. (f) If single-member trustee districts are adopted or approved as provided by this section, the board shall divide the school district into the appropriate number of trustee districts, based on the number of members of the board that are to be elected from single-member trustee districts, and shall number each trustee district. The trustee districts must be compact and contiguous and must be as nearly as practicable of equal population. In a district with 150,000 or more students in average daily attendance, the boundary of a trustee district may not cross a county election precinct boundary except at a point at which the boundary of the school district crosses the county election precinct boundary. Trustee districts must be drawn not later than the 90th day before the date of the first election of trustees from those districts. (g) Residents of each trustee district are entitled to elect one trustee to the board. A trustee elected to represent a trustee district at the first election of trustees must be a resident of the district the trustee represents not later than: (1) the 90th day after the date election returns are canvassed; or (2) the 60th day after the date of a final judgment in an election contest filed concerning that trustee district. After the first election of trustees from single-member trustee districts, a candidate for trustee representing a single-member trustee district must be a resident of the district the candidate seeks to represent. A person appointed to fill a vacancy in a trustee district must be a resident of that trustee district. A trustee vacates the office if the trustee fails to move into the trustee district the trustee represents within the time provided by this subsection or ceases to reside in the district the trustee represents. A candidate for trustee representing the district at large must be a resident of the district. (h) At the first election at which some or all of the trustees are elected in a manner authorized by this section and after each redistricting, all positions on the board shall be filled. The trustees then elected shall draw lots for staggered terms as provided by Section 11.059. (i) Not later than the 90th day before the date of the first regular school board election at which trustees may officially recognize and act on the last preceding federal census, the board shall redivide the district into the appropriate number of trustee districts if the census data indicates that the population of the most populous district exceeds the population of the least populous district by more than 10 percent. Redivision of the district shall be in the manner provided for division of the district under Subsection (f). Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995. Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 982, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.