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Texas Education Code - Section 11.052. Single-Member Trustee Districts

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§ 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, § 1, eff. May 30, 1995.  
Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 982, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
2001.

Last modified: August 10, 2007