Trustees Get Two-Year Terms, Except In One Big-County Bracket

The text as introduced · 1,006 words

89R6268 TSS-F

By: Leo Wilson
H.B. No. 1929

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the administration of an election for a member of a

board of trustees of an independent school district.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 11.052(h), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(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. ]

SECTION 2. Section 11.053(b), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(b) The trustee district and any at-large positions

provided by the district's plan shall be filled when [ as ] the

[ staggered ] terms of trustees then in office expire. [ Not later

than the 90th day before the date of the first election from trustee

districts and after each redistricting, the board shall determine

the order in which the positions will be filled. ]

SECTION 3. Section 11.058(e), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(e) The board shall also, not later than the 60th day before

the date of the election, number the positions on the board [ in the

order in which the terms of office of the trustees expire ].

SECTION 4. Section 11.0581(a), Education Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(a) An election for trustees of an independent school

district shall be held on the same date as[ :

[ (1) the election for the members of the governing

body of a municipality located in the school district;

[ (2) ] the general election for state and county

officers [ ;

[ (3) the election for the members of the governing

body of a hospital district, if the school district:

[ (A) is wholly or partly located in a county with

a population of less than 50,000 that is adjacent to a county with a

population of more than three million; and

[ (B) held its election for trustees jointly with

the election for the members of the governing body of the hospital

district before May 2007; or

[ (4) the election for the members of the governing

board of a public junior college district in which the school

district is wholly or partly located ].

SECTION 5. Section 11.059(a), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(a) A trustee of an independent school district serves a

term of two [ three or four ] years.

SECTION 6. Section 11.065(a), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(a) Sections 11.052(g) and (h) and Section 11.059 [ Sections

11.059(a) and (b) ] do not apply to the board of trustees of a school

district if:

(1) the district's central administrative office is

located in a county with a population of more than 2.5 million; and

(2) the district's student enrollment is more than

125,000 and less than 200,000.

SECTION 7. Section 11.303, Education Code, is amended by

adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:

(a-1) A municipal school district shall hold any election

for the board of trustees of the district under Subchapter C. A

member of the board of trustees of a municipal school district

serves a term of two years.

SECTION 8. Sections 49.353(b) and (c), Education Code, are

amended to read as follows:

(b) The transitional board of trustees shall divide the

consolidated district into nine single-member trustee districts in

accordance with the procedures provided by Section 11.052. The

transitional board shall order an election for the initial board of

trustees to be held on the first [ May ] uniform election date in

November of an even-numbered year after the effective date of a

consolidation order.

(c) Members of the board of trustees of a consolidated

district serve [ staggered ] terms of two [ office for four ] years.

SECTION 9. Section 41.0052(a-1), Election Code, as added by

Chapter 985 (S.B. 2620), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular

Session, 2023, is amended to read as follows:

(a-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a municipality [ ,

independent school district, ] or hospital district wholly or partly

located in a county with a population of more than 19,900 and less

than 20,000 that holds its general election for officers on a date

other than the November uniform election date may change the date on

which it holds its general election for officers to the November

uniform election date.

SECTION 10. Section 41.0052, Election Code, is amended by

adding Subsection (a-2) to read as follows:

(a-2) The governing body of an independent school district

that holds its general election for officers on a date other than

the date of the general election for state and county officers

shall, not later than December 31, 2025, change the date on which

the governing body holds its general election for officers to that

date. This subsection expires January 1, 2029.

SECTION 11. The following provisions are repealed:

(1) Sections 11.059(b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g),

Education Code; and

(2) Section 41.0052(a-1), Election Code, as added by

Chapter 1160 (S.B. 1131), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular

Session, 2023.

SECTION 12. Notwithstanding Section 11.0581(d), Education

Code, the board of trustees of an independent school district or of

a municipal school district that adjusts the terms of office of its

members to comply with the changes in law made by this Act may not:

(1) permit a member of the board of trustees to serve a

term of office longer than two years more than the term to which the

member was originally elected; or

(2) shorten the term of office of any member of the

board of trustees.

SECTION 13. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails

over another Act of the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025,

relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted

codes.

SECTION 14. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.