TITLE: Relating to a ballot proposition on the manner of election for members of the board of trustees of a school district.

SUMMARY: Relating to a ballot proposition on the manner of election for members of the board of trustees of a school district.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to a ballot proposition on the manner of election for members of the board of trustees of a school district. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 11.052, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a), (b), (d), and (e) and adding Subsections (e-1) and (e-2) to read as follows: (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), the board of trustees of an independent school district, on its own motion, may order that a proposition be placed on the ballot at the next regular election of trustees on the question of electing: (1) all trustees of the district [are to be elected] from single-member trustee districts;or (2) [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 a proposition be placed on the ballot at the next regular election of trustees on the question of electing: (1) all trustees of the district [are to be elected] from single-member trustee districts;or (2) [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. (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 the ballot proposition to elect some or all [all or some] of the trustees [are elected] from single-member trustee districts is to be submitted to the voters [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 proposed [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. (e-1) A [The] proposition submitted under this section must specify the number of trustees to be elected from single-member districts. (e-2) Beginning with the first regular election of trustees held after an election at which a majority of the registered voters voting approve a [the] proposition submitted under this section,trustees of the district shall be elected in the manner prescribed by the approved proposition. SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.