Dr. J. W.Edgar

Cominissioner of Education Texas Education Agency Austin, Texas

Dear Dr. Edgar: Opinion No. 

### C-394 Be: Whatare the terms of offi,ce of the first elected seven trustees of an independent school district created pursuant to Article 2742j, and related questions.
In order that the problem posed byyour opinion request bemadeas clear as possible, wequote the following from your letter: "OnApril 

### 6, 1963 acommonschool district

pursuant to provisions of Article 27423, V.C.S., voted to become anindependent school district. Thereafter, onApri1.24, 

### 1963 the County School Board created it anindependent school district (Del Valle) andappointed seven trustees to serve as required by that law until the next regular trustee election, April 4, 

### 1964. Thus, the tertns,of the seven apointed fl trustees normally expired about April , 

### 1964. "The independent school district hadand now has more than 1,000 scholastics according to its last scholastic census. Timely andprior to April 4, 

### 1964, that appointed board of trustees byboard action voted to adopt and be governed by the provisions in Article 2775a-1, as last amended. It provides in part,that where its provisions are adopted all candidates for school trustee of such districts shall thereafter bevoted upon andelected separately ,for positions, the candidates to be designated onthe official ballots accprding to the number of the position to which they seek election.

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Dr. J. W.Edgar, page 2 (C-394)

“Neither Article 2742j nor 2775a-1 provide for or prescribes aprocedure for adetermination of the length of term for which the first elected seven trustees shall serve. We,are adviseneither before the first elec’tion held FnApril 

### 1964 nor thereafte,r has such adetermination yet been made. “However, seven positions were printed on the first election ballot voted in April, 1964; each position wasnumbered one through seven consecutively, and seLen candidates’ nameswere.printed on the ballot as running respectively for thenumbered position preceding his name. Furthermore, write-in candidates were written in byvoters for each so-numbered trustee position. Seven trustees were thus elected andare currently serving as such.”
At the outset wemust observe that Article 2775a-1, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, once properly adopted byanindependent school district, is binding upon the said district, since the statute expressly provides that such adoption action maynot be rescinded by the board of trustees or their successors in office.

Article 2775a-1, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, provides in part as follows :

‘I At least sixty (60) days prior to

the firs; $lecCion which is governed by this Act in each district nowor hereafter coming within its provisions, the Board of Trustees shall number the positions in the order in which the terms of office expire, the expiring terms which are to be filled at the first election to be numbered Position No. 1, Position No. 2, and so on, and the next succeeding terms expiring to take the next larger numbers, until all of the positions have been numbered.

. . .‘I The difficulty with the Del,Valle Independent School District has arisen because ,ofthe fact that the Board of Trustees which adopted Article 2775a-1 wasana ointive board, all of whose terms expired simultaneously onApril -1964. It was thus impossible for the board to strictly comply with the requirements of Article 2775a-1, quoted above, with regard to the assignment of position numbers.

This office was informed that onJune 8? 1964, the newly elected Board of Trustees adopted apolicy of ‘School Board

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Dr. J. W.Edgar, Page 3 

### (c-394)

Organization," which set forth the following:

“2

. The term of office of the Trustees elected to Position No. l'and Position No. 2 in this first election shall be for aperiod of one year, and the term of office'of the Trustees elected'to Position No. 

### 3andPosition No. 4in this first election shall be for aperiod of twoyears. The term of office of the Trustees elected to Position No. 

### 5, Position No, 

### 6, andPosition No. 

### 7shall be for a period of three years. ,'. ." There is nostatutory basis for the adoption of such apolicy and the terms of trustees are set bylaw andare not asubject for policy decisions byaboard of trustees. Moreparticularly, this office has been unable to discover any basis in law for the threeyear terms given to the holders of Positions 

### 5, 6and

### 7. For these and other reasons expressed below, it is the opinion of this office that the terms of office for trustees adopted bythe Del Valle Independent School District Board of Trustees in its statement of policy of June 

### 8, 1964, are null andvoid, and such statement of policy can have no force or effect upon the terms of the trustees.Article 2775a-1, Vernon's Civil Statutes, does not in itself establish any terms for school trustees. Article 2777, Vernon's Civil Statutes, is the general enactment establishing terms for trustees of independent school districts. It reads as follows: "The seven candidates receiving the largest

number of votes at the first election, and the three or four candidates receiving the largest number of votes at all subsequent elections, shall beentitled to serve as trustees hereunder. Those elected at the first election shall determine bylot the term for which they are to serve. Thefour members,drawing numbers one, two, three and four shall serve for members drawing the shall serve two

---=Y' or until the second of April thereafter, an until their successors are elected and qualified; andregularly thereafter onthe first Saturday in April of each year, four trustees and three trustees, alternately, shall be elected for a term of twoyears, to succeed the trustees whose term shall at that time expire. Themembers of the board remaininp after avacancy

-1857-Dr. J. W.Edgar, page 4 (C-394)

shall fill the same for the unexpired term." (Emphasis supplied).
Tosummarize the situation as it nowexists in the Del Valle Independent School District:

(1)~ Anappolntive board properly elected to comewithin the provisions of Article 2775a-1, providing for election of trustees by position;

(2) InApril, 

### 1964, seven trustees~ were elected by posiyion number, although such positions hadnot been separated into original one and twoyear terms;



### (3) InJune, 

### 1964, the Board of Trustees adopted apolicy giving one, twoand three year terms to various position numbers. This statement of policy wasnull andvoid, and cannot be construed as properly designating a term for any trustee;

(4) Thestatutorily-required election of April, 

### 1965, is rapidly approaching, andnoeffective determination has been madeas to which trustees must run for office, andwhich ones have another year to serve.

Article 2777 provides for those trustees elected at the first election to determine their position numbers by lot. Although the present trustees purport to have position numbers already, these numbers were arrived at in amanner inconsistent with statute and can have nolegal effect. Since the board is nowsubject to the provisions of Article 2775a-1 andmust elect byposition number, andmust also comply with Article 2777 as to terms of trustees, it is obvious that the present trustees should cast lots to determine their position number. The trustees drawing numbers one, two,, three and four shall serve for only one year.

Under the particular facts involved in

this opinion, the'Board of Trustees of the Del Valle Independent School District, the first board elected, should cast lots for the determination of place numbers and terms of office, in accordance with Article 2777, Vernon's Civil Statutes.

-1858-Dr. J. W.Edgar, page 5 (c-3g4)

Yours very truly, WAGGONER

CARR Attorney General 

# -%&u&

. Assistant MLQ:ms APPROVED: OPINIONCOMMITTEE
W.V. Geppert, Chairman RoyB. Johnson Paul Phy George Black APPROVED

FORTHEATTORNEY GENERAL By: Stanton Stone

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