82S10149 CAE-D
By: Dutton H.B. No. 44
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the consolidation of, or detachment and annexation of
territory in, certain school districts and the board of trustees of
those districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 2, Education Code, is amended
by adding Chapter 14 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 14. CONSOLIDATION OF OR DETACHMENT AND ANNEXATION
IN CERTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Sec. 14.001. PURPOSE OF CHAPTER. (a) The purpose of this
chapter is to provide for the creation of one independent school
district in each county in this state, having boundaries
coextensive with the boundaries of the county.
(b) This chapter does not affect:
(1) the ability of a school district to consolidate or
detach and annex territory under Chapter 41; or
(2) the power of the commissioner to order a
consolidation or a detachment and annexation under Chapter 41.
Sec. 14.002. NONAPPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER. This chapter
does not apply to:
(1) a school district that, on the effective date of
this chapter, has boundaries that are coextensive with those of a
single county; or
(2) a special-purpose school district under
Subchapter H, Chapter 11.
Sec. 14.003. CONSOLIDATION OF CERTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
Each school district that contains territory located in a single
county shall enter into one or more consolidation agreements with
each other school district located in the county.
Sec. 14.004. DETACHMENT AND ANNEXATION OF TERRITORY OF
CERTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS. (a) Each school district that contains
territory located in two or more counties shall enter into one or
more agreements under which district territory in a county other
than the county in which the largest part of the district's student
population resides is detached from the district and annexed to a
district in the county in which that territory is located.
(b) After completing a detachment and annexation agreement
as required by Subsection (a), the school district shall enter into
one or more consolidation agreements as required by Section 14.003.
Sec. 14.005. INITIATION OF PROCEDURE. A consolidation
under Section 14.003 or a detachment and annexation under Section
14.004 must be initiated by a resolution of the board of trustees of
each school district involved in the procedure.
Sec. 14.006. ELECTION NOT REQUIRED. An election is not
required for a consolidation under Section 14.003 or a detachment
and annexation under Section 14.004.
Sec. 14.007. EFFECTIVE DATE OF TRANSFER. (a) A
consolidation under Section 14.003 or a detachment and annexation
under Section 14.004 must have an effective date not later than July
1, 2016.
(b) On the effective date of the transfer:
(1) students residing in the transferred territory
become residents of the receiving school district;
(2) title to property allocated to the receiving
district vests in the district;
(3) the receiving district assumes any debt allocated
to it; and
(4) the receiving district assumes jurisdiction of the
annexed territory for all other purposes.
Sec. 14.008. TERMS OF AGREEMENT. An agreement under
Section 14.003 or 14.004 must include, as appropriate:
(1) a schedule for electing a board of trustees of the
new school district;
(2) provisions relating to the transfer of title to
district property located in an area detached from one district and
annexed to another; and
(3) provisions relating to allocation of debt in
connection with district property located in an area detached from
one district and annexed to another.
Sec. 14.009. STATUS OF RESULTING DISTRICT; ELECTION OF
BOARD OF TRUSTEES. (a) A school district resulting from a
consolidation or detachment and annexation under this chapter is an
independent school district.
(b) Beginning with the first regular election after the
consolidation, the board of trustees shall be elected in the manner
provided by Section 11.0511.
Sec. 14.010. ABOLITION OF COUNTY SYSTEM. (a) On the
effective date of an agreement under this chapter creating a school
district that contains all the territory in a single county that has
a county system operating under former Chapter 18 as provided by
Section 11.301, the county system is abolished.
(b) On the abolition of a county system under this section,
all assets and liabilities of the system are transferred to the
independent school district for the county.
Sec. 14.011. ASSUMPTION OF DEBT. (a) A school district
that assumes the indebtedness of another district under this
chapter is not required to conduct an election on assumption of the
indebtedness. Without an election, the school district assuming the
indebtedness may impose and collect taxes necessary to pay
principal and interest on the assumed debt so long as the debt is
outstanding.
(b) Without an election, a school district may issue
refunding bonds for bonds of another district assumed under this
chapter.
Sec. 14.012. TAXING AUTHORITY TRANSFER. If all or part of
the territory of a school district is annexed to another district,
the receiving district may impose taxes at the rate established in
accordance with law for the district as a whole and is not required
to conduct an election for the purpose of taxing the territory
received.
Sec. 14.013. BOUNDARY CHANGES RESULTING IN APPRAISAL
DISTRICT CHANGES. (a) This section applies if all or part of
territory annexed to a school district is in an appraisal district
in which the receiving district does not participate.
(b) For the tax year in which the annexation is effective,
the receiving district may impose taxes on the basis of:
(1) the valuation arrived at by the appraisal district
in which the territory is located before the annexation; or
(2) the valuation arrived at by a reappraisal
requested by the receiving district, and conducted by the appraisal
district in which the receiving district participates, in the
manner prescribed by Section 25.18(c), Tax Code.
Sec. 14.014. ACTION BY COMMISSIONER. (a) If a school
district required to enter into a consolidation agreement or
detachment and annexation agreement under this chapter fails to do
so before May 1, 2016, the commissioner shall enter an order
consolidating the school district with another district or
detaching territory from the district and annexing the territory to
another district so that each county contains:
(1) a single independent school district; or
(2) a single independent school district and one or
more special-purpose school districts under Subchapter H, Chapter
11.
(b) An order under this section may contain any appropriate
provision that may be contained in an agreement under Section
14.008.
Sec. 14.015. EXPIRATION. This chapter expires September 1,
2016.
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 11.051, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 11.051. GOVERNANCE OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT[;
NUMBER OF TRUSTEES].
SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 11, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 11.0511 to read as follows:
Sec. 11.0511. NUMBER OF TRUSTEES; METHOD OF ELECTING BOARD.
(a) The board of trustees of a school district consists of nine
members, elected as provided by this section.
(b) One member of the board of trustees is elected by the
voters of the entire school district and shall serve as president of
the board. Two members of the board of trustees are elected from
each county commissioners precinct by the voters of that precinct.
(c) To be eligible to be a candidate for or to serve as
president of the board of trustees, a person must be a registered
voter in the school district. Except as provided by Subsection (e),
to be a candidate for or to serve as a member of the board of
trustees from a county commissioners precinct, a person must be a
registered voter of that precinct.
(d) A person shall indicate on the application for a place
on the ballot:
(1) the precinct that the person seeks to represent;
or
(2) that the person seeks the office of president.
(e) When the boundaries of the county commissioners
precincts are redrawn after each federal decennial census to
reflect population changes, a member of the board of trustees in
office on the effective date of the change, or a member of the board
of trustees elected or appointed before the effective date of the
change whose term of office begins on or after the effective date of
the change, shall serve in the precinct to which elected or
appointed even though the change in boundaries places the person's
residence outside the precinct for which the person was elected or
appointed.
(f) Before September 1, 2016, a school district described by
Section 14.002(1) shall begin electing its board of trustees in the
manner prescribed by this section and Section 11.059. This
subsection expires September 1, 2016.
SECTION 4. Effective September 1, 2016, Section 11.059,
Education Code, is amended by amending Subsection (d) and adding
Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(d) A board policy must state the schedule on which specific
terms expire. The policy must provide that except as provided by
Subsection (f), the terms of trustees elected from the same
commissioners precinct expire at different times.
(f) At the first election of trustees following a change in
the boundaries of county commissioners precincts as provided by
Section 11.0511:
(1) the positions of all trustees elected from
commissioners precincts shall be filled;
(2) the two candidates receiving the highest number of
votes for each county commissioners precinct are elected; and
(3) the trustees then elected shall, for each
precinct, draw lots for staggered terms as provided by this
section.
SECTION 5. Effective September 1, 2016, Section 11.061(c),
Education Code, is amended to read as follows:
(c) At [Except as provided by Section 11.062, at] the first
meeting after each election and qualification of trustees, the
members shall organize by selecting:
(1) [a president, who must be a member of the board;
[(2)] a secretary, who may or may not be a member of
the board; and
(2) [(3)] other officers and committees the board
considers necessary.
SECTION 6. Effective September 1, 2016, Section 11.301(a),
Education Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) A school district [or county system] operating under
former Chapter 17, [18,] 22, 25, 26, 27, or 28 on May 1, 1995, may
continue to operate under the applicable chapter as that chapter
existed on that date and under state law generally applicable to
school districts that does not conflict with that chapter.
SECTION 7. Effective September 1, 2016, Section 11.302,
Education Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 11.302. PUBLIC INFORMATION. The governing body of a
school district [or county system] to which Section 11.301 applies
shall make available to the public for inspection and copying
during regular operating hours a copy of the provisions under which
the district [or county system] operates that are specific to that
type of district [or county system].
SECTION 8. Section 11.354, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 11.354. ABOLITION OF SPECIAL-PURPOSE DISTRICT. (a) On
the written request signed by a majority of the board of trustees of
a military reservation school district, the State Board of
Education may abolish the district. The State Board of Education
shall give written notice to the board of trustees requesting
abolition.
(b) Each commissioners court shall annex the territory of
the abolished military reservation school district in its county to
a contiguous school district in the county.
(c) Title to the real property of the abolished military
reservation school district vests in the district to which the
property is annexed.
(d) The school district to which territory from the
abolished district is annexed assumes and is liable for the
indebtedness of the abolished district.
(e) A creditor of an abolished military reservation school
district must file the creditor's claim against the district with
the commissioners court not later than the 60th day after the
effective date on which the military reservation school district is
abolished and, if the claim is not allowed, may maintain suit
against the abolished military reservation school district as such.
Suit must be brought not later than the first anniversary of the
date on which the claim is disallowed. Process in a suit, if
necessary, may be served on the county judge of each county in which
the district was located. The commissioners court shall defend any
suit against an abolished military reservation school district but
may settle the litigation as the commissioners court considers
advisable. This section does not waive any defense available to the
abolished district. [The territory of the abolished district and
property of the district shall be disposed of as provided by Section
13.205.]
SECTION 9. Section 12.029, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 12.029. STATUS OF DISTRICT IN CASE OF ANNEXATION OR
CONSOLIDATION. (a) If a school district is annexed to another
district under Chapter 14 [13], and only one of the districts has a
home-rule school district status, the status, as a home-rule or
other type of school district, of the receiving district is the
status for both districts following annexation.
(b) Except as provided by Subchapter H, Chapter 41, if two
or more school districts having different status, one of which is
home-rule school district status, consolidate into a single
district, [the petition under Section 13.003 initiating the
consolidation must state] the status for the consolidated district
is the status of the district with the greatest enrollment. [The
ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "Consolidation of (names of school districts) into a
single school district governed as (status of school district
specified in the petition)."]
SECTION 10. Section 39.102(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) If a school district does not satisfy the accreditation
criteria under Section 39.052, the academic performance standards
under Section 39.053 or 39.054, or any financial accountability
standard as determined by commissioner rule, the commissioner shall
take any of the following actions to the extent the commissioner
determines necessary:
(1) issue public notice of the deficiency to the board
of trustees;
(2) order a hearing conducted by the board of trustees
of the district for the purpose of notifying the public of the
insufficient performance, the improvements in performance expected
by the agency, and the interventions and sanctions that may be
imposed under this section if the performance does not improve;
(3) order the preparation of a student achievement
improvement plan that addresses each student achievement indicator
under Section 39.053(c) for which the district's performance is
insufficient, the submission of the plan to the commissioner for
approval, and implementation of the plan;
(4) order a hearing to be held before the commissioner
or the commissioner's designee at which the president of the board
of trustees of the district and the superintendent shall appear and
explain the district's low performance, lack of improvement, and
plans for improvement;
(5) arrange an on-site investigation of the district;
(6) appoint an agency monitor to participate in and
report to the agency on the activities of the board of trustees or
the superintendent;
(7) appoint a conservator to oversee the operations of
the district;
(8) appoint a management team to direct the operations
of the district in areas of insufficient performance or require the
district to obtain certain services under a contract with another
person;
(9) if a district has a current accreditation status
of accredited-warned or accredited-probation, fails to satisfy any
standard under Section 39.054(e), or fails to satisfy financial
accountability standards as determined by commissioner rule,
appoint a board of managers to exercise the powers and duties of the
board of trustees;
(10) if for two consecutive school years, including
the current school year, a district has received an accreditation
status of accredited-warned or accredited-probation, has failed to
satisfy any standard under Section 39.054(e), or has failed to
satisfy financial accountability standards as determined by
commissioner rule, revoke the district's accreditation and,[:
[(A) order closure of the district and annex the
district to one or more adjoining districts under Section 13.054;
or
[(B)] in the case of a home-rule school district
or open-enrollment charter school, order closure of all programs
operated under the district's or school's charter; or
(11) if a district has failed to satisfy any standard
under Section 39.054(e) due to the district's dropout rates, impose
sanctions designed to improve high school completion rates,
including:
(A) ordering the development of a dropout
prevention plan for approval by the commissioner;
(B) restructuring the district or appropriate
school campuses to improve identification of and service to
students who are at risk of dropping out of school, as defined by
Section 29.081;
(C) ordering lower student-to-counselor ratios
on school campuses with high dropout rates; and
(D) ordering the use of any other intervention
strategy effective in reducing dropout rates, including mentor
programs and flexible class scheduling.
SECTION 11. Section 41.032, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 41.032. CONSOLIDATION AGREEMENT [GOVERNING LAW]. The
agreement among the consolidating districts [Except to the extent
modified by the terms of the agreement, the consolidated district
is governed by the applicable provisions of Subchapter D, Chapter
13, other than a provision requiring consolidating districts to be
contiguous. The agreement] may not be inconsistent with the
requirements of this subchapter.
SECTION 12. Section 41.033(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The agreement among the consolidating districts may
include a governance plan designed to preserve community-based and
site-based decision making within the consolidated district,
including the delegation of specific powers of the governing board
of the district other than the power to impose [levy] taxes. The
agreement may include:
(1) an effective date that is not more than one year
after the date of the consolidation election;
(2) a schedule to elect the board of trustees of the
consolidated district before or after the effective date of
consolidation;
(3) a requirement that the consolidated district
educate particular grades within the boundaries of a district being
consolidated;
(4) a requirement that the consolidated district
maintain a specific campus in operation;
(5) a provision stating that if the votes cast in some
districts, but not all districts, show a majority voting in favor of
the consolidation, the districts receiving a favorable vote may
consolidate;
(6) a provision stating that a majority of the votes
cast in each district must be in favor of consolidation for there to
be a consolidation; or
(7) any other provision consistent with state and
federal law [, including a provision authorized by Section
13.158(b)].
SECTION 13. Subchapter B, Chapter 41, Education Code, is
amended by adding Sections 41.0331 and 41.0332 to read as follows:
Sec. 41.0331. ELECTION. (a) Each board of trustees of a
school district that proposes to consolidate under this subchapter
shall:
(1) issue an order for an election to be held on the
same day in each district included in the proposed consolidated
district; and
(2) give notice of the election.
(b) The ballot in the election shall be printed to permit
voting for or against the proposition: "Consolidation of (names of
school districts) into a single school district."
(c) Each board of trustees shall canvass the returns of the
election in its district and shall publish the results separately
for each district.
(d) If the votes cast in all districts show a majority in
each district voting in favor of the consolidation, the boards of
trustees shall declare the districts consolidated.
Sec. 41.0332. TITLE TO PROPERTY; ASSUMPTION OF DEBT. Title
to all property of the consolidating districts vests in the
consolidated district, and the consolidated district assumes and is
liable for the outstanding indebtedness of the consolidating
districts.
SECTION 14. Section 41.064, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 41.064. ALLOCATION OF INDEBTEDNESS. (a) The
annexation agreement may allocate to the receiving district any
portion of the indebtedness of the district from which the
territory is detached, and the receiving district assumes and is
liable for the allocated indebtedness.
(b) A school district that assumes the indebtedness of
another district under this subchapter is not required to conduct
an election on assumption of the indebtedness. Without an election,
the school district assuming the indebtedness may impose and
collect taxes necessary to pay principal and interest on the
assumed debt so long as the debt is outstanding.
(c) Without an election, a school district may issue
refunding bonds for bonds of another district assumed under this
subchapter.
SECTION 15. Subchapter C, Chapter 41, Education Code, is
amended by adding Sections 41.066 and 41.067 to read as follows:
Sec. 41.066. TRANSFER. On the effective date of the
transfer of territory under this subchapter:
(1) students residing in the transferred territory
become residents of the receiving school district;
(2) title to property allocated to the receiving
district vests in the district;
(3) the receiving district assumes any debt allocated
to it; and
(4) the receiving district assumes jurisdiction of the
annexed territory for all other purposes.
Sec. 41.067. TAXING AUTHORITY TRANSFER. The receiving
district may impose taxes at the rate established in accordance
with law for the district as a whole and is not required to conduct
an election for the purpose of taxing the territory received.
SECTION 16. Section 41.096(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) After first executing an agreement under this section,
the board of trustees shall order and conduct an election[, in the
manner provided by Sections 13.003(d)-(g),] to obtain voter
approval of the agreement.
SECTION 17. Section 41.122(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) After first executing an agreement under this
subchapter other than an agreement under Section 41.125, the board
of trustees of the district that will be educating nonresident
students shall order and conduct an election[, in the manner
provided by Sections 13.003(d)-(g),] to obtain voter approval of
the agreement.
SECTION 18. The following provisions of the Education Code
are repealed:
(1) Chapter 13; and
(2) Sections 41.007, 41.034(b) and (c), 41.062, and
41.253(d).
SECTION 19. Effective September 1, 2016, the following
provisions of the Education Code are repealed:
(1) Sections 11.051(b) and (c);
(2) Section 11.052;
(3) Section 11.053;
(4) Section 11.054;
(5) Section 11.055(b);
(6) Section 11.057;
(7) Section 11.058;
(8) Section 11.062;
(9) Section 11.065; and
(10) Section 11.303.
SECTION 20. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, this
Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of
all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39,
Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the
vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect on the
91st day after the last day of the legislative session, except as
otherwise provided by this Act.