THE ATTORNEX GENERAL
OF~XAS
AUSTIN.TEXAR 18711
CXCAWFOpu3 c. MAlzTXl*
A??rORNEY GENXERAI.
November 24, 1967
Hon. J. W. Edgar Opinion No. M-158
Commissioner of Education
Texas Education Agency Re: By what procedure or
Austin, Texas method may it be deter-
mined in an independent
school district regular
trustee election which
of the successful candi-
dates shall be or has
been elected to fill the
vacancy (one year) term,
where the district may
not or does not elect
its trustees pursuant
Dear Dr. Edgar: to Article 2775a-1.
By recent letter you have requested an opinion
of this office in regard to the above stated matter. We
quote from your letter as follows:
"Prior to enactment of House Bill 684
(Acts 60th Leg., R.S. 1967, at page 1073;
codified as Article 2777-1) a person appoint-
ed to a vacancy on a board of trustees of
an independent school district was appointed
to fill the same for the unexpired term.
"Effective August 28, 1967, Article
2777-l provides in part:
"Section 1. In all independent school
districts. . .if a vacancy occurs on the
board of trustees, the remaining members
of board of trustees shall fill the vacancy
until the next regular election for members
of the board of trustees. If, at the time
of that election, there remains any portion
of the term so filled, a person shall be
elected to serve out the remainder of the
unexpired term. . . .
-73.5
. . .
Hon. J. W. Edgar, page 2, M-158
"Subject to this law, a person was
recently appointed to a vacancy on the
board of trustees of an independent
school district. The term of the of-
fice he fills expires in April, 1969.
"On first Saturday in April, 1968,
is the next regular election for trustees.
At that time, as the statute requires, a
person shall be elected to serve out the
remainder of the unexpired term (one year).
"At the same election in April, this
district will normally elect three trustees
for three year terms. (Article 2774a, V.C.S.)
The district has not adopted the place or
position number basis of electing its trus-
tees, permitted under Article 2775a-1. Many
independent school districts are not eligible
to adopt its provisions. Therefore, normally
those candidates which receive the larger
number of votes at the election will be
elected as trustees to fill those offices
then up for election, this year four:
Three for 3-year terms, one for the un-
expired l-year term.
"The cited district, several other
inquiring independent school districts
faced with the same vacancy filling elec-
tion problem, and this Agency would appre-
ciate an opinion from the Office of At-
torney General on the question(s):
"By what procedure or method may
it be determined in an independent
school district regular trustee elec-
tion which of the successful candidates
shall be or has been elected to fill
the vacancy (one-year) term, where
the district may not or does not
elect its trustees pursuant to Arti-
cle 2775a-l?"
Article 2775a-1, Vernon's Civil Statutes, orig-
inally enacted by the legislature in 1955 and amended in
1963 and again in 1965, would solve the problem at hand.
It would permit the school boards to set out the vacancy
-736-
I .
Hon. J. W. Edgar, page 3, (M-158)
position as a separate position and permit the people to
vote for the particular vacancy position and permit can-
didates to run for this particular position. However, Ar-
ticle 2775a-1, V.C.S., does not apply to independent school
districts of less than five hundred scholastics, and also,
it is an optional statute. Consequently, this opinion will
be restricted to a discussion of the independent school
districts which have not adopted or are not subject to the
provisions of Article 2775a-1.
The underlying intent of Section 1 of Article
2777-1, quoted above, is that the voters should be permit-
ted to fill any school board trustee vacancy without cal-
ling a special election whenever a vacancy occurs. Thus,
the present members of the school board may only fill the
vacancy until the next general election and at which time
the ballot would specifically designate the names of the
candidates seeking to fill the unexpired term.
In line with the above stated statutory purpose,
it is the opinion of this office that Article 2777-l re-
quires that the vacancy position be specifically designated
on the ballot so that the voters will know that they are
filling-a vacancy as they are required to do by law.
SUMMARY
-----me
In all independent school districts not
subject to the provisions of Article 2775a-
1, Vernon's Civil Statutes, the effect of Ar-
ticle 2777-1, Vernon's Civil Statutes, is to
require that the ballot specifically desig-
nate that an unexpired term is being filled
by the voters.
eneral of Texas
Prepared by James C. McCoy
Assistant Attorney General
-737-
Hon. J. W. Edgar, page 4, (M-158)
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
Hawthorne Phillips, Chairman
Kerns Taylor, Co-Chairman
W. V. Geppert
James Quick
John Banks
Dunklin Sullivhn
A. J. CARUBBI, JR.
Staff Legal Assistant
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