School Board Elections

About the Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees consists of seven members elected to serve, without compensation, for overlapping four-year terms. Elections are held on the first Saturday in May of odd numbered years. While candidates run for specific places, they do not represent specific geographical areas. Rather, each represents Plano ISD at large. The board annually elects a president, vice president and a secretary at the organizational meeting for the election of officers.

To be elected to the Plano ISD Board of Trustees, a candidate must receive a plurality of votes, meaning more votes than any other candidate, except as otherwise provided by law. 

Policy BBB(LOCAL) 

Requirements

An application for a place on the ballot must be in writing; signed, sworn to by the candidate before a person authorized to administer an oath, and dated; timely filed with the district’s filing authority, Gloriane Fernandez; and include specified information about the candidate:

• the candidate’s name, date of birth, and occupation;
• the candidate’s residence address or the address at which the candidate receives mail with a description of the location of the candidate’s residence;
• the candidate’s length of continuous residence in Texas and in the district as of the date the candidate swears to the application;
• if available, a public mailing address and email address at which the candidate receives correspondence relating to the candidate’s campaign;
• the office sought, including any place or other distinguishing number and an indication of whether the office sought is for a full or unexpired term;
• an indication that the candidate has either not been finally convicted of a felony or if so, has been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disabilities;
• statements that the candidate is a U.S. citizen; has not been determined by a court to be mentally incapacitated; is aware of the nepotism law; and swears an oath to support and defend the U.S. and Texas Constitutions and laws.

Tex. Elec. Code § 141.031(a). 

A potential candidate who has been convicted of a felony must include in the application proof that the person is eligible for public office. Tex. Elec. Code § 141.031(a-1). Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton addressed what constitutes release from the resulting disabilities of a felony conviction in Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0251 (2019).

Eligibility/Qualifications

An individual is eligible to be a candidate for, or elected or appointed to, a Texas school board if the individual:

• is a United States citizen;
• is 18 years of age or older on the first day of the term to be filled at the election or on the date of appointment, as applicable;
• has not been determined by a final judgment of a court exercising probate jurisdiction to be totally mentally incapacitated or partially mentally incapacitated without the right to vote;
• has not been finally convicted of a felony from which the person has not been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disabilities;
• has resided continuously in the state for 12 months and in the territory from which the office is elected for six months immediately preceding the following date:
  • for an independent candidate, the date of the regular filing deadline for a candidate’s application for a place on the ballot;
  • for a write-in candidate, the date of the election at which the candidate’s name is written in; or
  • for an appointee to an office, the date the appointment is made;
• is registered to vote in the territory from which the office is elected on the date described above; and
• satisfies any other eligibility requirements prescribed by law for the office. 

Tex. Elec. Code § 141.001.

The Texas Education Code imposes additional requirements:

• To be elected to a school board, an individual must be a qualified voter. Tex. Educ. Code § 11.061; Tex. Elec. Code § 11.002.

A person is ineligible to serve on a school board if the person has been convicted of a felony or solicitation of prostitution under Texas Penal Code section 43.021. Tex. Educ. Code § 11.066.  

Policy BBA(LEGAL)