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Board debates new rules for placing items on agendas; trustees ask staff for proposed language
Summary
Trustees discussed revisions to policy BE(Local) that would clarify how and when trustees can request agenda items, including whether one or two trustees should be required to place items and specifying time frames and an appeals process; staff and legal counsel were asked to draft language for a March preview.
Trustees entered an extended work-session discussion about proposed changes to policy BE(Local), the board's agenda-setting rules. Opinions differed on whether a single trustee should be able to place an item on the agenda or whether two trustees should be required; concerns included Texas open-meetings constraints on "shopping" topics to other trustees and the practical need for guardrails and staff time to prepare materials. "If a trustee wants to bring something forward, you have to have another trustee that is willing to write the recommendation for the agenda item together," one trustee noted while another warned that requiring a second could chill legitimate agenda requests.
Trustees asked the superintendent and board staff to draft concrete policy language with specific time frames (trustees suggested 10-25 days as options) and to seek legal guidance about whether a one- or two-trustee model runs afoul of open meetings rules. A preview will be prepared for the March meeting and members will have opportunity to refine language before any final vote.
