Attorney: Board cannot revert election cycle; November resolution to four-year trustee terms is final

Progreso ISD's legal counsel told trustees the board's November resolution changing trustee terms from three years to four years was validly adopted under the Education Code but that the statute provides no mechanism to revert to three-year terms once implemented.

Attorney Alyssa Aleman said the board exercised statutory authority under Education Code §11.059(e) when it amended policy and passed the resolution in November 2025; she added that a deadline to call an election for May had passed (Feb. 13), so the district could not call a May election this year to try to alter implementation. Board members asked clarifying questions about how the additional years were allocated among seats to align election cycles; the attorney and staff explained which places received one or two additional years so that seats fall into two groups that will run on alternating four-year cycles.

Trustees discussed the fiscal benefit of aligning elections (an estimated $30,000 saved this cycle by avoiding a county-run election) and reiterated the decision was made as a district-level governance action intended to reduce recurring election costs.