Keller school board calls special meeting to discuss district split proposal
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Keller ISD controversy
Read our reporting on the possible plan to split Keller ISD into two districts.
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The Keller school board will meet at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, to discuss a proposal to split the district in two.
The meeting will include a chance for the public to express their opinions on the matter, as well as hear the board’s remarks on the proposal, but no action will be taken on Thursday. It will be held at the district’s Education Center, 350 Keller Parkway, Keller.
The Tarrant County Commissioners Court appears set to discuss the matter in a closed meeting two days before the Keller school board meeting. The agenda for the Jan. 14 commissioners court session states commissioners will get legal advice on the statutes in the Texas Education Code on detaching part of a district.
A spokesperson for County Judge Tim O’Hare declined to comment on the matter.
“Until we fully understand what the county’s role would be in the process, any comment from this office would be premature,” she said.
The proposal sparked debate last week after Fort Worth council member Charles Lauersdorf confirmed he had heard about it from a school board member. Mayor Mattie Parker said in a statement that she learned of the proposed split in a city meeting on Jan. 8.
The school board member told Lauersdorf that the board did not want to make its plans known in an attempt to avoid a public outcry. But once members of the nonprofit advocacy group Keller ISD Families for Public Education caught wind of it, outcry ensued.
The majority, though not all, of comments on the organization’s Facebook post about the proposal were from people who expressed opposition to the split and the lack of transparency in the process so far.
The board was originally set to hold a special meeting on Jan. 16, according to a scheduled live stream on the district’s YouTube page that has since been taken down.
On the evening of Jan. 9, school board President Charles Randklev announced in a social media post that the matter would be discussed in a “special executive meeting” on Jan. 16. The post did not say if the meeting would include a portion open to the public.
Lawyers specializing in the Texas Open Meetings Act told the Star-Telegram on Jan. 10 that the board must bookend the executive session with open sessions and allow the public to give input on the matter.
The Open Meetings Act requires a governing body to disclose the topic that will be discussed during a closed meeting if the issue represents a special public interest.
The agenda for this week’s meeting notifies the public that the board will seek legal counsel on the split during executive session.
In addition to citing the statute in the Open Meetings Act that excepts the discussion from an open meeting, the agenda lists the topic board members will discuss with their lawyer: “Consultation with attorney on district boundaries and process of creation of district by detachment under Chapter 13 of the Texas Education Code and discussion on trustee duties and responsibilities pursuant to Chapter 11 of the Texas Education Code.”
Parents of Keller ISD students who have expressed opposition to the proposed split said they believe the board will attempt to bypass a public referendum on the proposal by passing a resolution to initiate the detachment process.
The Education Code states that the process can be initiated by either a school board resolution or a petition signed by at least 10% of registered voters in the district. The subsequent statute then requires a public election if the county commissioners court accepts a petition. The statute does not mention a resolution.
The parents have said they suspect the board to try and use this as a loophole, arguing that the code only explicitly requires a vote in the case of a petition, but education lawyers have told the Star-Telegram that the statutes must be “harmonized” with each other to interpret the election requirement in either case.
The news sparked a parody account for the new district, which concerned parents believe is to be called Alliance ISD. A shop on the e-commerce site Etsy has also started selling T-shirts, hoodies and mugs emblazoned with the spoof logo.
The Star-Telegram contacted the seller through the Etsy website, but did not receive a response.
Harrison Mantas contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 13, 2025 at 6:23 PM.
