Keller board says lawsuit alleging open meetings violation has no merit, calls to dismiss
Attorneys representing the Keller school board have responded to a lawsuit alleging violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act, this time submitting a motion to dismiss.
The latest response, filed April 7, the board’s attorneys argue that at no time did any trustee or collection of trustees operate outside legal bounds or violate the Open Meetings Act when considering a plan to split the Keller school district, detaching the schools in the city of Keller from those in Fort Worth.
The board claims that since it never took concrete action on the proposed split “beyond studying the issue as a policy remedy to financial woes,” no harm was caused to the initial plaintiff, Matthew Mucker, a Keller district resident, or homeowners in north Fort Worth’s Heritage neighborhood who joined the lawsuit as intervenors.
Furthermore, the board claims, no additional harm could be caused because the split plan was officially squashed on March 14.
What the plaintiffs say
Mucker told the Star-Telegram he didn’t have a legal obligation to prove damages, only that a violation of the Open Meetings Act occurred. Lewisville-based attorney Stephen Dubner agreed. Dubner pointed out, though, that the normal remedy for an open meetings violation is to undo whatever action was undertaken away from public view.
In this case, since the Mucker suit was seeking a preemptive injunction to prevent the board from splitting the district, there is no specific act to undo.
That doesn’t mean board members can’t be held criminally liable for violating the Open Meetings Act, said Dubner, if they met in closed session to discuss the details of a potential district detachment, beyond simply getting legal advice on the topic from an attorney.
“They can talk about how to do it and the legal procedures,” said Dubner. “But they can’t discuss whether it’s a good or bad idea. That’s not legal. That would be an open meeting topic.”
What else the board said
While the board reiterated that the split was called off, it stated in its motion that it would have been within its rights to unilaterally initiate a split based on its interpretation of Section 13.103 of the Texas Education Code. That section provides two avenues for school district detachment and the formation of a new district: a board of trustees resolution or a petition to the commissioners court signed by at least 10% of the district’s registered voters. In the latter case, the court would decide the petition’s validity then put the resolution to a public vote.
The wording of section 13.103 is somewhat ambiguous, and there is some dispute about whether detachment initiated by a board resolution requires a public vote. Dubner told the Star-Telegram in January that believes a public vote is required in both cases.
“If not, there’s chaos,” he said.
Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells in February asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to clarify the law.
Two Texas lawmakers, Rep. David Lowe of North Richland Hills and Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth, introduced identical bills in the Texas Legislature in March that would strip school boards of the power to initiate a district detachment by resolution. Both bills would make detachment possible only if a petition signed by 20% of the district’s registered voters is presented to the school board. After that, the resolution would be put to a public vote.
Cary Moon, a fromer Fort Worth city council member and one of the plaintiffs representing the Heritage Homeowners Association in the lawsuit, told the Star-Telegram his group wasn’t backing down from its allegations.
“The board continues to say they did nothing wrong, which is why we are here,” Moon said. “This is nothing new.”
Instead of filing motions to dismiss the lawsuit, Moon said the board should produce the documents the Heritage lawyers have requested as part of the discovery phase. The Heritage homeowners are represented by Fort Worth-based Kelly Hart & Hallman.
Staff writers Cody Copeland, Liz Campbell and Harrison Mantas contributed to this report.