{"id":243036,"date":"2026-04-10T03:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/243036\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T03:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:48:16","slug":"dallas-college-wont-hold-trustee-elections-in-may-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/243036\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas College won\u2019t hold trustee elections in May. Here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Voters won\u2019t see Dallas College trustee candidates on their ballot this May<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The community college will now hold its trustee elections in November of odd-numbered years, meaning the next trustees will be voted on in November 2027. The school previously held its elections in May of even-numbered years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dallas College\u2019s election date change, which trustees passed unanimously, aligns the college with the state and federal elections held in November. The Dallas City Council similarly voted to move city elections<\/a> to November of odd-numbered years last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The changes in Dallas College and Dallas City Council come after Texas lawmakers passed a law last year<\/a> that provides an avenue for political subdivisions to move their elections. Supporters say the consolidation is designed to increase participation in elections and reduce recurring expenses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dallas College averages about 5% turnout in May elections, Robert Wendland, Dallas College\u2019s general counsel, said at a November board work session. That rate lags behind the average 17% turnout for Houston Community College, which holds its elections in November.<\/p>\n

The community college is also poised to save costs with the move to a November date alongside the city of Dallas. Election costs are typically split between participating entities, such as a city, county or school district, in a certain jurisdiction. As more entities participate, the percentage of election costs each body pays shrinks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen an election is in May of an even-numbered year, you\u2019re probably going to be the only governmental entity using a voting center, so you\u2019ll be paying the vast majority of that cost,\u201d David de la Fuente, who served on the city\u2019s Charter Review Commission, said at the December board meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dallas College generally spends $250,000 to $300,000 per trustee district in a May election, de la Fuente said. In May elections, Dallas College typically absorbs 30%-40% of the total election costs because fewer political subdivisions participate, according to Wendland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the move, however, Dallas College will join the cities of Dallas and Mesquite on a November date.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two entities are over 50% of your population, so in most cases, your vote centers will be split three ways, whereas now you\u2019re splitting one or two ways,\u201d de la Fuente said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trustees voted 5-2 in a December board meeting to extend current trustees\u2019 terms under the date change. Trustees in Districts 5 and 6, whose terms expire in May 2026, will be extended until November 2027. Trustees in Districts 2, 3 and 4, whose terms expire in May 2028, will be extended until November 2029. Trustees in Districts 1 and 7, whose terms expire in May 2030, will be extended until November 2031.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Voters won\u2019t see Dallas College trustee candidates on their ballot this May.\u00a0 The community college will now hold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,89138,89396,92931,89204,89398,90463],"class_list":{"0":"post-243036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news","11":"tag-tp-dallas-county","12":"tag-tp-ed-lab-college-career","13":"tag-tp-ed-lab-legislature","14":"tag-tp-education-lab","15":"tag-tp-higher-education","16":"tag-tp-texas-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}