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Nearly 2,000 high school students started this year at the brand new Waco High, a sprawling 350,000 square feet campus on North 42nd Street.

Inside the new home of the Waco Lions, students study at modern geometrical desks, perform in a spacious performing arts center, and get hands-on experience in state-of-the-art industrial kitchens and automotive shops.

Years before the newest area school could open, the seven-member Waco Independent school board decided to ask residents to increase the school district’s debt to build it.

Building a new school with tax dollars is one of the clearest examples of a decision a local school board may make. A school board’s responsibilities also include hiring a superintendent, managing the district’s budget, and setting other policies like cell phone use during school hours.

These government bodies yield immense sway on how residents live their lives — whether they have children in the school system or not, due to their taxing ability.

Their work is not always easy to understand. Board meetings can include education-specific terminology, such as references to MAP testing, terminal and enabling objectives and multidimensional inquiries. Then there is M&O and I&S — school budget jargon that stands for maintenance and operations and interest and sinking.

Even finding the board meeting can be hard. Waco ISD’s board meetings typically take place on the third or fourth Thursday of each month at the district’s administration building. To find the entrance, one must find the side door — located near Schmaltz’s Sandwich Shoppe on South Fifth Street, around the corner from the building’s regular entrance on Franklin Avenue.

In this edition of How Waco Works, our new series, we aim to help you understand what school boards are and how you can engage with them as a student, parent or neighbor to one of the nearly 90 neighborhood schools that dot McLennan County.

How many school districts are in McLennan County?

There are 20 school districts in McLennan County. Each district manages a set of public schools.

How many members are on a school board?

School boards have a range of members, usually seven or nine, depending on the district. Both Midway and Waco ISD have seven members. These school board members, or trustees, are elected by residents of the school district. They do not need any experience in education, and often don’t have any prior to being elected.

What does a school board do?

A school board passes the budget, sets the tax rate for the district, hires the superintendent, and adopts policies, goals, and priorities for the district.

For example, the Waco ISD board of trustees recently approved a charter company to oversee two elementary schools. At another board meeting, Waco ISD trustees approved a partnership between Waco Family Medicine and the district to provide mental health services at three middle school campuses. At Midway ISD, the board of trustees approved an $83.5 million bond in August to address deferred maintenance and necessary technology and district upgrades.

How long are terms?

School board terms can be three or four years in Texas. At Waco ISD and Midway ISD terms are three years.

What are the required items the board must vote on?

The board must approve school calendars, pass a budget and set a tax rate. In addition, the district is sometimes required to weigh in on state laws.

For example, the Waco and Midway ISD boards voted to maintain their current practices and declined to establish a daily prayer or religious text reading period — a vote that was required by state law.

After the Waco ISD board of trustees approved a new cell phone policy ahead of the current school year, parents questioned Waco ISD board president Jose Vidaña about the reasoning behind the vote. Much like the vote about school prayer, Waco ISD and school districts across the state were required to vote on a phone ban policy due to a new state law.

School boards also hold public hearings to discuss school budgets and set the tax rate in August. As a taxing authority, school districts receive revenue from property taxes in the district. In addition, school boards approve school calendars.

What is the relationship of the superintendent to the board?

The superintendent is responsible for the day-to-day functions of the district. The superintendent is the board’s sole employee. The board interviews and selects the superintendent.

What does at-large mean? And what are single-member districts?

At-large school board members are selected by voters in the entire school district. Anyone in the school district can run for the seat and everyone in the district can vote in at-large races. Single-member districts cover specific parts of a school district’s area. Only people who live within that smaller district’s area can vote in those elections.

“That’s the whole point behind the (single-member) district, to make sure that every district has some representation from somebody in the community that is rooted into the community there,” Vidaña said in an interview with The Waco Bridge.

What is an agenda? When are agendas posted?

Like other government bodies, school board meetings must have an agenda. Agendas are a list of items the board will discuss or vote on during a meeting. They must be posted 72 hours in advance of the board meeting and can be found on a school district’s website (generally under board meetings.) The agenda is set by the board president and superintendent, with input from other board members. Community members can speak on related agenda items by signing up for public comment.

Here is where to find school board agendas:

What is an executive session?

During a board meeting’s executive session, board members discuss items behind closed doors. These conversations are not public. No items are voted on during the executive session. School boards must follow state law, which outlines what can — and cannot — be discussed during executive session. The board must explain why it’s going into executive session prior to doing so. Items for discussion include real estate and personnel issues like teacher discipline.

Can a school board lose its power?

The Texas Education Agency can replace a school board with its own board if a district fails to meet certain standards for several years in a row. The TEA announced in 2025 that it would intervene at Connally ISD after the district received consecutive years of failing ratings at two of its campuses. State law requires the TEA to intervene after five years of consecutive F ratings. The TEA can either close the campus or replace the board and superintendent and install a conservator.

Clarification, March 13, 2026, 10:24 a.m. Central:
This guide has been updated to clarify that the Waco and Midway school boards voted to maintain current practices and not create a dedicated time for prayer in school, a vote required by state law.

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Raquel Villatoro covers education issues for the Bridge. A first-generation Salvadoran-American, Raquel previously worked at the Tyler Morning Telegraph, where she covered health care issues, the first...