A special election for one new "active" member seat on the TRS Board of Trustees has been scheduled for May 1, 2020.

This election has been set to comply with a new state law that increases the total number of TRS trustees from 13 to 15. One of the two new board seats will be filled in this election. The other new board member will be appointed by the governor. The new elected board member will serve an initial three-year term beginning on July 15, 2020.

Retired TRS members are not eligible to vote in this election.

For a candidate to be nominated and placed on the ballot, valid signatures from 500 active TRS members must be obtained and submitted to TRS on or before 4:30 p.m. on January 31, 2020.

For the first time in a TRS election, all trustee candidates must indicate in their nominating petitions if they have belonged to a statewide teacher organization with at least 10,000 members during the prior five years and identify that organization. Beginning in July, no more than four of the five active teacher trustees can belong to the same statewide teacher organization as defined by the law.

In the May election, if a candidate with the highest number of votes belongs to the same statewide teacher organization as four of the existing active teacher trustees, that candidate is not elected. Instead, the candidate with the highest vote total who is a member of another statewide teacher organization will win the new seat.

More information, including the petition instructions, Candidate's Nominating Petition and the Petition for Nomination of Teacher Trustee Candidate, can be found on the Special Board of Trustees Election page on the TRS website.