Board Statement – President Courtney Lackey Wilson

This morning, after meeting with additional legal counsel and conferring in closed session, the board was briefed on the District’s review of Dr. Angel Hidalgo’s eligibility for the Place 2 election on May 4, 2024.  This is a very important matter, as the legal rights of all affected candidates are impacted.  Because the statutory deadline to remove an ineligible candidate from the ballot was February 24, 2024 and had already passed when the first ineligibility complaint was received on March 3, 2024, the District and its legal counsel worked carefully and deliberately to ensure that any decisions made were based only on the law and conclusive public documents, and I appreciate their respect for the rights of the candidates.

The law requires that a candidate may only be declared ineligible if there are facts indicating that the candidate is ineligible that are conclusively established by another public record. Therefore, it was critical to ensure that any decision made was based on a conclusive public document.  Legal counsel confirmed on April 12, 2024 that Mansfield ISD is now in possession of a public record that conclusively establishes that Dr. Hidalgo was not a registered voter of the Mansfield ISD by the deadline of February 16, 2024, as required by Texas Election Code Section 141.001 (a)(6). Based upon a review of public documents, the Texas Election Code, and the Texas Government Code, we have been informed that a certification has been made, based on public documents, that candidate Hidalgo is ineligible to run for the Mansfield ISD Board of Trustees in the May 4, 2024, election. All votes in the election must be counted.  However, if Dr. Hidalgo is declared the winner, then a vacancy in that position will be declared. Board members may then fill the vacancy by appointment until the next trustee election or may order a special election to fill the vacancy.

On behalf of the Board and administration, we want to thank everyone for their patience as we worked through this process.