Harris County Department of Education (HCDE) is an agency of the government of Harris County, Texas, in the Houston metropolitan area; it is headquartered in Northside district in Houston. As of 2018[update] it handles the enrollment of around 200 students with special needs.[1]
Under Texas law it is not a school district.[1]
Seven elected Harris County school trustees oversee the operation of the Harris County Department of Education. Trustees are elected through a partisan election process via the Republican and Democratic primaries and in the November general elections, serving staggered six-year terms of office, with three trustees elected countywide and four trustees elected to oversee the four commissioner precincts in Harris County.[citation needed]