Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1939 )

Honort&LleC. E. Alvie,Jr. April15,1939
County Attorney
Oatesvllle, Texas
DWCSirX opinion
lo. o&b
Ber Valldifgof order OFEeailtm
CorpltJBoardofTrusteesaboHah-
lllgc0ttamrooaCalwAsah001
Districtsndmme&ngapmt
thereoftoSterSohoolDietrlot
mid part to BYE& Independent
SohoolDietriot.
We ars in reoslpt~of~roarlettar of April 10, 1939,where&
you idvisethaton member .7,1938,the ba~lton county~oaraof school
TnisteksforEamlltanComty,Tesas,psssed en o* abolishln~the
CottxmwoodSohoolDieiMotliumber55, being aaamnw echooldlstrietof
HapiltonC~ty,Taxae,anrl~e~aboutsirsqaareailes ofsald..d.lstrlot
wlthStsrSehoolDletrlot,WllJs County,Tslas,sndthe rmainderbeing
anexedto theXymPcIndepsndentSohoolDistrlotofCoryellCounty,Tese&,
by said~ordiir.Yoizfii.f%her
,adklaedthat no Gtioe whatwaver rse~givenby
I& Eiim%lt&-%~&ySolioolBoar(Lof ltaintended aotirPoiiDeoemb& 7 sad
thatnohearing-VaehaiLcmthssams. Itlsouk~ruudiws~d~frcm
youz~letterthat cm Deoember1, 1938, an eleatl& ha&been duly orderedind
-iQA?M act-$*8uL +a waqnrr. =tll&m %?f*- !tbolm?*n~a*:'n).
-elnkL
ooneolldatewltb~:raatInde``tSohoolDletrict. CnDeearber 22, 1938,
said eleatianwas dulyheld &ad resultedin,fayorof c0nsolldati.m.Uhlla
youdonetdlrwtlyso say,we presumef+nauyoru: letter*at the el.eotlaa
vas ordered~&held sad resultedin faror of ooasolidatl= iaboth the
CottommcdSohoglDistrlctand themat IndependentSohoolDletriot.We
&stheriKrmywr letterthatthere lsno questlonbutthattbe eleotiom
~-dml?rcalled.~rsgalarlyheld~dChat~e resaltshavebeenpro~ly
.
You requestour opiniony to ``rtc4tna of what was the Cottm-
wwd SchoolDiatriotIlo.55.
We donotflnd ltneoemary to deteminevhetber t&e failure
to givenotioe and tohave ahearwupon the aubjectmatterof the order
of Decmiber7, 1938, would have mndered said order voidwitlmdLt2.m
help
of other airotmetanoes.
HonorableC. E. Awls, Jr., April 15, 1939,page 2 (O-&4)
In the owe of State Y. Baker, 40 S.W. (2) 41, by the Supreme
Court,thefao&wemasfoxlmfsr
OnJan~3,~8,the CounQJndge ofBlda@oComtyhad
crderedsn elwtlon to beheld inCcmmonSchoolDistriotIitmber16 to de-
tezminewhetherthesemeshouldbe inoorporatedasauJndependmtS&ool
Mstriotenddesiepetedas EdOollchIudependentSchoolDlstriot.After
said electionhad been orderedand due notice giwn and two daya before
such eleatl~was tohavebeenheld, the ComtyBowdofTrustees ordered
a re-dlstrlctlngof said cannon sahooldistrictby which certainportions
of the sane were cut off into adjacentemmum school districtsBumbers
2 and l8, The eleotlonwasheldonthe date orderedandresnltedSnfavar
of ~*orpor.atlon. The resultaof the,dlsotiaaware dalJ dsalared. An
aatlmof quow&%mtowas broughtbythe State to test the valialtyof the
BdCowh Iadepend&tSchoolDlstrlat. Itwillbe notloed tbatthti was
adlrwtattaokupwlhe krdepaPdentsohooldletrictoreated.bytheeleo-
tionwhiahvasheld aubseqnentto the time theBoard of 'Emsteeshad.
atteaptadtodlvldeup ~e@&rlatandezmex its varlou6 parts to adjacent
sehooldlstrlata. The trlaloonrtdecl.medthe iPdependentsohooldlstrict
invalid. !lbecourt of cl~IlAppeals, in 26 S.W. (2) 324, reversedti
rmdered t&e ja@tent of the trial oourt. The SugreaeCourt sustainedthe
aotlonoft&eComt ofClvl.lAppealshoMlngtbatthe eleotlonwae valid
audthatthe order of theBoard ofTrnetees,made tvo days before the
election,wastithout~effeot.We quote fran the opinim ofJ&e Crltz
oftheS~courttx3fomma:
"It&i our opinionthat, even ii lt be coaoe$edthat the
xwdem of-the muutybomdwitbreferenoe i+tihe territory
o;i~'d~trictBo.16~ldhe``tm:inallrsspeata lsgallnthe
abeewb of fhe pendlngeleaticn,etillthar~tofthe people
tovote an hwzporatlcm, having been first lawfnlQ invoked,
wonldnotbe interferedwithor defeatedby the oomxtyboard
~m~holdlagofthe elmtlon,eml the deolarat@nof
. ~bisisoertalalytheoorreatmle,evenifltbe
oonoededthatthe powerof the cotmQboardandtbe ri@tof
t$epwplewerew-ordlnata or equal.'
In theoaaewhloh youpreseit.,*e right'ofthcpeop3.ein the
Cotfomrood.Distriot~Che~arrt~e``t``lDistrl~ttorote
upon the ooasolldatfonof said distri&s had alreadybeen iu~oked at the
tim the CouutyBosrd oonvenedend entered Zts order onDeoeanber7, lg38.
State v.Baker,snpra,wllloontrol. Assum3ngthattbeoonsol.idatlon
elsationwas regularthmugbonttere has beem aaonsolfdationaudthe
order of Deomber 7, 1938, wae without f&we or,effwt.
APPIKJVEDI Yours truly
/s/ Gerald c. Naun -0FTRYAs
A- -0F’EuIs i~lellu B. sawb,
Glexm R. -is
QUA PL:ds A6slst6nt