Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1968 )

. .
TEXE ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF 7l?ExAs
January 11, 1968
Mrs. Bess Blackwell Opinion No. M-191
Executive Secretary
State Board of Hairdressers Re: Whether under Section 5-a
and Cosmetologists of,,Article734-b, Vernon's
Sam Houston Building Penal Code, Junior Colleges
Austin, Texas 78701 will be eligible for cos-
metology courses the same
Dear Mrs. Blackwell: as vocational high schools.
You request from this office ,an opinion as to the
above captioned matter. you have also stated.in your letter
that the Board members have felt that junior colleges are not
exempt under the above provisions, although public high schools
are considered exempt and that presently the Texas Education
Agency wishes to install cosmetology training courses in junior
colleges.
Section 5(a) of Article 73433,Vernon's Penal Code,
reads as follows:
"Sec. 5. (a) Any person, firm, association
or corporation applying to the Board for an orig-
inal certificate of registration or license, as a
school of beauty culture, shall make such applica-
tion in the form prescribed by the Board, giving
the data and information required by the Board.
The Board shall, in such applications, require
such data, information and facts as it deems nec-
essary to determine such applicant's compliance
with this Act and his or its fitness to conduct
and maintain such school. No applicant for an
original school license shall hereafter be grant-
ed an original certificate of registration or
license unless it shall have a building approved
by the Board, having therein a minimum floor
space of not less than three thousand, five hun-
dred (3,500) square feet floor space in a modern
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Mrs. Bess Blackwell, page 2, (M-191)
fireproof building of permanent type construc-
tion. Such space shall be divided into three
(3) separate departments, viz: a theory class-
room, a room for practical work for seniors,
and a room for practical work for juniors, and
shall have not less than two (2) modern, sani-
tary toilets in separate rooms where there are
male and female students, and shall possess
and have installed the minimum equipment and
apparatus required by the Board, sufficient to
properly train and fully instruct a minimum of
fifty (50) students at one time in all subjects
of its curriculum; and such schools shall there-
after maintain the premises and minimum equipment
and apparatus; and such applicants shall furnish
a good and sufficient surety bond payable to the
State of Texas, conditioned to refund any unused
portion of tuition paid if such school closes or
ceases operation before~courses of instruction
have been completed. Provided, however, that
the requirements as to floor space, type of
building, bond requirement and number of licens-
ed instructors shall not apply to Public Voca-
tional Schools." (Emphasis added.)
The leading case upholding constitutionality of
junior college districts is Shepherd v. San Jacinto Junior
College District, 363 S.W.2d 142 (Tex.Sup. 1963). The Court
in discussina the nature of junior colleae districts made
the following observation at-page 744: -
"Some difficulty of classification has
arisen with reference to junior colleges and
the regional districts supporting them. Un-
doubtedly the framers of the Texas educational
system envisioned a system of schools extending
from those of an elementary grade to those of a
university level, that is, elementary schools,
secondary schools or high schools and colleges
and universities. The junior colleges, developed
for the most part since 1929, are sandwiched in,
so to speak, between the high schools on one
hand and the colleges or universities on the other
hand. In certain respects, the junior college is
what its name implies, that is, a school which is
above the high school level yet one whose highest
grade is below the educational level required for
a degree from a university. Yet, as pointed out
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Mrs. Bess Blackwell, page 3, '(M-191)'
by one of the briefs~on file here, it would not
be inappropriate to refer to the districts which
support such schools as 'junior college districts'
'advanced independent school districts' or 'grad-
uate high school districts.' The point of this
is that junior colleges and their districts may
in some instances be regarded as colleges and in
other instances as schools in the nature of ad-
vanced high schools. The Junior College Act ,it-
self makes numerous references to independent
school districts when delineating the powers and
operations of a junior college district.
"The Texas junior college history bears some
relation to the experience of,other states with
secondary schools, that is, high schools or college
preparatory schools.
II
. . .II (Emphasis added.)
We may say that, dependent upon the curriculum
any high school, junior college or university would be re-
garded as academic in some areas and vocational and tech-
nical in other areas.
A school of cosmetology is generally considered
to be a vocational school as opposed to an academic school.
It is, therefore, the opinion of this office that
junior colleges, which offer as a part of its curriculum,
vocational instruction, fall within the proviso of Section
5-a of Article 73413,Vernon's Penal Code, and that the re-
quirements as to floor space, type of building, bond require-
ment, number of licensed instructors, do not apply to such
schools.
SUMMARY
-------
The last sentence of Section 5a of Article
73413,Vernon's Penal Code, which provides an ex-
ception for public vocational schools, applies
to junior colleges of this State, which offer
vocational instruction as a part of their cur-
riculum, since a junior college may provide in
its curriculum for terminal vocational and tech-
nical courses as well as preparatory academic
courses.
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f .
Mr$. Bess Blackwell, page 4, (M-191)
C. MARTIN
rney General of Texas
Prepared by Pat Cain
Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
Hawthorne Phillips, Chairman
Kerns Taylor, Co-Chairman
John Reeves
Brock Jones, Jr.
W. V. Geppert
James Quick
A. J. CARUBBI, JR.
Staff Legal Assistant
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