Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1947 )


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  •                                                    R-700
    September 3, 1947
    Hon. L. A. Woods
    State Superintendent of Public,Instruction
    Department of Education
    Austin, Texas
    Attn:   Hon. T. M. Trlmble    Opinion No. V-363
    First Assistant
    Re:   Application of Sec. 2
    of Art. III, of 5. B.
    167, 49th Leg., as
    amended bg Acts 1947,
    50th Leg., R.S., S. B.
    21, where teachers
    were willing to teach
    eight months but were
    allowed to teach but
    seven.
    Dear Sir:
    We refer to your letter of recent date wherein
    you request to be advised conclernlngthe proper applica-
    tion of th,eEqualization Law, Section 2, of Article III,
    S. B. 167, Acts 1945, 49th Legislature, as amended by Acts
    1947, 50th Legislature, R. S., 5. B. 21, to a'situation
    submitted in said letter, in substance, as follows:
    Eleven negro teachers in Falls County
    have qualified under the provisions of the
    Rural Aid OP Equalization Law, S. B. 167,
    49th Legislature, for salary aid for a per-
    iod of eight months. The applications for
    State aid under this bill submitted by the
    school districts involved were approved by
    the Director of .Equalizationand also by
    the Joint Legislative Accountant to cover
    a period of eight months. It has come to
    our attention that the teachers were allowed
    to teach only seven months; they would have
    taught the full eight months, if they bad
    been requested to do so.
    Hon. L. A. Woods - Page 2   b-363)
    By Acts 1947, 50th Legislature, R. S.,
    S. B. 21, 'the salaries of teachers in State
    aid schools were raised $75.00 per month for
    the last four school months of the school
    year 1946-1947. The eleven negro teachers,
    teachers in unaccredited schools, received
    no part of the $300.00 additional salary
    allowance which was approved and granted
    them by this Department, and said money Is
    now on deposit in the county depository.
    Question: Are the eleven teachers
    entitled to any of the $300.00 additional
    salary which was granted for the last four
    months of the school term to teachers in
    Equalization Aid schools, or should the en-
    tire amount of $300.00 per teacher be re-
    funded, along with the salaries for the
    eighth month which has been sent to the
    county?
    In response to the written request of this of-
    flee for additional Information, the County Superintendent
    of Falls County wrote as follows:
    "In answer to your letter of August
    1.8, concerning the eleven negro teachers
    wno did not teach for        months during
    the school year of           I submit the
    following: Some of these teachers brought
    their term reports in at the end of the
    seventh month without asking anything about
    the length of term. I then checked the
    files left in this office by the preceding
    administration and found that of these
    eleven teachers, one had a contract for
    six months; four for seven months; three
    with no specified length of term on the
    contract; and for three, no contract for
    the year.l946-47 is on file. All the
    teachers who held an eight month contract
    taught the full length term.   So far as I
    know, none of the above teachers.were dis-
    missed from teaching the last month of the
    term; and as to an appeal from any possible
    dismissal that I know nothing about, there
    has been none made to this office.
    Hon. L. A. Woods - Page 3   (V-363)
    Section 2 of Article III, of S. B. 
    167, supra
    ,
    as amended, in so far as the same is pertinent to the
    question submitted herein, provides:
    "The base pay for classroom teachers
    in unaccredited schools shall be One Hundred
    Thirty-five ($135) Dollars per month for
    eight (8) months.
    rt
    . . .
    I,
    . . . The annual salary of teachers in
    unaccredited schools shall be the monthly
    salary multiplied by eight (8).
    11
    . . . It is further provided as a tem-
    porary method to more adequately compensate
    teachers . . . in State aid schools for the
    school year 1946-47, that in addition to the
    base salary, increment, and allowances author-
    ized in this Section, there shall be paid to
    teachers       teaching in State aid schools,
    an amount'not'to exceed Seventy-five ($75)
    Dollars at the end of each of the last.four
    (4) school months of the school year 1946-
    i947:”
    Article 2900, V.C.S., provides in part as fol-
    lows :
    "All available public school funds of
    this State shall be appropriated in each
    county for the education alike of white and
    colored children, and impartial provisions
    shall be made for both races. . ."
    Article 2906, V.C.S., provides in part:
    9,. . . A school month shall consist of
    not less than twenty school days Inclusive
    of holidays, and shall be taught for not less
    than seven hours each Gay, including inter-
    missions and recesses.
    Article 2750, V.C.S., provides that school trus-
    tees of a district shall make contracts with teachers to
    teach the public schools of their district, but the corn-
    pensatlon to a teacher, under a written contract so made,
    shall be approved by the county superintendent before the
    Hon. L. A. Woods - Page 4   (V-363)
    school Is taught, stating that the teacher will teach
    such school for the time and money specified in the
    contract. See also Articles 2693, 2781, V.C.S. Said
    school trustees, under Article 2749, have the power to
    employ and dismiss teachers, but in case of dismissal,
    teachers shall have the right of appeal to the county
    and state superintendent. Moore C.S.D. No. 2 v. Frio
    County Board, 90 S.W. (2d) 288.
    The facts submitted advise that the eleven
    teachers in question were employed by the proper school
    authorities, that they did teach for a period of seven
    school months in the school year 1946-1947, and that
    they would have taught the eighth or last school month
    in the school tear if they had been requested to do so.
    None of the said teachers employed were under a written
    contract for a period of eight months. The facts sub-
    mitted further show that one teacher had a contract for
    six months, four for seven months, three had a contract
    providing no specific length of term, and as to the re-
    maining three teachers no contract for the school year
    1946-1947 can be found. We are informed also that the
    schools taught by these teachers are unaccredited schools
    and that the school districts involved made application
    and qualified for State salary aid under S. B. 167 for a
    period of eight months in the school year 1946-1947.
    It is clear that the unaccredited school dls-
    tricts in question have made application and received
    State aid under the provisions of S. B. 167 as amended
    for a period of eight school months, and that the schools
    in question were operated only for a period of seven
    months. It Is clear also from the facts that the school
    districts Involved have not conformed to the statutes a-
    bove quoted governing teacher contracts and the employ-
    ment of teachers by school districts.
    Section 2 of Article III, 5. B. 167, as amended,
    fixes the length of term during which an unaccredited
    school qualifying for State aid shall operate its schools
    at eight months, provides that the base pay for teachers
    in unaccredited schools shall be $135.00 per month for
    eight months, and provides further that the annual salary
    of teachers in unaccredited schools shall be the monthly
    salary multiplied by eight.
    Article VII of 9. B. 167 provides in part:
    "Each Deputy State Superintendent shall
    advise with school officials concerning proper
    Hon.   L. A. Woods - Page 5   (v-363)
    budgeting of their school fund and assist the
    district in making their application for aid,
    and each Deputy State Su erintendent shall
    spend not less than two P 2) days in the County
    Superintendent’s office of each county of his
    supervisory districts. During the second se-
    mester of the year the Deputy State Superin-
    tendent shall check to ascertain whether the
    standards are being maintained and th funds
    used as approve&. . .I’ (Elnphasisour:)
    Article VI of S. B. 167 provides:’
    It shall be the duty of the State
    Super&&dent    of Public Instruction to appoint
    the number of Deputy State Superintendents here-
    inafter authorized to make a thorough investi-
    gation, in person, of the teaching staff and
    financial condition of each school applying for
    aid through the Superintendent’s office and the
    depository bank; and no aid shall be given un-
    less It can be shown that all provisions of this
    Act have been complied with, and that such a-
    mounts of aid actually needed as shown by the
    approved budget and actual expenditures, and
    that the funds are being used as approved:    .”
    (Emphasis ours.)
    Article XIV of S. B. 167 provides further:
    ‘Any district violating any of the provls-
    ions of this Act shall forfeit all rights to
    such al& and shall be disqualified to receive
    any aid of any nature under any Article of this
    Act for the current year. Should any school
    district which would otherwise be eligible tb
    receive aid fall to use the funds for the exact
    purpose for which they were allocated in the
    approved budget such school district becomes
    Ineligible for further aid until such offense
    is corrected. The amount of money granted for
    each type of aid except tuition shall be set up
    as a separate account and shall be made only
    for the specified purposes for which such money
    was granted. . .”
    Thus, under Artlclgs VI, VII, and XIV of the State
    Aid Law, it is the duty of the State Superintendent of Pub-
    lic Instruction acting through his Deputy State Superlntend-
    ents to see that all provisions of the Act were being com-
    Hon. L. A. Woods - Page 6   (V-363)
    plied with, to ascertain that the districts In question
    which qualified for State salary aid were maintaining
    the standards, salary and term schedule set out in the
    Act, and to determine whether the State aid funds were
    being used as approved by the Department of Education
    and the Legislative Accountant. Any districts which
    may have been reported as violating the provisions of
    the Act would have become subject to the penalties set
    out in Artiole XIV unless and until it had corrected
    its offense.
    By virtue of the provisions of S. B. 167 above
    quoted, we are of the opinion that the unaccredited
    schools in question, not having been continue& or oper-
    ated during the last or eighth school month of the school
    year 1946-1947, were~entitled to no State salary aid for
    the last school month of the said school year. Further,
    that the State aid funds approved and forwarded by the
    Department of Education to the proper school authorities
    in Falls Count to cover the eighth school month of the
    school year 191 6-1947 in the unaccredited schools in
    question, and to cover the additional salaries author-
    ized said eleven teachers  under S. B. 21 for the last or
    eighth school month of said school year should be re-
    funded. Further, that the eleven teachers in question
    having served during three of the last school months
    when the school districts were entitled to the additlon-
    al State salary aid authorized, are each entitled to a
    payment of $225.00 out of State aid funds forwarded to
    the county in accordance with the provisions of S. B. 21,
    50th Legislature.
    SUMMARY
    Where certain school districts in Falls
    Count qualified for schoolaid under S. B.
    167, t 9th Leg., and S. B. 21, 50th Leg., for
    a period of eight school months In the school
    year 1946-1947, and operated only seven school
    months of said year, the eleven school teach-
    ers in question not having contracts for an
    eighth month term are entitled to State aid
    salary payments authorized and approved under
    5. B. 21 for three of the last four school
    months of the said school year, but State aid
    Hon. L. A. Woods - Page 7   (W-363)
    funds for the last or eighth school month
    of said school year should be refunded.
    Very truly yours
    ATTORNEYGENERAL   OF TEXAS
    Chester E. Ollison
    CEO:djm                         Assistant
    APPROVED:
    ATTORNEY GEl'iERAL
    

Document Info

Docket Number: V-363

Judges: Price Daniel

Filed Date: 7/2/1947

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 2/18/2017