Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1946 )

OFF& OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN uct6a for 5 years 8-e to another 2742 E? l~Artiols 271+2 ~-1 MBS psked in '39 by the 46th L%Islature and prbvides~ as follows: *That froa and after the passage of this Act, the County Boar&or School Trustees in any oouaty in:.this I:itot6 shell have authority and full. powsr to.ebal.ioh &. 8. c. Petry, Jk., pap 2 , .;. , . &/& subdivide any common school district, or other district coming under the jurisdiction of said County Dosrd, having fsz:er~ than ten (10) resident 6cholostlco within its boundaries, provided that no piublic school ‘has been oonauctsd in suoh districts for a period of fire (5) ycers immsdletely preceding such action by t’ : ssid Couuty~ Board of Sohool Trustees. The territory : of any‘such school district so abolished or subdivided may be atteohed.to any or all contiguous school districts ordcounty line sahool districts in such manner aa may~b~s deterriined by fiaid County Doard. It is further I)rovided that in the ev6nt such newly formed ,sohool dietriot does not vote t,o a~0ume the same, the County Sohool hoard shall make an’adjustments of any outs,tanding bonded indebtadnesa, if there be suoh,. and’provide for an .., equitable distribution of all district properties and/or moneys betlsesn the, distriots affeoted end the territory .: so divided, detached’ or .added; .~ta.king into consideration the value of bohool propsrties snd the taxable wealth of the district affeoted and the territories. so ~divided, detached or added, as the case may be. Vhen said Gounty ~.Eoard shall have arrived at a :satisfaotory basis. of such an adjwtment, it shall have ~Dower:to make suoh orders ~. with referenoe thereto as, ‘shall, beg oonolusive and binding ; Upoh.the districts so affeoted;~provided, however, that the trustee ore any residents of the districts or territory 80 ECrf8Oted by the Aot of the County Board .of TrUssfoes as , authorized, by this Aot may s.ppeal from the decision .of the County Board to the District ‘Court. * Ve would like to point .out in this oonncotiod that there is no.bonded indebtedness existing in.the coti,on school dis.trict whioh w’e seek to. abolish and to attach the territory oomprising same to the Carrfzo Springs Independent Sohool Dletrict wbloh is a oontlr;uoua school distriot. It 15 my opinion that tho County Board crf School Trustees osn at any regular or call mesting investigate to determine if there dare fever than ten (10) resident saholcetios within the territory of the school district souf;ht to be abo,liahed and if there hss been any, sohool conducted within five (5) yeare previous to thsir aotion, and if they find that these Cuoto comply 171th their action, they aan at that meeting pass &n order abolishing EGM distriot and attaching saue to the Indo- pcndent School District of Carrizo G@nga. It 3,s then ny opinion that the Carrizo Springa Independent School District 3oerl of Trustees oould then have a msioti~ and vote by majority to 8.ssuns the as+ district and pass an osdor to that effect.’ qYe are of the opfnlon that Z;rticle 2742 F has no bearing oil this situation bcoause it deals with detachin& one school dist’?lot~ and -attaching .it to another, while .our present purpose ir to abolish n sohool district .vxhere fewer t&an tan (10) rcsid ent scholastics ere wZthfn the territory of the school district and where no’school has been conducted within five ‘( 5) years. Xc feel that drtiole 2742 33 standa ulono in VIEW of its peculiar req,uirenc%lts~, ,and that no notioe RGGd be given en& no elsotfon need be held and that none of the procedure required in Article, 2742 F Roed be followed, boceuse by the very oature of brtiole 2742 E 1.f anyone in said oomon school dist+ot to be abolished opyosed sold abollshing.they oould stove in tan (10) resident scholas- ties and therefore defeat the .puxpose end intention. of the Statutia passed by the Legislature. It is rcy opinion .~ ;‘. that if the r60t8 rail Within the Statutes 0r Artiole 2742 E that it .is not neoessal’y to aonstrue Artlole, 2742. E and 2742,~F together as was done in the case of,tho City of f%%WELORt Independent Sohool District vs Iiroedus, 182 .‘,.. So. W. 2nd page 406, because fin that aase th6 question’ ,0r rewer than ten (10) resident soholsstfce ahd the fact that no p‘rxb1f.a school had been oonducted within’ a period Or riVS. (~5.) y&irS W&3 Rot iRYOlV8d. %YebelieYe that When the: raots are suoh~ that they oome within- the’ terms ore 2742 E that the Statute would stand alone and’ if this be ‘true thp question of p~ooedure is limited to the order entered by the ‘County 3oard of School Trustees and the order entered by the new school distrlot accepting the additional territory.. “I respeotfully request an,oclnlon of the %xlfdft.y of Article. 2742 E-l- as to whether-ox not it will stana- alone -withoat requiring the procidum ~set out ih Artfole 2742 F and if it will, then is it sufficient to ebolish said district by an order of said County School Trustees with assentof new sohool distYfct of acoeptance of additional territory? If these two orders -are ell that~ .. are noedel;where should they be filed or rcoorded so. that tho County Tax Assessor and Colluctor, who also. ~m~8sft5 and collccta ~taxes for the Carrlzo Springs Indspendetit .Sehool District, would be authorfzcd to ,start assessing ahd collecting taxss on the additional territory added to ‘the Carrizo .Springs Independeat Sohool Dietriot.* ~0x1. H. C;’ tietry, Jr., pege 4 -- .You have oorrectly c$uotad Artlcle 27lJe-1 in your letter end ive deeu It umectssnry to qdoto It e&sin in this opinion. 133Aole 2742f, >Iernon’s ,Umotated ~ejrw3 Civil 6tatutG8, read8 aa follcwsr %GO.~ 1. Xn raab collr.tg of ChZn,%rts the Comty ‘. Boer3 of Trusfsca shell hava tb6, authority,, wtan~ d‘tiy ‘., petitionsa as hora:n provldad, to detach fros ena a11n6x .to ens action1 aistrict tcrrltory wnt;Iguoua to th6 ,~,,,.. common bo’unaary line of tha two districts; $rCviaGd the hoard of Trustaes or the dietriot to w:iich ths nnnejration Is to be made &pFrovea, by majority vote, th6 ~ropased .trsnsf+r of territory ana provlaea, further, that where .t~he terrltdrf to be d6taCti6d 0xcsea3. ten per cent (lO$) of.the entire district thegetltfon must; be signed by a majority .or the trustees of, said ~dlstrict in aaaZtion~ to 6 majority 0r tits,qualified vnters .of the tarxttory to be aeteohsd. The ptltion ah611 give Che metes 6na. bounds nor the terrltwy to be detaohea fro6 the one arid.::, aaaed to th8 othrr~biatrict ma slust ba siptha by 5 .EKijQXity Of the qlubifiW'~VOtar~a retiidlrq in the 8aid '. ttzritory, 80 detsuheai~ Upon. reoeipt: oT the. saia petltlbp, auly signecl, and up+ aotioe ofthe spjw0va.l -,oZ.~thrr pro- .posed ennoration by, the J3orira ~of Txustaea of the distriot’ to vrhlch the terrftory 18 to be ,addcd, the ~ounty~Boaxd. .ot ‘@ustees ‘ehall pas8 an order t~ruasf6xxPag tie &aid tsrritory end redeiinlng the bounderi6s of the .diatrict;s sffeoted by seid trasfer; th6,sei.d order t0 be 2ecord8d in the Xinuten ~0r the Co~tymP,rb or ‘3XStReR. Provided tbat~no school. uLstrI.at shall be reaucea to an’eree or ,, leae than nko &ra$re ‘tiles. : ,‘~, “QGO. 1-a. Boarh’ of Trustee; T-h8 Coiity upon &coi.pt of ths pe,tltion herein presorihed and’vberl thn edaoakiona) n%siis of tha aOuntg~neoeasitat8 suoh SetiOn, &ay deteoh rrora any distrfot, oommon or indspendent, or any, suoh contiguous districts, whether aTeet6d by G6n6ral or Spssial i.pt, territory to be inoorporataa . ifit0 a new cto``~onsohool cr iuacpsndent sohool alstrkt; pwviaod ,that barore tha Cotity Hoard ma:* ~xx?a en order dotschlng tii6 nnia territory a113 inoorpnrnfln:~ th6 sF;I.a aiotr%ot, aotioe,of suah proposed aoticn must be given in vrrsting to the 0rci0,ers of the,Board or T2usteea 0r etlch district v!hoee APGAwoult? bti affantea by %ha said transfer of tzerritory,~ end an opportnslty to bo bcara on the proposed atxnge be affcrfkd Co officers of such aistriot; ai& provided further that no: diatrlct shall be rehuoed below- an'area of nine (9)~square miles, or .. any distriot created wit& an area of less thaanlne (9) stusre miles and sufficient taxablo.vcluntions to support &.IIeffioient school systan. Inthe event the territory to be detaohed from any district exoCeda ten per cent (&)o~f the total &rea of the sold distriut, the County Ijonrd of Trustees must ,have, in addition to the petition >rasoribed horein, the written approve1 of the proposed. dstcohment .of territory by a majority of the Board of Trztees of said district. Any sc'hool diatrfct created Under the provisions of this Xot shall.be govemod by the General Lawa rolat~ing to cops'~on and independent aohool diatriote as they'now. exist.or may hereafter be snaoted, and it shall be the duty of the County Board ‘of TruEteea, at the time the order for the establishment .'. I ” of the diatriot 18 made;to appoint a-Board of Trustees . ‘. for the said.oommon or independent ~ohool distriot as. .prasoribed by~Genera1 Law. uAnybonded indebt&lness'a-?feoted by the proposed~. j- traneter-of territory and 'theeet,ablishment of a new. ~.: '~ ~, i dfstriat.shall be adjueted'by the Co;laty Board.of Trustees ".. as preaoribed by the General Law; rovidad however that borore. azqy tax.may be levied over iihe territory of &he new distriot for the liquidation of its proportlosats part oP.the outstanding bonded Indebtedness.of any distriCt from,which the territory ofthe zi8w distriot is .taksn, ths said new dlstriot'shall vote to asstime the said indebtedness and authorize the levy of the neces~sary tax. The said eleotlton shall be held in aocordanoe with the : Provisions of the General Ler.governing bond tax eleotione in a common or independent sohool district as the case may be. "The petition shall give the~metes end bounds of the Proposed district a!!d be.signed by a majority of the qualified voters r68iding in daoh territory-to be detaahed; Provided that whbn the proposed newt district will subrace tcrrltory lying in two or more counties, all orders affeot-- 1%~ its establishment shall be ooncurred in by~t'le County soard of Trustecs of each oomty ~oncperned, but the .petition fCr the establishmant of a Co.Uuty Line District as provided for hercin shall be eddressed to the County Board of ~Yrustees of the county in which the princi,nsl. ``~i‘8001of the new dis- trict is to he locate3 snd a&tilli&t?4Y!%V@ jUriediOtiOn Of tie scid district sh& be ve5t6.j in tkc County tioo,rd of mia OOlmty; Added .Acts 1931, UiId Leg. ,p. 2?5,Ch.l43,01. ._ &n.~H. 0. Petry, Jr., peg6 6 "Sec. 2, Any out,stanaing indebtedness affeoted .bqr changes in. the. boundaries of sohool aistriots shaU be adjusted by the County Board of Trustees, as pro- Viaba in Sectlons 10, 11 and 12 of Chapter 84, dots of ths 40th Legislature, First Called Session. Acts 1929, 41st Leg., 1st’ c. s., p. 106, ch. 47.” \Vi sgree with iou that the problem submitted. by you is~governea by Article 27426-1, V. A. C. S., ana that Article 2742r, v. A. c. S., has no appliaation thereto. ... It is our opinion that if the county Board of. Trustees Betermines .that there are rewer than ten (10) resident scholastics .withln the. common school alstrict, aa thet 'no school has be6n conauctea therein within rive (5) year&.previous thereto; such Board would be authorized under &3!ticle 2742e-1 to. make an .order abolishing the ao?nmoq. school axstrict ana attaohin& its territory to Carrlzo Springs ,Jndependent Sohool District. You state in your. letter that the Carrizo Springs Independent Suhool-Distrlat also proposes to l@ss an horder accepting the new territory; while we think this his not required by Article 27426-l under the facts Meted, we think it would be a wholesome ana proper thing to do. ,~, '. Inasmuch.es Artiole 2742e-1 does not provide +or : notice, it ,is o'ur opinion ,thet'seme is not absolutely reqUirea; however owe think the giving of.notice ana the affording to * any interested perties the right ~to be heard would be a very proper ana wholesome voceaure, ,&a ~6 recommend it, inaamuoh as the .&eke (Art; 27426-l) provides that .anJTtrustee or I resident of the d-lstrlot or territory affected by the deoision 0f the County Eosrd ,may appeal from such deoision to the District ~Court. .-I The order of the County Board of Trustees sh0uld be .I' recorded in its minut66. If the darrizo SpringS..l)iStriCt Boar&of Trustees 'lIlakes an order in the matter it should be reooraea in its minutes.- certifies copies of each .0r said `` Orders could b6 orders be hunded hsnded to the Tax Assessor-Collector Asseiisor-Collector his for his. informa.tion. .: We are .also knclosing a copy of opinion No. o-6585 of .this department, which may be helpful on other problems w~iciE?iZ~ arise with respeot to the matter inquired about, tO't aXetiOn. Very truly yours ATTGRNiiJY GENE!EHAL GF TEUS /-T)iz