Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1944 )

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OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF, TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard
Cmptroller of Public Accounts
Austin 11, Texas
Dear Sir: Opinion No: 6105
Re: Authority of the State
Board of Education to
make supplenental appor-
tionment of Available School
Fund on hand, and which will
accrue to said fund as of
August 31, 1944.
Your recent co.mmnication to this departinentreads
as follows:
"After paying the $25.00 per capita appbW
tionment a: fixed by the State Board of Education
in its regular meeting July 1943, there will re-
main a balance in the Available School Fund as of
August 31, 1944, of.approximately $6,000,000: The
State Board of Education at its regular meeting
-Q J,uly1944 in considering the final distribution
of this $6,000,000 in the Available School Fund
adopted the following resolut:on:
:: qtWr. Stevenson moved that,.!subject to a
-ruliq by the Attorney General that our.action is
legal, we, the State Board of Education, hereby
supplement the per capita apportionment hereto-
fore fixed for the school year 1943-1944, to the
extent of $4.00 per capita, to be paid out of the
funds now in and which Tfiill
accrue to the Available
School Fund as of August 31, 1944.' X2'. Custard
seconded the zotion, which carried ;iith tha follow-
ing vote: (All "ayes11except Senator Oneal who was
present and not votin&'
Hon. Geo. H. Sheppard, p. 2
"This resolution will in effact snakea con-
plats distri‘
auti,ohof the Available School Fund
for the school year 1343-1944.
"The folloi~:i.nS,
qu~osti.on
imzedi:jtelyarises
under the above quoted resolution:
"Doss the State Doard of ~Zducationat
this tize have tha p7, supra, and provides
that the Available School Fund "shall be apportioned annually
to the several counties of this State, according to the scho-
lastic population of each, for the supportand maintenance of
the public free sahools." Said statute has never been amended
since its adoption in 1905,
The following quotations from a rother recent
decision are also enlightening:
**OurState Constitution provides that sufficient
revenues shall be raised to maintain and support the.
public schools of the state for a period of not less
Eon. Geo. H. Shepyard, p. 4
than six months in each yew (Article 7, 8 3), and
that no part of the available school fund shall be
diverted to any ether purpose, but all of it shall
be apportioned and distributed to the several coun-
ties of the state (by the State Board of Education,
Art. 2665, R. 3. 1925), according to their scholas-
tic population (Gonst. Art. 7, 85; Article 2823, R. S.
1925).
"It is further provided in the Constitution
that the L+plislatureshall provide for a State
Board of Education, which shall psforn such duties
as -r,ay
be prescribed by law (Article 7, 58).
"It is provided in Article 2G65, R. S. 1925;
'The State Board shall, on or before the first day
of August in each year, ,basedon the estimate there-
tofore furnishad said Board by the Comptroller, make
an ayportionnsnt for the ensuing scholastic year
of the available school fund among the several coun-
ties of the State, and the.several cities and towns
and school districts constituting separate school
organizations, according tc tho scholastic popula-
tion of each; and thereupon ths secretary shall
certify to the treasurer of ejch such separate
school organization the toal amount of available
school fund so ap::ortionedto ear&x,which certificate
shall be signed by the president, countersigned by
the Comptroller and attested by the secretary.'"
(%DhaSis ours.) See S::n,Antonio I:ld.School Dis-
trict et al, v;'St:!teEoard of Education et al,
(Civ. tipp.)108 S. 71. (2) 445, 447.
It should now be noted that Article 2665, R. 3. 1925,
contained no formula in .qaking theeannual apportionment of the
Available School Fund, except that said a:?Dortionrientmust be
based on the estixnatetheretofore furnished said Board (now
the State Board of Education) by the Comptroller.
Han; Geo. H. Sheppard, p. 5
However, Article 7043, R. S. 1925, did contain a
formula whereby the State Tsx Board, or Automatic T:x Board
as it is generally referred to, must proceed in calculating
the ad valorem tax to be levied and collected each year for
State-and public free school purposes. In 1925, said Tax
Board was directed to fix a rate, follo+:ingsa4d statutory for-
mula, "that will yield and produce for such fiscal:year four
dollars per capita for all the,children within the scholastic
age, as shown by said scholastic,census; provided, the rate
SO fixed for any year shall never exceed the rate fixed by law."
This "rate fixed by law" referred, of course, to.~theConstitu-
tional maximum of thirty-five cents as set forth in Section 3 of
Article 7.
i Said Article 7043 has been amended from.time to ~.time;
and the maximum per capita to be produced by said rate to be
fixed by said Tax Boa,rdha-sbeen,increased by various amendmentsi
The last amendment to Article 7043, supra, was by the 48th Lagis-
lature, Chap. 160, p. 260, H. B. 256. The following proviso is
contained therein: . .
"Provided that no rate for school purposes
shall be set by said Board (State Tax Board) in
excess of a rate required to produce sufficient
funds when added to other available school funds
would produce a total available school,fund for.
an apporti,onmentin excess of Twenty-five Dal-y.
lars ($25), it being the intention of the Legis-
lature that the State Board of Education shall
have the authority to fix the apportionment at
not exceeding Twenty-five Dollars($25)j and
when so fixed, the State,Tax Board shall fix a
rate for school purposes.,the maximum rate au-
thorized by the Constitution if necessary) to
produce revenue when added to other available
school revenue, shall be a sufficient amount to
meet the apportionment, which shall not be in
excess of Twenty-five Dollars ($25), and it is
specifically provided that the rate shall never
be greater than necessary to supplement other
Hon. Geo. H. Sheppard, p. 6
available school funds to guarantee an appor-
tionment of not exceeding Twenty-five Dollars
($25) per year."'
Also, Article 2665 has been amended by various
Legislatures Sinct? 1925. By Acts of 1939, the 46th Legis-
lature, p. 274, par. 1, amended said Article by providbg
formulas to be used by the State Board of Education in
arriving at the amount to be apportioned. These formulas
have been carried forward in identical laquage in the
amendment of said Article 2665 by the 48th Legislature,.
Chap. 161, p. 262, H. 9. 257. Said anendement raises the
amount which the apportionment shall never exceed from
$22.50 to $25.00, and contains the following significant
provisi~ons:
"In arriving at the amount to be appor-
tioned, the State Board of Education shall
determine the cost of operating schools for
a six-months period, . . . when such appor-
tionment per pupil has been fixed, same
shall be certified to by the Secretary of
the Board and filed with the Automatic Tax
Board to be used bY the Tax Board in fixing
the rate of State ad valorem taxes for school
purposes that will provide sufficient funds
to maintain the public schools of Texas for
period of not lessthan six (6) months.
Provided that the State Board of Education.
in estimating the amount of money that it
judges to be necessary to maatain the pub-.
lit schools for a period of not less than six
(6) months shall proceed as follows: . . .,
and this last sum so found shall be considered
the amount that is deemed necessary to main-
tain the public schools for a period of not
less than six (6) months; provided that the
State Fer capita apportionment shall never
exceed Twenty-five Dollars ($25) for any one
Hon. Geo. H. Sheppard, p. 7
scholastic year.."'
(Bmphasis ours;)
A careful study ‘of said Articles 7043 and 2665,
and sncndments thereto,:reveals that the per capita appor-
tionment, whether definitely fixed by the Leg~islature,or
whether fixed by the Board of Education at an amount not
exceading the ,?aximu?as provided by the LF;pislatuxe,; is
a yardstick or standard for fixing th- state ad valorem
school tax rate. Such rate mu,st5::"an amount not to
exceed thirty-five cents on the ona hundred (,+%GG.GO)
dollars valuation, as :.;ith
the availab1.eschool fund arising
from all other sources, will be sufficient to maintain and
support the public schools of this State for a period of
not less than six months in each year, . ; \I1
(Section 3, Art: 7, State Constitution;)
The apyortioment is based on an estimate by the
State Board of Education of an amount of money that it judges
to be necessary to maintain the public schools for a period.
of not less than six months. Said cstiinatemust be arrived
at by following statutory formulas, and the apportionment
based thereonmust not exceed that provided by statute. The
maximum of $25.00',?rovidedby both Articles 2655 and 7043,
as amended, issimply the maximwn estimate of the Legislature
that is deemed necessary to r,aintainand support the public
schools for a period of not less than six months each year.
To hold that said >er capita apportionment is the
maximum amount per pupil that can be allottedthe schools of
Texas during any fiscal year, would give @eater weight to
the Statutes than to tha Constitution. Such construction would
be in direct conflict with the.Constitution. It provides that
"the available school fund shall be applied annually to the
support of the public free schools." S- . 5, Art. 7. This
clearly means, from the definitions h&&above quoted, that
said fund must be appropriated or allotted annually. The
Legistature has no constitutional right to wit,hholdany sub-
stantial part.thereof during any one fiscal year. Neither has
the Legislature attempted to do SO. See Article 2823, R. S.
1925, hereinabove referred to and quoted in part. This Article
Hon. Geo. H. ShaI:pard,p. 6
which has nev,arbeen repealed, clearly follov~s the Constitution,
and cannot be ignored. .
If the Legislature has attenipted,by any of th.apro-
visions of Articles 2665 and 7043, az a:aended,to limit the
amount of the available school fund to be applied annually to
tho suplzortof the public free schools, then such limitation
is clearly unconstitutional and void. On the other hand, it
is entirely logical to construe, and we do construe, the per-
tinent provisions of said amended articles as intending to
provide a yardstick or standard to be used in the fixing of
the State ad valorea school tax rate. Such construction does
not conflict with the Constitution.
It is a wall estabJ.ishedrule of construction "that
if an act is fairly capabla of two constructions, under one of
which it VJOUld be constitutional and under the other of which
it would be invalid, the former must prevail." T. J.~Vol. 39,
pp. 206-207.
Also, it is elementary that a statute will be con-
strued in such manner as to make it effective, if it is fairly
susceptible of such interpretation. T. J. Vol. 39, p. 205.
It is clear, therefore, that the Legislature can
limit the State school ad valorem tax rate by statutory law.
This it has done. It cannot, ho-tiqever,
limit the per capita-
anuortionment to anv amount less than th?:twhich will result
f&n the annual ap?iication and equal distribution of -all of the
Available School Fund..'
The following depastmental appropriation appears on
pp. 922 and 923, Acts of 1953, 48th Leg,islature:
"For the purpose provided by law, there are
appropriated for the bienniun ending August 31,
1945, to the State Board of Education all income
to, and balance in, the Available School Fund
and the State Textbook Fund, except as otherwise
appropriated by this Lepislature, to be expended
and distributed ig accordance vii@ the laws of
Hon. Gee. Hi Sheppard, p; 9
.
this Sta,te,provided that textbooks may be pur-
chased and rebound only from fuhds arising from
the State ad valorem school tax." (Emphasis ours.)
The Constitution is the supreme law of ourstate;
regarding the subject matter of this opinion. Therefore,
the State Board of Education ,must follow its provisions, as
well as all statutory provisions not in conflict therewith;
in expending and distributing the Available School Fund and
the St.ateTextbook~Fund, which is a part thereof. See es-
pecially Article 2823, R. S; 1925, hereinabove referred to.
For the reasons stat,-:d,
the.question submitted in
your communication is answered in the affirmative.
Vsi-ytruly yo&s
ATTORNZY GENERAL OF TEXAS
BY /s/ L.,Hc Flewellen
Assistant
LRF:jcp:bbh
APPROVED'JUL. 27, 1944
/s/ Grover Sellers
ATTORREY G,XXRAL OF TEXAS
APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE
BY - G. V?.B., Chairmen