Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1939 )

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Kay 2, 1939
m
-‘mate
ustin, iexas i
ear sir:
se are in receipt of
hioh 16 60 follow:
to rural high sob
~'l6gu.y eonst
ry and high sohooi OS rur81
sqrwre miles or more, that
it sahools, entitled to
that your ttird questiOn‘'*cents the altixtate
that the l!frebtwa quest?on8 are auggssted~
Seation 11, kcts 1950, Oh. 404, p. lE59, known ~a thi fiural
Aid Len provides as~follows:
Vet. il. TransportetionAid. The Coun ~Zhaperin-
z%ierized
tendents an6 County Lahool Board are hereby a:.
to set up a system 0r tramtportatlonfor the purpose of
30x1.A. L. Aikin, jr., Lay 2, 1939, ?e;;e2
trtifX3IjOrtigg
Lir:hschocl pupils fro% their di>:i.ricts,
to
the nearest convenient accredited high school. 'r'heexpense
of SUCL trans>ortatiou s:;aLiiiegaid out of Lbe funds
hereby provided, not to exceed 'i'wo
($2.00) Doliers per
pupil aer a.0ot.h.Provided, further, that iu districts COD;-
posing au enzire comity, high school transportation aid as
authorlzeU ixithis iection my be granted for the pumose
of transportiug high school pupils within such districts to
the most convenient accredited high sohool.
*It is further provided that the districts through
whiah theee buses travel awaymaks pro~Ie1ons with the
County Superintendentantithe County Sahool Board to hare
any other ahildrennot provided tar herein, tramported
within and between their respectivedistriota, and said
dlstriot amy make applicationfor State aid thereon to an
amount not to exaeed One (#LOO) Dollar per month per
pupil. Provided, that where regular bneee do not run in
sparsely settled sections of eountleawhich era operating
under a aow+y unit ayatsa, the CountyMhoolBoard and,
County Superintendentare authorizedto.make prorlalona
for the transportationof puplla within raid dlstrlqJia,
an&may make applicationfor State aid thereon to en'
amount not to exceed One ($1.001Dollar wr month Der
reap;otmtkvtranepo&ation aahool-dint-riot
in wbieh there exiata two sahool planta, one or whioh ir
a first class four (4) year high aobool and whidh aaid
plants are separated by a distanoe of not less than two
and one-half (2 l/2) xJ1.s."
Article 2922a, Chapter 196, Revised Civil 8tatutea. 1926,
B amended providea for the formation or organizationof rural
igh school districtaby grouping aontigaousdistrits or annexing
&lying distriats to a aantral conmmx or independentsahool dlstriat
3r purposes of maintaininga high sohool. Such dlstriats may be
armed so as to aontain more than 100 aquare miles (Art. 29220).
In Chastain v. Mauldin, (T.C.S. 1930) 52 6. W. (2d) 295,
he aoart used the following eignifiaant language:
"In the L~c?ha:iCaseabove, Judge iooney ix hoMinE
constitutional the provisions of Chapter 19a, 'itlo 49,
sets forth very clearly the purposes and effect cf that
legislation. as there pointed out, the gr uping provided
for does nrt have .the effect of abolishing tbe several
districts in the group. ke also Limestone hoard v.
V~ilson('ier.Civ.Ap;).)5 S. Z. (26) 605. It merely groups
thee:Sor hl~h school purposes and places the Crouped board
in charge of'all OS the schools in the district, thus
abolishing the several district boards. 30 a&ion of any
obaraoterwas taken which either attempted or had the
eifeot oi abolishing the tither Creek dlstrlot, and under
the faots as found by the oourt (that the average dally
attendancewas 20 or more) the dlstrlot oould not have beon
abolished or oonsolldatedwith~any other d%etrlat without a
rote OS the texpayercr,which was not bad. B. 83.art. Z98SI.
Th6 trustees of the grouped diatrlet were lnve8teb with
the power and oharged with the duty of oonduating sohools
and of ahinlsterlng all sohool property and fund& oi all
the'distrfatswithin the boundaries of the oosmolldateddis-
taut% But they did not have the right to divert pkoperty
or funds of one dlstriot to &other, or to the grouped
xW3trict. . .I
IwCounty Board of 6obool Trustees of Limesto& County
v. Ullaon, (T.C.A. 192S) 5 6. P. (Zd) 805, it was stated:
(I Such authority,however, Is merely to group
suoh &riots for the purpose of roraing a'rvlrslhigh
sohool dlstriot . . . Said artioles also provide for the
oonttil and management or the aohoola in suah dlstilots
end define the relatiotis between the high sohool anq::the
elementaryschools to be maJntained therein . . . vii two
or more distrlots,areconsolidatedunder the artlo~&3
above re$errqd to, (arts. ZSO!?to2815) eaohdlstrfot lose&i
its separateldentitg, unletisIt be fpr oertaiti~Slmited
purposes in connection with taxation, and they Fðer
thereafter eonstltutea single district as though they
had never had separate existenae. In saoh oases elementary
eohools may be located by the board or trustees of the
consolidated district as need therefor may appear.
h. S. art. 2811. On the oontrary,when two or more oommon
sohool districts are grouped to form a high sshool~district,
aa above shown, each of such dlstriate retains its identity,
and separate elementary sohools must be Mint&tied therein.
R. 5. art. 2922r. . .*
Hon. A. Ii.Aikin, l:,ay
2, 1939, ?are 4
As vie lntarpret Ciia;dter
19-A sni tt:f.
Scrc~cinF case*, a'
rural Ii!
[:hr;CLOOidir-trictis essentially a zwtzol SizLrict super-
*pored u?on sovercl col;tIcuou?districts for t!;e:xrpose cf xa:n-
tainlng a iJ!;-hschool for their coxr~onbenefit. The underlying
districts xaintaln tt:ir separate iiientiticsand separate elezectary
schools zust be maintaIned therejn. 'ihehigh school dirtrlct doea
not accurately include the several elercentarydistricts as such but
there is a horizontei severance c?fthe upper grades Prorcthe original
distriCtS, so to speak, to fom the rurel hfeh school dictrfct.
'6eare of the opinion that elementary pupils.oi underlying
elerentalyschool distrioto are not entitled to.@Z.OO per month
.perpupil for transportationaid as pupils of a rural high sohool
dlstriot for traneportatlonto or between their respeotiveelemen-
tary districts but would be entitled to $1.00 per pupil per month
under the first sentenoe or the second paragraph of Seotion ll,
b&6 1957, Chapter 474, page 1259. High eohool pupils of the rural
~.s~hool dlstrlot having 100 bquare lrilesor more would be
entitled to.#2.00 per pupil per month as transportational&. The
above oonoluslonoare aubjeot ot oourse to the oondition.thatthe
dlmtrlateam otherwire oomplylngwith the provisions of the fiural
Ai law.
Your8 very truly
ATTOFU4ZYGENI1JERALOFTEXAS
BY
APPROVED