THE A AL AUSTIN. TEXAS October19r 1949 Hon. L. A. Woods Opinion Roe v-930. State Superintendent Department of Musatlon Bes The legality of an in- Au&In, Texas dependent rahool dls- triet whtotila not participatingin the Foundation Sohiil Pro- gram purahaaing aohool buses direot rather than through the Board Bear Sir2 of Control. We refer to your inquiry attaohed to which is a letter addressed to you irom the Superintendento? the Odessa Pub110 Sohools, whioh reads In parts "The Boald of'Truateees OS the Eotor Coun- ty IndependentSohool Dlatrlot of Oderra, Tex- aa, haa requestedme to write you ~ugardlng the pumhase of buses, tlrsa and tuber which the Board of Trustees is presently oontemplatlng. D 0 D The Board does not derive to make these purohases through the Board of Control and feels that O .,O Artlole 634 (B) la applioable only to sehool distriots paptiefpatlngIn the FoundationSehool Program. As Lou Imow, the I!@xP Couuty IndependentBohool Diatrlot has bden dealered not eligible for such aid and la not paptlolpatlngin this program. 'In view of these faots, the Board of True- ::; desires an opinfon f'~omthe Attorney Gen- aa to vhethep OF not it Ir mandatory for tie'B&@d of TPuatees of Eotor County Inde- pendent Sohool Distpiot to purchase all buaea, tlma and tubes used by ft through ths Board of Contrcilof the State of Texas." It is our undewtanding tha%the amount of lo- eel funds to be charged to the Eotor County Independent Sohool Dlsttiot (S.B.116,Art.VI, Sec,5) toward flIia8iO- ing its mlnlmw foundationprogram, vhen added to the Hon. L. A. Woods, page 2 (v-938) amount of the State end County Available School Funds to be realized by the distrlot, produoes a sum sufficient to finanoe the entire oost of its Foundation Sohool PPO- gram folr%he 1949-1950 aohool year. This suffloienayof the distriotta looal fund assignmentooupled with its State and County Available Funds (Art.VI,Seo.lb) ren- ders the distlriotIneligiblethis year for any State money appropriatedfor purposes of benate Bill 116. It %s clear, therefore, that the Eotor distrlot will not partioipate in the FoundationQchool Fund appropriated by the 51st Legislature in Senate Bill 117 to f%nanoe the minlmum foundation sohool program. Section 3 of Artiole V Senate Bill 11.6, 51st Leglslatura, (oodified as Art.634 (B) In Vernon's Civil Statutes) provides in part in paragraph 1: “All motor vehicles used for transport- ing school ohlldren, inoludFngbuses, bus chassis. and bus bodies. tires and tubes. ;z;;;d for or by any-schooldlstrlot pal'- P r~ in the Foundation School Program, urahased by and through the Board Ehall of Contra be B . . .n Paragraph 2 provides in part: "Suoh motor vehicles, inoludlngbuses, bus ohessis, bus bodies, tires and tubes, shall be puzwhaaed on oompetitlvebids under suoh rules and regulations as may be made by the Board of Control . a ." Paragraph 3 provides: "Auy suoh buses, owned by any county or school district, which ars to be sold, trad- ed in, or otherwisedisposed of, must be dis- posed of either by the Board of Control, or by the County School Board of the sohool distrlot under suoh rules and regulationsas the Board of Control may provide, and the sale prioe or trade-in value of 6ny such buses shall be oon- sidered in determiningeligibllltsfor trans- portation nrants." Paragraph 4 provides: "Complianaewith this Seotlon shall be Eon. L. A. Woods, page 3 (v-938) a oonditlon preoedent to partloipatlonIn the Foundation $ohool Fund, and any aohool dlatrfot lliog or refusing to comply with the terns atd oondltlona of this Se&Ion shall ba lnsll- glble to ahara in the FoundationSohool Fuitd for one year fram tie date of luoh failure or refusal OF awh violation of the terns hereof." (Emphasis added throughout) That part of poregraph 1 requiring ocmplianae by all dlatrlcta "partiolpatingin the Foundation Sohool Program," when oonsldered apart fraa other 9~ovialons ia Seotlon 3, would perhaps warrant the constructionthat Section 3 was meant to apply to every aohool diatriot in Texas. FOP in a real aenae every school dlatr1ot, by virtue of the provisions of Senate Bill 116, is required to expend its efforts toward providing at leust the ntin- lmum foundationprogram establishedby that Aot. AiG. Opinion v-921. But consideringthat olauae, in its relation to the spirit and purpose of the other quoted provisions of Seotion 3, we think Seotion 3 (Art..634(B)V.C.8.) mm Intended to apply only to sohool districts whioh ore par- ticipating in the Foundation School Ppogrcm in both a cooperativeand monetary aenae. It applies only to those distriota whloh are participetlngin the Foundation School Fund promised in Senete Bill 116 end provided in Senete Bill 117. Had the Legialeture meant Seotion 3 to apply to every school district in Texas, it could hove ao provided ~o~letlng from paragraph 1 the modifying clenae in ques- . Tim spirit and purpose of 8eOtion 3 as 6 whole, ve think, la to require every school district partioipat- In Foundation School Funds (part of its ooata ofaper- 7 at on involving transportationgranta) to puruhaae Its school buses, tiwea end tubes, et cetera, through one agenoy, the State Board of Control, on a oom9etltivebid basis, to the end that auoh distriata shall mallae full value for the money they aoqulre through Foundation S&otil Fund participation. The Legialature@sprlmary oonoern in Its enectment of Section 3 is that ooata of tranapor- tatlon of public aohool aoholestiosbe minlmiaed by pur- chase of neoessery bus equipment and repairs at the low- est coat whenever the diattict la finonoed in part by Foundation School Fund moneys. The bus pumhaaiug provisions of Howe Bill Hon. L. A. Woods, page 4 (V-938) 295, the Stete Bquallaationlsw for the 1947-1949 bien- nium, were made epplioeble only to State eld diatriota under that law. In similar but leas oartaln language, the bus purahaaing provisions in Senate Bill"116 are made appllaeble and aze mandatory only as to sohool dis- tricts receivingState aid from Foundation Sahool Funds. But all aahool districts,whether they are to receive Foundation School Funds or not, may avail them- selves of aevlnga afforded through purohase of their school buses, eto., through the feollitlea of the Boanl of Contml In the manner set out in Seation 3 of Arti- ale v of senate ~~11 116. Under Section 3 of Artlole V of Senete Bill 1.16,slat Leglalatnre, a aohool dla- trPiotwhioh is not eligtble to paptioipate in Foundation Progrem Funds provided in Se- note Bill 117, slat Legislature,ia not n- qulred to purohaae its aohool buses, bus equipment,tires, and tubes thrm the State Board of Control. Ati. 634 (B), V.C. S., as amended. Pours very truly, ATTOlBiRY GEWERAL OF TEXAS CR0 tmtr BY Cheater B. olllaoa Aaafrtant -IRST ASSIS'J?A~ ATTORWEX GlBBRA&