Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

AUlwrIN 11. -rExas PRICE DANIEL ATTORNEYGENERAL Octobar 29, 3.951 Hon. Claude Isbell Oplnlon No. v-1333 Executive Secretary Board of Regents Rta: Legality of using State Teachers Colleges certain appropriat- Austin, Texas ed funds of South- west Texas State Teachers College to fbance teacher train- Wg in conjunction with San Marcoa Inde- Dear Sir: pendent School District. you have requested an oplnion concerning the authority of Southueet Texas State Teachers Col- lege to expend funds for teacher training purposes, in the supervision of student practice teaching, from the item in its biennial. appropriation for “Resident Instruction, $alarles Only” or from the items approprLated for ffeneral Operating Expenses” under either of the Poll@uXng arrangementa: 3.. For ,direct salaries to teachers em- ployed by the San Marcos Independent School District for a portton of the year, the salaries for the re- mainder of the year to be paid by the San Marcos Public Schools, or 2. Under a cOntract with the San Marcos Independent School District for teacher training privileges, the amount to be paSd In a lump sum direct to the s&o41 dietr%ct. The approprdetbon Ste,m for ‘Resident In- struction, Solar&es On&y appears in the current biennial appropriation F4r Southwest Texas State Teachers College (Art. V, E.8. 426, Acte 58na Leg., R.S. 1951, ch. 499 p. lL&, at p. 1455) under the heading of %ened. AdmknSstratLon, Salaries Only.” Under a second heading, “ffeneral Operating Expenses”, the following items are listed? “General Revenue Appropriation for general operating expenses................ . . . Hon. Clause Isbell, page 2 (V-13J3) “PlUS estimated other Latxaw for geneml operating expenses............... , . .* We shell consider ftrrt the question of payment of a sum tb the San Mareoa Independent School District under a contract vith the diat@lct. Article 2547c, V.C.S., pfovfeorr n . the Board OS Regents of the State Tdaiher Collegea of Texa6, or the governing Body of any other State eupport- ed teacher tralnlng institution, and the trustees of’ any independent school dls- trict shall be empcweree to enter into contracts whereby the eaid teacher colleges may use the public school8 of said lnde- pendent school aistrictfi 68 leb&atory 8chOolB for trainlag 0r toae&srr; provieoe further that the availrble local Sundo of such colleges or the local fwadr of ruch school diatrlcts may be wed in the pur- awace and porfomnneo of au& contractr.@ This stetuts vee originally enacted in 1945 (Acts 49th bg. 1945, oh. 1?7, p. 234) and vao amendee in 1950 [Acts 51st Isg., lrt C.S. 1950, ch. 49, p. 120). These acts recited a8 the neces- ;;F[ f’$t$eir paasage RB rmermmcp mearuwsnthe there i8 at pmront no authority for the making of the cimtractr therein~authorizee. The governing board6 OS the State-I!Upportetl insti- tutions of higher learning have only such euthopity as has been granted to them by the Legisl.ature+ Since theee acts rtated that no euthorlty existed for the making of such contracts, ve should eecept this rtateannt as a legialatlve expesalon that authority haa not been granted to the governing boarea by any other statute, It is our opinion that the authority granted la Article 2647~ is exclusive and that contracts for this purpose be- tween teacher training institutions and independent school districta aunt be made in accordance with Article 2647~. Article 2547~ authoricee thr eXpmdltUPe of the local funds of the col.tcge in the perfom- ence 0fsuFh ZiGacts. The local funds of the Southvert Terrr State Teachers College are the Hon. Claudr Iaboll, pa&a 3 (V-1333) funds colle.cted at the institution “in camring out the functions of tm educational lnstitutfan”. Article 2,554d, V.C.S. llxamples of incow com- prising local fund6 are listed In Article 2554d. Section 31. of Article V, House Bill 426, su pa at page 1472, requires that, certain of these -P&al receipts be deposited in the State Treasury, to be credited to a separate fund aclcount for the institution depositInS the Punda. Sections 2 and ~ 31 of Article V appropriate these local funds to the respective Institutions. The item listed in the a,pproprietion for the Southvest Texas State Teachers College a8 “Plus estfmatod other income for general operating expenses” under the heading of “General Operating Pxpenaes” is an approprfa- tlon of the amounts deposited in the State Trras- ury under Section 31. That thir ir an appropria- tlon of local funds and not of funds from the Oen- era1 Revenue is clearly demonatratrd by the fact that the amount of estimated incom La not included in the General Revenue appropriation total at the foot of’ the various amounts appropriated for the Southwest Texas State Teachers College. Section 30 of Article V, House Bill 426 at page 1472, defines ‘General Operating ExpensesA aa meaning “necessary operating expenses for Gtn- era1 Administration; necessary operating expenses and lalariss for instructional. departments othtr than rerident instructional salaries; salaries and nectsserg operating expensee for extension and cor- respondence teaching, libraries, and organized ac- tivities related to instruction: . . .‘I We think this definition Is sufficiently broad to permit the expenditure of these appropriated local funds for teacher training purposes authorized by Artl- cle 2647~. In visv of thtat various statutory provl- rions, it is our opinion that the Southwest Texas State Teachers College may enter into a contract with the San Marco8 Independent School District for teacher training purposes and may pay for the str- vices rendered under the contract direct to the %he proviolons of Section 31 art the same as those contained in Section 3 of Senate Bill 435, Act4 52nd beg., R.S. 1951, ch. 474, p. 841, a general. .Ptatute reguZat’%ng the handling of lnstltu- tlonal receiptr. r&Wbte iaatitutionn of higher wauo4tton. * Hon. Claudo LabeS1, pa&l 4 (V-1333) of tb4 apphxpr&atlon item “Plus estimted othtr tncow Pm general operet8,qgl eq2tmj- es. Hovevtrk t&h anwit map net b6 paid out or tht Stem rot‘ RreiEent fastruetSon, SBlarLe(s Only" or out of the item “@moral Rsvmue Appropriation Par general operatfng expenses”, which are appro- priationa fr~lg the lienera RevolnuatFund of the State. ta viov of thla pwiriaia, th4 local &msral Revem Fund with regard to the ps@hPibf- tkon contained Irn Swtion 35 of Arttcle XVZ of the ConstltutXon. A whoal. tsaeher of an tndependent Bchool dtcstrict booi& 8 “posLtioa a% bionop, trust Or _ . . : as part-time instructor in a State-supported col- lege and at the same time cserve as 8 part-time teacher fn a school district where the dutkes of each position are not inconristent, but LB 60 dQinS he forfeits all ri&ht to a?@ salary he right have been entitled to as college instructor fsom funds in the State Treabury, beeauae Section 33 of Arti- cle XVI su ra forbids the drawing 0i & State Wa*rant’iE+Z?favor . In P.tt’y Gen. Op. O-4433 (1.942), it was held thst this conetitutiona~. provision prohibited the Comptroller from issuing s Warrant in favor of a public school teacher for pert-time services 8s a critic teacher in the teacher tralnfng proSram of a State institution conducted through the public schoo1.s. Whi1.e the fact situation presente% in your request is different, in that un%.er the pre- sent proposal the teacher would receive 0bl the salary paid. by the college during a particu 9 ar pay period, we think the same rule is applicable. Your latter states that the teachers per- forming these arervices are~,em~ployea by the San Marco8 : Independent Schbol Distriat. ,’ 3;t cannot be questioned that the teachertet amenability ‘to the public school authorLties is not affected 11 e consideration of whether he ia being paid, by t &1) college or by the school district. It would be unrealistic, aa well 861 extremely und,e8irable, to conclude thet the teacher ceased to be an smplsgee of the school distrlot during the time he was being paid by the college. We 8,xeof the opinion that he WQUxd Cbn- tlnue tv~hola a gosltion 0f h0n0r, trust, or prorit within the meaning of the qu6ted ~constitutional pro- Vi8iQtl. From the fore@in& it P0ll0wa that funds ep ropriated to tbe 20uthWest Texas State Teachers College which are to be paid out of the State Treas- ury may not be ef$ended fn payment 0f direct salaries to teachers of the San Mareos fna~ependent School %Sst;rBat lroc st-tLme or full-time errviaes in the teacher tmtn r a&j paogrsm of the collsga. - . _ Hon. Claude Isbell, page 5 (V-2333) However, we are of the opinion that it would be lawful for an independent school distrlet operating und,er a contract with a college in accord- ance with Prtic1.e 2547~ to supplement the salaries of teachers rendering services under the contract from the amount ‘paid by the colI.ege. The funds paid to the school. district would become local funds of the district. Article 2827, V.C.S. Arti- cle 2547~ authorizes the school district to use its l.ocal funds in the operation of such a cooperative program. This plan of payment would not be con- trary to the prohibition of Section 33 of Article XVI of the Constitution, since it wou1.d not require the State Comptrol.ler to draw a State warrant in favor of a person who holds at the same time any other position of honor, trust, or profit under the State. Att'y Cen. Op. V-759 (1949). SUMMARY The Southwest Texas State Teachers College may expend its local funds appro- priated under the item designated “Plus estimated other income for general operat- ing expenses” in Article V, H.B. 426, Acts 52nd Leg., R.S. 1951, ch. 499, at p. l.455, for the operating expenses of a teacher training program under a contract with the San Marcoa Independent School District as authorized br Article 2647~. V.C.S. Funds approprla’ted from the State’s General Revenue Fund may not be expended for that program . A teacher employed by an independent ‘school . district .~ may not be issued a State warranT; a0 salary or compensation for either part-time or full-time service8 performeeXln a college’s teacher training program. . Const . , Art. XVI, Sec. 33. 3 APPROVEDr Yours very.truly, J. C. Davis, Jr. PRICE DAEIEL County Affairs Division Attorney General Everett Hutchinson Executive Assistant BY Charles D. Mathews Chester E. Ollleon First Assistant Assistant CEO:mh