Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

( . ,, F-876 T Hon. 0. Ca Morris, Chairman Opinion No. Q-437 Joint Legislative Committtt Austin, Texas Ae: Balances rcqui red to be shown in ap- plication for State aid under House Bill No. 295, Acts 1947, 50th Leglsla- ture, Dear Senator Morris: We refer to your letter of recent Bate from which wt quote in part as follows: “The Joint Legislative Committee, cre- ated by A. B. 295, 50th Ltge, R. S,) Acts 1947, is charged with the responsibility of seeing that no deficit is crt;;t;i;; the expenditures of this fund. with this) wt art submitting to your De- partment the following questions: “10 Should a school district which has heretofore not applied for aid under the terms of the EquaLization Law be re-’ quirtd to show in its applioation all bal- ances in the local maintenance, and State and county Available Funds? “2, Should a school distriot whir& has heretofore not applied far aid under tht terms of the EqualizatPan Law be re- quired to show in its applicatitn all monies which said district has received in the form of per capita supplements? “In connection with this first ques- tion, it is our uadtratandfng that your De- partment has in the past rtndtrtd opinions holding that school districts which have been qualifying under the Equalizatian Law hart to show such revtnut as a balance in the various fund&” . ’ Hon. D. Co Morris, Page 2, Q-437 A school district to be entitled to State aid under the provisions of H. B. 295, 50th Legi., R,S. ,Acts 1947, must, among other conditions OS the Act, meet the .’ eligibility requirements of Artlola I, Section 1 thereof, the maintenanoe tax latf, requirements of Article I, Sec- tion Ze and must show budgetary need therefor on a proper. and tiaelg application for, aid made in accordance wit,h the provisions of Article I, Section 5, and Article III, Sections 1 and 2 of thr Act. , *Budgetary need* is defined in the Act as the differsnct between the total of all rtvenuts of the Dis- trict end the total of all operating expenses if such tx- ptnsts art greater than the revenues. Section 5, Article I, H. Bs 295, Section 1 of Article II rtquirts that any au- thorized school district making applioation for State aid under the Act shall on proper provided forms include a budget by which the amount of salary aid to which a school will be eligible shall be determined, Under Section 5 oft’ Article I and Section 1 of Article II, it ~1s provided that the revenues or receipts as shown in a district’s Rural’ Aid Budget shall include: (1) Watt and County Arailablt balances brought forward rrom the preceding year, (2) Lo- cal Bainttnance balanota brought ~foFward from the prtced- ing year, (3) Statealancts brought forward from the preceding year, (4:) State and county Available Receipt.8 ror the current year, (5) Loon1 Maintenance Recti ts dt- rived from a Looal Maintenanct Tax of 5Ot on the B100 val- ~’ uation for the current year, (6) Tuition to be collected locally s and (7) Misctllentous rt&tfpts e Certain gortrn- ment bonds s described in the Act, purohasad and owned by the district prior to August 31, 1945, shall not be rt- ported as receipts or balance in the Rural Aid Budget, Said provisions deolarlng what money or funds shall be reported as receipts s revenues or balances in’s Rural Aid Budget are clear and unambiguous and apply with equal force to so-called State aid districts (districts which applied for and received aid under S. B o 167, 49th Legislatures Acts 1945) s as well as to districts now sttk- ing aid under H, B. 295 who have heretofore not applied for State aid, The latter type of district seaking aid under H. B. 295, as distinguishtd from a so-called Stats aid district, could not, of course, report State aid balances described in (,3) above, but it can and must rt- port the other balances prtsaribed in (1) and (2) s if any there be, - . Hon. D. C. Morris, Page 3,,V-437 In accordance with the provislans of Article I* Section 5, and Artiole II, Scotion 1 of H. B. 295,’ our answer to your first question is in the affirmative. We have advf8ed herein tha’t a school district making application for State aid under H. B. 205, 50th Lee4 q and which did not receive State aid under the pro- visions of S :B. 167, 49th Leg., shall report in the re- qufred State ‘aid budget, in like maaaer ae the so-oalled State aid. district, Its-State and oounty evrilable bal- antes brought forward from the preoe&ing year and aleo its local maintenance balanoe 80 brought forward, it any there be. This Department has preolously _advised _ in its opinions NosP O-6265 and O-6699, napectlvelg, that State a&d dfstticts receiviq? the supplemental per cspita ep- portionmeat made in theyeara lQ43-44 and 1944-1945, should brfng forward and x!eFort in full in their State afd budget PO, the years 1944-1945 and 1945-1940, respeotively, the entire suppleMenta amOunt reoeived by the Distriot for those years even though the districts had spent the money entirely e It was olearly pointed out in those op- Onions that the State aid districts reoeivfng aid under the provisions of H. B. 176, 48th Leg,, and S. B. 167, 49th Leg. e had not been authorized to spend more than the mexfmom amount for salaries and operating expenses set out’ in the Equalization Laws, and for .that reason State aid dfst?fctr must report in full the per oapftr supplemental apportionment received in their next sumeadfug year*s State aid budC)et, Tb mlinge in theso opinions are equal- ly appl&oableo we believe, to State aid Mstrfots now seek- fng aid under R. B. 295 and wha have rsoeired their per capita supplemental ap~portfonment of (6,OO in and for the year 1946, It is our opinion, howovers that this Nifng ad- vanced in said former opinion ,with respect to State aid distriats fs not applioable to those school distrfots now seeking aid’ under H. B. 295 who heve not heretofore re- ceived State aid under 9, B. 167, 49th Le&, for the fis- c.al year 1946-1947) and that suoh distriots do not have to report any part of the 1946 aupplementel per eapfta apportionment except to the extent that all or any por- tion thereof still remains unexpended and a balanoe in the distrfctqs State and County Available Fund. If all or any portion, thereof remains unexpended, the amount or balance must’be reported by such a dfstrfot in its State aid budget as fts State and oounty balance which, under Section 5 of Article I and Seotion 1 of Artlole 11 of H.B. 295, is required to be brought forward from the preceding year and reported in the budget. . Hon. D. C. Morris, Page 4, V-437 A school district which is not a State aid dis- trict say expend its State and County Available per capita apportionments be it supplemental or otherwise, in aocord- ante with the! provisions of Article 2827, V,C.S., and for the purposes therein set out, Where the State and County Available Fund is sufficient to maintain the .sohool for at least eight nenths and leave a surplus, suoh surplus may he expended by the sohool board in the same manner as lo- oal funds0 Subdivision 2, Article 2527, V.C.S.; Darlingen 13.D. v* C, II, Page & Rrotxa, 48 S.W. (21) 983. On the other hand, the maximum amounta which a State aid district nay expend for its ealaries and current eparational purposes are limited by the provisions of the State Aid Law as a oondition to its reooiving State aid thereunder. Sections 1 af Article II, H. B. 295, 50th Lw8; S. B. 167, 49th ~Ls a; H. B. 176, 4Dth Leg., respeo- tits1p * A. GI. Opinions, f -6205 and 0-6609. In short, a soheel district which elects to become a State aid dis- trict sacrifioes to a liinfted extent its freedom to de- tarnine how nZuch of State and oountg available funds it may use for salaries and current operating expenses, Aoaordingly, our answer to yaur second question is that a school district whfoh has heretofore not received State aid fn the fiaoal year 1946-1947 under S. 5. 167, 49th Legap,is not required to show in its State aid budg- et submitted in its applioatien for State aid under the provisiens of H0 B, 295, 50th Leg. ) all monies which said district has received in the form of a supplemental per capita apportionment in 1948, but shall report only suoh per espita monies that remained unexpended by the Bistriot which oonatftute a part of the State and, couhty available balances which balance is required to be reported under Seatlon 5 of Article I and Seotion 1 of Article II of H,B. 295, Sohool districts applying for State aid under Rouse Bill Flo. 285, 50th Legfs- lature, which have not received aid under Senate Bill No. 167, 4Qth Legislature, are required under Section 5 of Article I. and Section 1 of Artiole II of House Bill No, 295 to show fn their application for aid all balances in their locsl mafn- tcnance and State and county available funds r Hon. D. C. Morris, Page 5, V-437 Such a district must report in its application for aid only that part of its 1946 supplemental per capfta appor- tionment which remains unexpended and which constitutes a part or all of its balance in its State available fund, Yours very truly ATTORNEY GENERALOF TEXAS , Bruce ?f. Bryantv Assistant . ATTOFU'JEY GENERAL