Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

. : O,oU OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS. AU$TIN QROVERSELLERS *,,O”NLY QLNKRAL Honorable 3. F. Holubec County Auditor iavaci County Eallsttsvillo, Texas ., to this Department 44 the .Statd be&t- paid $4.00 per capita rated on the 1943-44 state and county available fund 1 nalntonance fund vere U.stcd a8 thus caused the school to receive less state aid. As a result of this state aid rchoola usually spent all balences before Septeuber let for some Improvement or some needed equlpmsnt. . “TN8 year the schools recolved this additional $4.00 per capita before September 1st and in order not to have this money listed as a balance on Saptembor lst, the state aid schools OS Lwnca County spent the money before Septcm- ber 1st. : p. J. F. Eolubeo - page 2 ~quirlng all rural state aid schools to inolude the $4.00 F capita payment as '~a- eslpta ior the 194$ -45 school year, although the manep was received and spent during the x943-44 school term. X3 thla legal?" Saation 1 of Art. 2 of Ii. 8. 176,Ch. 373, 4&h. Leglalature,read8 as follovsr "The trustees of the dlatri&a lwhorlaed to apply for aid under the pro- visions of this Act shall &end to the State SupWint9AdeAt of Publio fnatruot~on on forma provided by sold authority: all information that may be required. Said forma vi11 ln- olude a budget by uhioh the amount ot Salary fid to which a school vi11 be ellglble shall be determlned. The receipts 88 ahoun in said budget will include the state and County Available and local maintenance balances brought iorvard from the preoading year, State and County Available and LQCel f4ainte- naAoe reCeIpta for the current yew, tultion to be oollocted locally, and miacelleneoua receipts. The expenditure till Lnolude salaries of teachers as detenalned by the salary schedule stated herein, eAd a maximum of One Hundred Eighty Dollars ($180) per teacher per year in accredited schools end One Hundred Sixty Dollars ($160) per teacher per year in unaccredited schools for other ourronc cxDenao3: Drovlded that if Salarv M4 grant ?or th;fitrat year of the bie&um exceeds or is lass %han the Salary Aid Allo- cation. the 3.GatflSu3erlntendent shall in- crease-or decrease a&d maximums proportion- ately. The total amount of approved expendi- turaa leas the to%1 amoUnt of receipts 'till be-ths a;nount-of Salary ALd to which a school vlll be eligible; prwidad in no caa9 vLl1 such Jc:mnt exceed the syjwovcd mm&?.?^u of teachers’ salaries. The State Supcrin$endent Shall, awject LS the provlslons of this Act, grent to the school sn mount of aid as will, vlth State and County Available Fimds, togeth- er vith all other funds including tuition, goa. J. F. Holubeo - Page,3 maintain the school for such a Qerlod’and in ruch a mann8r as authorized ln this Act. The lQQliCatioZ3shall be sworn to by the county superintendent of all Common School Districts and Qr8sid8nt and secretary of the Board of trustees of all Independent School Districts applyi% iOr aid; School districts aC08Qtj.Jlg aid IJnd8rthe provisions of this Aot shall share In the distribution o? State and County Available School Funds and In all other funds as herein my be provided.' (Emphasis ours) .' By Section 2 OS Article 3 of said R. B. 176, _. fhs Legislature has Qrovldod a Salary Schedule and Length of term for schools to follow and maintain in order to r8celv.e salary aid from the State. A careful reading of Section 1 aforesaid re- veals that State Aid Schools, for each school year of the biennium covered thereby, V8T8 allowed 13Z&XimUm expenses, ohlch had to appear in the required budget. These 8Xpens8s were IV38trlCt8dtc the salaries 0r tkachers as authorized in Section 2 Of AltiC 3. Phs 8 maximums Of $180.00D8r teacher per Year in accr%ilitedschools and $l$O.OO per teacher per year ln unaccredited schools for other current expenses. The wo school years covered by said H. B. 176 are those end- Ing hxust 31, i944,and August 31, 1945. (i&i. 13, Section 1 thereof). Therefore, the maximum amount authorieed to be spent per teacher per Year for other current expenses than salaries 1s $180.00 in accredited schools and $160.00 1~ Uiacoredlted schools. It follows that no school which received lqualisatlon aid for the school year 1943-1944 Yaa authorized to spend more than said maximum amounts, subject to any ln- Cr8ase or decrease therein that may have been authorized for said year by the State Superintendent under said Act. The Equallzatlon Aid grsnt for 1943-1944 was ‘? based UQOn 8 per capita revenue of $25.00 from the Stat8 Available School Fund. Therefore, the additional $4.00 per Capita apportioned the latter part of August, 1944, was not’ authorized to be spent ln 1943-1944 in Rural Aid schools. The Wounts represented by aald August apportior~ientrepresent a balance to be brought forvati in the equalization budget for 1944-45 by any school applyiw for Rural Aid for said school Year. . .~ 1: 383 :. * Bon. J. F. Rolubed - Page 4 , It iollovs that the question submitted must be ansvered in the affirmative. Yours very truly LFlF:BT