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... OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF. TEXAS
‘. A,USTiN .
GROVER SELLERS
*~ORNLY bENLRhL
ponorable VI.- B. .King, Acoountant
yoint Legislative Committee
~astia,. Texas
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the sahool year
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passed ‘by the 48th
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Aot shall, .send- to .the State Superin-
tendent of Pub,lic Instruction, on
fbrms provided.by said authority,
all information~ that may be required.
Said rorns will include a budget
by .which the amount ,of Salary Aid
to which a school vii11 be eligible
shall beg determined . . . i-., ... . . The
State Superintendeat shall, subject
to the provisions of thin Act ,. grant
$0 the 5cl1001 an vaunt of ai’d as
will, with State and County ~\vrii&able
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WI B. King,. page 2
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.Punds, together.wlth all other funds
including tuition, rnnintain the
school for such a period and in such .’
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_a manner as authorized in this Act . . .?:
October 1 oi each scholastic year
., for which aid is asked. ‘Schools
whose applications for state aid
are filed. later than October 1 of .
eaoh year for which aid is asked,
shall be ineligible for any type
or ,.aid,* n .
‘The .M dway Inae endent. School District is a
state aid SCIt001 quali f ied in all respects to receive
state aid under the rural aid law of the State of
. Texas _ unless _it is IneLigible to reoeive such aid un;
der the provisions or the law above quo ted ;
n0n September 30 1943, the kidway independent’
School’Distriat of :Xadison County, Texas, filed in.
proper form with the State ‘Department 02 Education,
.f .’c:
de ‘a tentative Salary AM Approval sheet, prescribea. :
. ,: knd distributed by that Department, and signed by
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Deputy.Stat,e-SuperintenFent.
“On the basis of this tentative Salary hid
Approval sheet, it hss been the joint departmental
procedure to advance .fifty per oent of the antioft
patcd Salary Aid ,earnin@ to’every school filing
i eaid sheet. (This is done pursuant to Article 9,
of the ocrrent Equslizatron Aid Law, which we quote
as r0n0nt3: t. . .’ Initial payment of not more than
fifty per cent (505) of salary., tuition and transporta-
tion aid may be made by the State Superintendent of,
Public Instruction after Septefaber l-of each year o.f
the biennia! as soon as a basis for payment. can be
determined, and approved by the Legislative AC-
co-Wtant....‘)
*The Bidway .I~ndependent School District, having
riled this tentative Salary Aid Approval sheet, would’
have baen eligible. for the partial payment had’it not
been that the reooras of this~ office reflected au ovcr-
payment of $1166 to this p~artiaular school.distriat dur-
ing the sohool year 1942-43.
Donorable ~W. B. King, page 3
“Had this overpayment been cleared prior to
the &al approval of the Salary Aid Advanced .Pay-
ment, the Uidway School would have received fifty
per cent or its estimutea earnings without further
application of any kind.‘ (80th the State Department
of educetion and the Joint Legislative hcountant
has approved the tentative Salary Aid Approval Sheet). .
The. remaining f3Zty per cent of the salary aid earn-
ings are~.approved. and paid on the basis of a more
det,ailed application which was filed by the district .~
in question after October 1, 1943.
,-The State Department of Eaucation has approvk
the above mentioned application (that is, the applica-
tion amending ,&he tentative Salary Aid Approval. sheet).
*Pursuant, t0 the::e Pa&,-I respectfully submit
this “rijll+itig quest ion :
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“(1). .I$ the tentative Salary Aid Approval,
Sheet above mentioned filed. by the
Midway .Independent School District on
September 30; 1943,. an applioation under
the rural aid .law and the departmental
construction of same as So authorize me,
as legislative accountant, to approvs
the Midway application for state aid for
the school year 1943-447
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In addition to the foregoing letter you have furnished
us witqthe rile of all papers in connection with the application
mentioned, which consists of the,“tenative salary aid approval”
filed in the Department of.Education on September ,30, 1943, and a1
napplication for equalization school aid,” filed in said Departmer
.on November 17, 1943.
‘We quote the fol.lowing from Section 1 of Article 2 ~of
Chapter 373, Act8 oi the 48th Legislature:
“The applications shall be sworn to by the
county superintendent of all common school’ districts
and. president ‘and secretary of the board of trus-
E;sa;af.tll independent tichool districts applying
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Bonorable I;’t B, King, page 4
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Section 2.01 said Act which you quote in your letter
h&e here&ore been held to bs mandatory in our Opinion MO. O-
3423, a Oopy OP which opinion you have. A district whose ap-
plication is filed after October 1st is inel$$ible for any kind
or aid;
The only paper filed in the.Department of Education
prior-to October 1, 1933, was not signed and sworn to by the
President and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Midway
Independent School District, but was signed bp WI C. Perkins,
Deputy Sta,te Superintendent, There was nothinS on file in the
Departneat of Education upon which,this tentative approval could
have- been based, and no other application being on file on October
1, 1943, it 18 our opinion that sams is insufficient to warrant
you as the LeSislative Aocountant to approve the Llidway applioa-
tion ion State, Aid for the year 1943-44.
We admit that this ruling seems harsh and that it
will prove burdensome to the Midway District. to lose the aid
to which it would’have been entitled if it had filed a legal
application prior to October 1, ~l.943.
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‘In this connection,’ we quote ,the following from Texas
durisprudehcs, Section 119, Volume, 39: _,
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“Generally speakinS, and in ordinary cases,
.~is applyinS ana interpreting a statute a court is
not concerned with the objection that it is ~burden-
some, or that it operates harshly, unfairly, or un-
justly, since these are questions properly addressed
to the Legislature. The function of the’ court is to
determine what is the law, irresp ctive, of its ap-
t .’ parent ‘justice or injustice; and,obviously the fact
that a rare case may arise wherein the operation of
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. - a statute will cause hardship, cannot affect a proper
construction.*
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.Any other construction of the statute than the one
.I :. given herein would set a dangerous preoedont.
s’TwiU. be recorded for a precedent;
And mny an error by the same example,
Will. rush into the State; it ounnot be.”
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gmo~able Vi, B, King, page 5 , .
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.Fie are retur&ng herewith the application filed
on Oo?obar 18, 1943, which you sub;nitted tc uq+n connection
vith your request. :.
Yours very truly
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ATTCWGYGENkXALOFTExAS
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B,' .&$* .
' A;sistant
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