Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

Honorable Arnold Smith County Attorney Montgomery County Conroe, Texas Dear Sir: Opinion No. Q-3872 Re: Do the trustees of an ind’ependent school district have the authority to employ a full tlme’.‘dentist for the ensuing school year and pay him out of local school funds? We are in receipt of your letter of August 16, 1941, fn’which you request the opinion of this department upon the question set out as follows: “Please advise me whether or not the Trustees of the Willis Independent School District of Willis, Montgomery County, Texas, have the authority to em- ploy a full time dentist for the ensuing school year at a ‘specifiedsalary to be paid on a month to month basis, and whether or not school funds can be expended for such a purpose. O . . .” In your letter you ask whether or not “school~‘funds” can be -expendedfor the purpose mentioned e We assume that by school funds you are referring to local school funds, the ex- penditure of which are authorized by Article 2827 which reads in part as follows: “2 Local stihoolfunds from district taxes, -tuition fees of pupils not entitled to free tui- tion and other local sources may be used for the purposes enumerated for State and county funds and for purchasing appliances and supplies, for the payment of insurance premiums, janitors and other employes, for buying school sites, buying, building and repairing and renting school houses, and for other purposes necessary in the conduct of-‘thepublic schools to be determlned by the Board of Trustees, the accounts and vouchers for county districts to be approved by the county superintendent; provided, that when the State available school fund in any city or district is Honorable A.rnoldSmith, page 2 o-3872 sufficient to maintain the schools thereof in any year for at least eight months, and leave a surpPJs, such surplus may be expended for the purposes mentioned herein. . 0 . aU It is our opinion that your question is answered in the case City of Dellas vs. Mosely, 286 S.W. 497, by the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals. Certain of the pertinent facts stated by the court are as follows: "After a careful investigation of the work- ing of health departments in other cities by the school authorities of the city of Dallas, and be- lieving that the efficiency of the city's free schools would thereby be increased, the board of education, by resolution duly adopted, established this department, and it was in force for the school year 1925-26. An appropriation of $30,000, or so much thereof as necessary, was duly made from the funds derived from the special taxes levied by the city of Dallas for maintaining its public schools, for the establishment and maintenance of said health department, A competent physician was em- ployed as superintendent of this department at a salary of $4,000 per year, and such physician is required to devote his entire time to this work. A competent woman physician was employed as assis- tant superintendent at a salry of $2,500.00 per war, and she is required to devote her entire time to the work. Six women nurses were employed for the school year of nine months, each at a salary of $125 per month, During a portion of the year a dentist was employed at a salary of $2,000; such dentist, however, was not in said departmen,&at the time of the filing of this suit, and is not now connected therewith, b-utit is assumed that a comoeten,tdentist will be employed in the future, The court stated as follows: "Article 2827, 1925 Revised Statutes, places an express limitation on the power of a school board in the expenditure of school funds. e . . . I "It is apparent, therefore, that the correct solution of the question under inquiry is dependent largely on whether the said health department, as it is mair~rtaFned by the said board of education, has for Honorable Arnold Smith, page 3 o-3872 its primary pui-poseimproving the efficiency of the system of public schools for the city of Dallas. e O D e S "We are of the opinion that'the school board was acting under an authorized legal discretion when It organized and installed the health depart-- meritfor the purposes for which same was organized, and that it is being conducted for a lawful and commendable purpose, and has increased the effi- clency of thenschool system of the city of Dallas. e ,>D . 0 s D The case was affirmed by the Commission of Appeals in 17 S .W. (2d) 36 (I ~The court conclud,edas follows: "Modern science has conclusively established the fact, and the record in this case conclusively shows, that there is an intimate relation between the mind and the body, and no teacher can intelli- gently deal with the child's mind who ignores such child's physical condition. It therefore follows, as a matter of course, that money wisely and ju- diciously expended by the school board within pro- per limitation to ascertain the'child's physical condition is a wise and legitimate expense of the teaching p??ocesse It would not only be an injustice to the child to conduct the teaching process with- out informatf’onas to its physical condition, but such a system would be 8,waste of public funds, “We are of the opinion that the board of edu- cation has the right an power, under the Constitu- tion and laws of this state,and the charter of said city, to exercise sound jugment and discretion to pe:rfos;mand carry out the duties and powers dele- gated to them by law, and .thatin exercising such powers, they have not violated any law of this st;ste,OP any provision of the charter of said city, in’instftutlng and maintaining the system of medical inspection and health work shown by the re,cordin this ease.” It is the opinion of this department, therefore, that the trustees of the independent school district do have the authority to employ a full time dentist for the ensufng school year and to’pay him a sal,aryout of the I.ocalschooi funds col- lected by said school district, BG:mp:wc APPROVED AU3 27 1941 s/GPover Sell& FIRST AS:3ISTAIVT ATTORNEY %NERAL