Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Kay 2, 1939 m -‘mate ustin, iexas i ear sir: se are in receipt of hioh 16 60 follow: to rural high sob ~'l6gu.y eonst ry and high sohooi OS rur81 sqrwre miles or more, that it sahools, entitled to that your ttird questiOn‘'*cents the altixtate that the l!frebtwa quest?on8 are auggssted~ Seation 11, kcts 1950, Oh. 404, p. lE59, known ~a thi fiural Aid Len provides as~follows: Vet. il. TransportetionAid. The Coun ~Zhaperin- z%ierized tendents an6 County Lahool Board are hereby a:. to set up a system 0r tramtportatlonfor the purpose of 30x1.A. L. Aikin, jr., Lay 2, 1939, ?e;;e2 trtifX3IjOrtigg Lir:hschocl pupils fro% their di>:i.ricts, to the nearest convenient accredited high school. 'r'heexpense of SUCL trans>ortatiou s:;aLiiiegaid out of Lbe funds hereby provided, not to exceed 'i'wo ($2.00) Doliers per pupil aer a.0ot.h.Provided, further, that iu districts COD;- posing au enzire comity, high school transportation aid as authorlzeU ixithis iection my be granted for the pumose of transportiug high school pupils within such districts to the most convenient accredited high sohool. *It is further provided that the districts through whiah theee buses travel awaymaks pro~Ie1ons with the County Superintendentantithe County Sahool Board to hare any other ahildrennot provided tar herein, tramported within and between their respectivedistriota, and said dlstriot amy make applicationfor State aid thereon to an amount not to exaeed One (#LOO) Dollar per month per pupil. Provided, that where regular bneee do not run in sparsely settled sections of eountleawhich era operating under a aow+y unit ayatsa, the CountyMhoolBoard and, County Superintendentare authorizedto.make prorlalona for the transportationof puplla within raid dlstrlqJia, an&may make applicationfor State aid thereon to en' amount not to exceed One ($1.001Dollar wr month Der reap;otmtkvtranepo&ation aahool-dint-riot in wbieh there exiata two sahool planta, one or whioh ir a first class four (4) year high aobool and whidh aaid plants are separated by a distanoe of not less than two and one-half (2 l/2) xJ1.s." Article 2922a, Chapter 196, Revised Civil 8tatutea. 1926, B amended providea for the formation or organizationof rural igh school districtaby grouping aontigaousdistrits or annexing &lying distriats to a aantral conmmx or independentsahool dlstriat 3r purposes of maintaininga high sohool. Such dlstriats may be armed so as to aontain more than 100 aquare miles (Art. 29220). In Chastain v. Mauldin, (T.C.S. 1930) 52 6. W. (2d) 295, he aoart used the following eignifiaant language: "In the L~c?ha:iCaseabove, Judge iooney ix hoMinE constitutional the provisions of Chapter 19a, 'itlo 49, sets forth very clearly the purposes and effect cf that legislation. as there pointed out, the gr uping provided for does nrt have .the effect of abolishing tbe several districts in the group. ke also Limestone hoard v. V~ilson('ier.Civ.Ap;).)5 S. Z. (26) 605. It merely groups thee:Sor hl~h school purposes and places the Crouped board in charge of'all OS the schools in the district, thus abolishing the several district boards. 30 a&ion of any obaraoterwas taken which either attempted or had the eifeot oi abolishing the tither Creek dlstrlot, and under the faots as found by the oourt (that the average dally attendancewas 20 or more) the dlstrlot oould not have beon abolished or oonsolldatedwith~any other d%etrlat without a rote OS the texpayercr,which was not bad. B. 83.art. Z98SI. Th6 trustees of the grouped diatrlet were lnve8teb with the power and oharged with the duty of oonduating sohools and of ahinlsterlng all sohool property and fund& oi all the'distrfatswithin the boundaries of the oosmolldateddis- taut% But they did not have the right to divert pkoperty or funds of one dlstriot to &other, or to the grouped xW3trict. . .I IwCounty Board of 6obool Trustees of Limesto& County v. Ullaon, (T.C.A. 192S) 5 6. P. (Zd) 805, it was stated: (I Such authority,however, Is merely to group suoh &riots for the purpose of roraing a'rvlrslhigh sohool dlstriot . . . Said artioles also provide for the oonttil and management or the aohoola in suah dlstilots end define the relatiotis between the high sohool anq::the elementaryschools to be maJntained therein . . . vii two or more distrlots,areconsolidatedunder the artlo~&3 above re$errqd to, (arts. ZSO!?to2815) eaohdlstrfot lose&i its separateldentitg, unletisIt be fpr oertaiti~Slmited purposes in connection with taxation, and they Fðer thereafter eonstltutea single district as though they had never had separate existenae. In saoh oases elementary eohools may be located by the board or trustees of the consolidated district as need therefor may appear. h. S. art. 2811. On the oontrary,when two or more oommon sohool districts are grouped to form a high sshool~district, aa above shown, each of such dlstriate retains its identity, and separate elementary sohools must be Mint&tied therein. R. 5. art. 2922r. . .* Hon. A. Ii.Aikin, l:,ay 2, 1939, ?are 4 As vie lntarpret Ciia;dter 19-A sni tt:f. Scrc~cinF case*, a' rural Ii! [:hr;CLOOidir-trictis essentially a zwtzol SizLrict super- *pored u?on sovercl col;tIcuou?districts for t!;e:xrpose cf xa:n- tainlng a iJ!;-hschool for their coxr~onbenefit. The underlying districts xaintaln tt:ir separate iiientiticsand separate elezectary schools zust be maintaIned therejn. 'ihehigh school dirtrlct doea not accurately include the several elercentarydistricts as such but there is a horizontei severance c?fthe upper grades Prorcthe original distriCtS, so to speak, to fom the rurel hfeh school dictrfct. '6eare of the opinion that elementary pupils.oi underlying elerentalyschool distrioto are not entitled to.@Z.OO per month .perpupil for transportationaid as pupils of a rural high sohool dlstriot for traneportatlonto or between their respeotiveelemen- tary districts but would be entitled to $1.00 per pupil per month under the first sentenoe or the second paragraph of Seotion ll, b&6 1957, Chapter 474, page 1259. High eohool pupils of the rural ~.s~hool dlstrlot having 100 bquare lrilesor more would be entitled to.#2.00 per pupil per month as transportational&. The above oonoluslonoare aubjeot ot oourse to the oondition.thatthe dlmtrlateam otherwire oomplylngwith the provisions of the fiural Ai law. Your8 very truly ATTOFU4ZYGENI1JERALOFTEXAS BY APPROVED