+CE OF THE,ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
::, I .AUSTIN .
i ’ 6ROVER SELLERS
1 Arro~Nrr CEHLIA,.
; ; Eonorab1e.T.M. Triable
FirstAssistantState Sup*rLniendent
Wpazltrcent
of Education
Austinll,,Texas
. DearSir: OpinionNO. O-6976
Re: Texg of Board of Direotors
I
/
Your letter of Deoeraber6,
mres requestiw an opinionuith
to be servedby the presenttrustees
JuniorCollageDistricthas been
Ye believetho letternailed to ..
ofDavis,Tll, C-lomens and ~fg~~?wqw~gns~ved~
Ye thvref ore quote belov thLs‘let r
of office. .Ue
otion 2, because
ts which am first
ion 2 is further .’
ng lass than 75,000
.
Article 2777a governinglndopend-
3, which lnoludesoitics of over
‘Vo reallybollove that Artiolo,2815h-4,3ec- .
tion 2, probably.oontrolsfor the reason that vhilo
this Is a vslidatinsoot it certainly‘hasa prospoo-
tivo applicntion.andspacif3cailydeuls with Unioxl
': .-
' RonorableT. PI.Trinblo,page 2
..-
Juuior.College Dlstrlots. Ilefeel that.the Legisia-
ture did not intend to prsscriboone term for trus-
'teesof Union JuniorCollom Districtstheretofore
createdand anotherfor Diztrictsthereaftermoated.
Ue knartof no legal objectionwhich vould prevent
' incorporation In suoh a statuteof a proopeo ivo;-
provision; Thls Iwtter is not imodlatoly/t prmaing,
of Dourso,but we Would like to have you and tiieAt-
torneyGeneralglvo it yo*urfurtherco;l3idomtion.
A copy of this letter I3 enclosedfor the httormy
'General. .
"TheSan AntonioUnion Junioi* College District
is coznposedcf six oo.mon school districtsand five
independent oahool districts,as you ktmr. On3 of
the independent diatriotsis croated uuder said lav
for publioschoolpurposesonly and va understand
that the othorfour ara crcstcd.undergoners1 lov.
Rouo of thos am oitiesand tczins vhioh have assumd
controlof the public 3ohool3."
Irehave revlovedcarefullythe statutessattingup the
stagesvhich shouldbe Pollwad in the eleotioaof trusteonto
independent schooldistricts,arilaltiiough It my be said that
hrciolo 2771tashouldbb appliedto sohooldi3triot3,vo do not
feel that it is the statutethat should bo follmed in this
instmoo. Me are inclimd to agree with the fourth psragmph
as set out in the abova quoted lottm. Semto Bill'No.75, OS ‘
passedby tha 47th LeSislstum, Rogu1a.r S%wion, 1941, appmrs
on Pago 6 of tha Generaland SpecialLaw4 47th Legislature,
RegularSession,19Jk1.. Althoughthe caption of this bill indi-
c~toa that it is a validatingact, there aro furtherwords to
this cffeot:
.
11 Providinafor the electionof a Board '.
of Trkkk'for such ?uniorCollcgo Districts,and
providktqoertainpavers and duties of such trustees;-
a.....
We thcrcforebelievethat this not is mora thm a validatingaot,
and quotebelov Sootion 2 of tha aot whiah sets out a u&hod of
0lectinStrustoosfor a Junior CollegeDL3trLot;
.
-
hIonorable
T. M. Triiuble,
Page 3
:.
.
~*
?Seo..2. The trustoos electedfor such Junlor
CollegeDlstrlcts,after taking the oath of offloe,
r&alldivide theanwlvosinto three classes: Class I,
eon3fstingof tvo uembers,aball serve for Monayeoar
Clfh 11, consistinSof tvo neobors,who shall serire
‘icritwb years;and Class III, consisting of three r&-
aaikifng members, vho shall serve for tnree goars.
-?'Onthe firat Saturdayof April of eaoh year
after suoh trusteesfirst eleoted shall hz~vvoserved
for a pariod of at least ono year, an olactlonshall
bs held to fill w-me nembars of trus-
tees whose ter;ll3
explra that year. Such trwtoes
so cleotodshall 8erve for a term of three years."
(Ea~pbasfsours.) (3ee Article 281511-4,Section 2,
Vernon'sAnnotatedCivil statutes.)
It is the consideredopinion,tharafore, of this depsrt-
sent that the presentboard of trustee3 vho were evidentlyelected ..
~3013stineafter IJarch1, 1945, should sarve for Q period or'at
leastone year, that is, their term of'oZioe vould not expire ..
untFlApri1,1947, at vhioh tina an entire bard of trusteesnhould .
be olooted. After they hnve been eleotcdand duly waliSiod, they
shouldfollovthe prozoduresa3 outlinedin Ssctlon2 of Artiole
2815h-4. Thereafter,and On the first Saturdayof April of each
year,an elootionshould be held for tho groupwhose term sxpires
at that tim3.
Trusti* that the above 8ati3Saotorily
answersyour in-
we are
Yours very truly
..
. I.
33. N. DcGourin
Assistant
3 '
t ._