Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

,mE /&ma- GEnaEagAG’ OF ?lrExAs Aus- 11..J3sxAs .JOIXN BEN sEEPPEKD --=--m.“~~: Trimbie opinion HO. o-4817 First Assistant State Re: Whether school district may compel S erintendentof bondholdersto consent to refuna- "glit Instruction Pu ing program. Austin, Texas Dear sirs we have received your letter of recent date in which you enclose a letter from Hr. Dana Williams Superintendentof the Tenaha Public Schools, to Dr. L. A. Woo&, State Superintendent. We quote the following from hr. WilU.am*s letter: "1. Where a school districthas several sep- arate bond issues and wishes to refund all of the bonds in one of those issues, and said school,d?s- trict obtains the consent of a majority of the bond ownersto such a refundingprogram, can such a school di@rict force the remaining'bondholdexs by way of manaanslsto consent to such a refun*: - i program? .~ !F&e%amplet Our school district has five distinct;and separate bona issues. We are attempt- ing to~refundone ,ofthese issnes-such issue Abe- force the'owners of the remaining $7,9OO.OC worth of these bonds to consent to this plan? These bonds have no option date for purchase.. We~are ,Informedthat the StateBoard of Education owns for the benefit of the Permanent School Fiandmore than one-third of all the outstar&Lngbonds of,the Tenaha'IndependentSchool Msp trict. It is, .thus ,apparentthat resort to-the Federal ~Rankrupt Act may not be ha&for a plan of composltion,t3br the reason that the requirement of consent of 66-2/3# of the creditors would be lacking. We, therefore, confine ou#discusslon to the question whether under theilaws of Texas a school district may by legal pro- cess compel the holders of Its outstandingbonds to consent to a refunding program. Article 2789, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, reads, ln part, as folltvwst "Where bonds have beenlegally issued, or may be hereafter issued, by any town or village incor- porated for free school purposes only or any common school district, indep~endentschool district, con-