The opinion
-.
NET GENE
EXAS
Han, R, A, Taylor, Jr0 OpinXon No, V-559
County Attorney
Zavala County fle: CaPllng of rural high
Crystal city, Texas school elections by
courky school board
:n-&e:r~’
Article 2922c,
v 3 C, S,& as amended,
Dear Sir:
We Pefera to your Wttex of recent. date from
which we quote, in part,, as follows:
“If the County Board of T~wtees or-
dews the election z?equ,ix-ed by Arlt, 2922~
on its own motfon, sreeh ackLon \WOUPd pxe-
sumablg be based upon the reqwstjj oral
or written, 0~ petition of pe~yons k&x-
ested in th.e cxeatlon of the 3xxaP high
school diatvict F
“If sxh a reqms% 02 pet,Lci.on, i:s
presented to t,he Cailnt,y Ao~~KI 0% Tru,--
tees, is it mandatory that, .%he>electicn
be called by the Board, rJ;pqs s&at &I>-
cpetionaky ,with the Board?‘”
“In each crganf.zed 0wonky in +,hfs
state, and Iln any county ?&aP-,fch ,&all
her-eaftea be or~ganfzed, :he ~%xnty school
trustees shall have the alrt,ho:rify to form
one ok mope rural high school dist.ric?.sl
by grouping contiguo3.s common e:hool dis-
tnicts having less than, fo::.r hnrdred ~.kYlO]
scholastic populati.on and tndap?ndent
school d9striats hav:.ng less than two hw=
tied fift.y (250) scholastic popul.atson, ITOP
the pwpose of establishing and operating
rural high schools; pscwPda-3, also, that-
the county school truasse:j may arnxx one
OP moxe common, s,chool d%str~~icty or one OP
more independent school dist~rfcts hexing
Hon., R. A. TayloP, Jr., page 2 (v-559)
leas than two hundred fifty (250) scho-
lastic population to a common chool dis-
trict having four hundPed (400 7 OP more
scholastic population, or to an independent
district having two hundred.,Plfty (250) OP
more scholastic population.”
Article 2922-z, as amended by 9. B, 341, PPO-
viaeel:
“NO rural high school diatrlct, as
provided fop nereln, snail contain a
greater area than one hundrad squaPe miles,
OP more than ten elementary school dis-
tricts, except that the county school
board of school trustees w form rural
high school districts, as provided in Art-
icle 2922a,, containing mope than one hun-
dred square miles, upon a vote of a ma-
jority of the qualified electors in the
said proposed rural high school district
voting at an election called for such
purpose; and profldad further, that the
said board of county school trustees H
form a Pural hLgh school district contain-
ing more than ten elementary distrfcts up-
on a vote of a majority of the qualified
voters In each of the elementary dlstz81cts
within such,propoaed rural high school dis-
trict.” (Emphasis ouPsl
In certain in&awes the county tPustees’aPe
authcrized to fo~n PuPal highschool distpicts without
the necessity of submlttihg the question to a deteP-
mlnatlon of thd electorate of the districts involved.
Article 2922a, aa amended. They are also authopized to ”
form rural hi school districts under the conditions
specified in fi title 29220, as amended. But theiP aath-
oritg In this respect Is lidted to there first being
an approval by the majority of the qualified voters of
the proposed district, whsrs the dlstpict proposed con-
tains an area greater than 100 square miles and CoispPfs-
ed of not’ more than ten elementary dfstricts, or the ap-
proval,by the majority of the qualified voters in each
of the elementary districts where the proposed rural
high school distPict shall contain more than ten elemen-
tary distPicts* Article ,2922c, as amended; County Board
of School Trustees v. Mayfiald C,S.D, No, 22, 140 S.W,
t2dg 956.
Itharr been held that the ruthozdty to c&E
an eleotfon on pn4atlons of o~gaalefay: a PUPOP high
school &f&pi& fs sleeted %A the oouxdy bom.pd of tm~ua-
tees. Countz v. MftchdU, 38 S.wm(24) 770. Thexe fe
no ovfsioa in A~tfoles 29220, 29226p OF cbth4P PwPaP
h $I” school dfetPfct lawa, ,~eq~lfPing %o pP,roeentatioa
of a petition to said board bef'o~4 uprid bow& my 4x4~
else the aPrthoPity gPrated it in eofd &at&es %o OP4ate
~$~;160h~h mhool d%atHct, Canon PO Rasbwy, 21 S.W,
FuPthePmPe, it has been heId fn @ox go Beard,
87 S.V.(24 883# that the app~ovaI. of tmateeta of dfs-
trlata effe@ted in the foaaatfon of a PUPPLPhigh sahool
distpist is not neoesesslaPg whwe em ePes;tion Ya regufa-
4d end held under the pacviaiona of kt;ioEe 2922e, A%-
topary Qenepalns Opf.nfcmsHas, &268 ana &600~,
Under Ad%cls 29220, boweve~, the a’utha~%ty
th4r4fn gPomted to the sounty bam~d to &olieah an es-
tabllehed xwal high B&BOP .dfiatz?oiet. fs prcedfmtea up-
on the ppesentnent of a pstitfcn sfgnd by Y la~jaaftg
of the votePa of eaob al@rw%ary cU&~Let mmprfskg
th4 rwal hi& aahool dist~iat, Bi triet %'?mtrepr PB,
County Sohoof Tmxstees, 203 SOMOQ2d 7 $60, at p4ge 86%.
Thus, the county bow& c?$ trusteseu has @anary
paver in the creation of ~uml hIgh school &Llatkictao
County OehobP Tm.wteee v, Dfst~%et mugtees, 1% S,W,[2d)
891.~ Xt has been un8famly h&l that the Leyis$srtx~e
Uay l414gs;te its arPthorPftg to such a emSas. W%se Corn-
IIOA Sehocl.Dist~ict No. ~2 vo CO&PC 8 ounty School To,
141 S.W.f2a) 1028, .Fwther, it was held fn Bojrk9 of
School Ilpupstees'v. Wooil~ooT 1,S,P,,9~~90 S.W,(Zd) 333, tkmt
the oopmtj board bai exolusfve, Qw$ad$~tSae, subject to
statut4r-y limitations, of" gwoeeed%rg to axeate 0, mraP
high school district fmm date af pre-sle@tion o~d4~ to
entry of formal order creating dfstP%e~t, especf4lBy ixk
th4 abs4nce of aM.egatfon that the pubIfs was injmea
by the boaxdDs octioti WMng such txm~ we quote from
said cash, rt page 337"
n By statute ft QGowit~ School
Boo~d)~l~ iiven unbx%bPed power over the
$omatfon of ~awsl hfgh school distdct.
0 AZ%"
in
IIOn., R, A, Taylor, Jr,, page 4 (v-559)
part: gin establishing high schools9 said
trustees shall give due regard to schools
already looated, to the distribution of
population, and to advancement of the stu-
dents In their studies.8n (Emphasis ours)
In Gibson v. Couch, 153 S0w.(2d) 288, the
county board ordered an election under Article B922c
(the area in the proposed district being greater than
100 square miles) to determine whether a majority,of
legally qualified voters of each of six dietr$t;ae+
sired to form a rural high school district,
held that the county boar8 could not be compelled to
entar an order recognizing the proposed district as
legally established even though the returns showed a
majority of the voters of the proposed dlatriot for
gr0llpillg *
We quote from the Clbson-Couch case at page
290:
“The Board was under no legal duty
to group the districts and owed to Rela-
tors no such legal duty enforcible by
mandamus c The law (Art> 2922c) says the
Board m group on a majority vote of a
proposed district, but nowhere does It
attempt to take away the dleorotion orl-
ginally lodged in the Board in matte:rs
of forming rural high schools, Since
the Raskell County Board in harmony ‘with
its pre-election order, and in the exer-
cise of its undoubted discretion refused
to group the six dlstrlots, it follows
that the relators are not entitltd to
the writ of mandamus prayed for.
In the light of the provisions of Article 2922c,
as construed by the courts In the above cited oases, it
is our opinion that the matter of calling an election ae ’
provided under Article 2922c, es amended, is discretion&
arg with the County Board of School Trustees,
SUMMARY
The matter of calling an election
authorized and as provided under Arti-
cle 2922c, VernonDs Civil ‘Statutes, as
amended by 9, B. 341, Acts 1947, 50th
Hone 2. A, Taylor, JP,, page 5 (v-559)
Leg., Rosa.” Ghapter 298, is dismetion-
arg with the County Board of School
lkustees, Gibson v. Cosaoh, 153 S,76.(26)
288; Board of School Trustees v. ~oodzow
I. School Dist,, 90 S,W,f2d) 3330
YQUPS very tmlg,
ATTORNEYOENERALOF TEXAS
CEOsmw
ATTORNEYGENERAL