The opinion
OFFICE OF l?lE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable Jamma K. Evrtta
Dl#triot Attornry
~pasas, Texas
Dear Sir:
whioh you subnil
The county Sahool
met on neptomber 9, 19
whloh purportedly oon
Comon Sohool D
IndependentEC&
county. Bo ala
nion of this doprrtment
now efieotive aa suoh.
ty sohool trustees ahall hwe
aoholaetiopopulation and fndopendmt rohool
illstriotehating 10~s than trs huMred and iitty
aoholaetlopopulation for the purpose of eatrb-
liahhingand operating rural high sohoels,.pm-
vided alao that the county sobool trust@ee mar
amex one or more ~oiumoneohool distriots or one
nonorabls James K. Rvotts, Pegs 2
or more Independent sohool distrlots having less
than two hundred and fifty soholastlopopulation
to a oom!nonaohaol dietriot having four hundred
or more soholastiopopulation or to an indepandant
district having two hundred and fifty or more
soholaetiopopulationupon the approval of the
boerd of trustees of sash sohool dlstrlot affeotsdi
provided that xhen one or mom oonmon sohool &IO-
tsiots are 60 annexed to a oommon school dlutrlot
having four hundred or more soholaatio populatIom,
or to an IndependentdIstrIot having two hundred
and fifty, or mars ooholastlopopulation, as the
oaae may be, a board oi txusteer shall be slsotad
from the distriot at large and ahall have the man-
agameot and oontrol of the,dIetriotas enlarged
until the time for ths next alaotion and qualltl-
oatione of trustsee for oommon and Indapsndsnt
alstriots, as prarldod by Oenaral Law. . . .)I
The oaso 0r county ward of Pohool Tntstetraet al
V. Gray et al, 42 9. W. (2&l 697 (w, Z. Ref.) dealt with tha
z$:on of a ocmmoa?eohool dIstrIot to an fhdmpendontoohool
The oourt In oonstrulng Artlola 29%2a, et seq., rile
the rdlibrsSIg mitiosfqtt
wo al*otion wa6 r.quIrsd. !rheoonrent ot
the trustow of bath dimtrlota was euffiolrnt to
authorize the annexation by order o? the U@unfy
Board 0r Sohool Trusteos.~
The oaae of Barnhart v* county Board or gahool Trus-
boos oi Young Oouaty, lb8 9. W. (2d) 770, 8180 dealt with the
annaxatlon oi a o-on sohool dlstrlst to an In4apandmt sohool
bistrlot under Artlob 29220. We quote from the opinion of
tha oouxt 86 mlowt
aIf It oould be said that the patltion by
the two trwteea or tha Flint Onok Cionwa Rshool
Diatrfot oould in aSy nay atirot ths nlIdItY Of
the order of the oounty board In Rnneling that
dlstriot to tha Graham ludapanbantDIstrist On
Map 9, 1935, the dafaota wwo oured by tha validat-
Ing Aot of the &l&h LsgIslatars,1935, Regular ges-
~lon, ohap. 221, p. 530 (Var%an'sAan. OIv. -3.
art. 2e15g-7), vhhiohaot beomm sfreotive Mw 10,
Rouorable Jasm K. Yvette, Page 3
1935, as well also by the Aot o? the Firat Called
Seasion, 14th Le&alature, 1935 (ohaptor t&8),
now artiole 2806a, Vernon*s Am. Clr. St..whIah
aot beoame l??eotIve on Ootober 17, 1935. Thea0
validating aots ooverc0 almo6t every aonoelvable
irregubriby, OYOrSight, inadvertenae,end barn+
,108saamlI0tion In prooeeaingsleading up to the
?ornation,deelgnatlon,oonsolIaetIon,and ahnax-
atlon in.matterso? school dietriots, and, a0
statad, we believe the aouuty board was warranted
In aooaptlng the petition and request of the two
trustees of the oomon 8ohool aIstrlot ailin go@
?aIth being the sot of the board o? trustees o?
that dietriot, y8t these broad validating rots
nere paeaed by the Legislatureto set all suoh
apparent dab.atabls,derloisnoIos at rest; and we
thlhk they:ara sui~loimntror that purpose.v
we a0 not ?Ihd It woewary to aO0ia0whetherthe
annexationwas,valia 0~ otherwi88. We .klImva that even ii
.,*.the oom?mlIdatIohwer~lnvalld, IlrtIOla~28158-25Is amply'
: au??foiontIn Its tsrw to vslldata the ?om&lon of the
~.. sohof3l~dIstrlot.Seotlone 1, 2 and 3 of hrtiele 2815-25
xaaa as rollowat
"Gaotlon1.: All Sohool DIst~iots,,,I&WUhg
Common soho rdstriote, niaepenaent sonool’ Dfs-
trlats, OonsolId'ated Common Soho DIstrIots,
~RuralRigh Sdhool Dlstriots,all OaamtyLIne
Rahool Distrlata, lnoluding.OountyLine Common
Sohool Districts; Oouhty Line fndepeadentSohool
DIetriots, County Line Consolidated!&muon Sohool
Distiiots,cOusty.&inO~ ~OnsOlid&i86 Ina~pena~t
Sohool Dlstriots,OoUty~Linr Rural %iIghT?ohool
Dlstriots, and,D$strlots formed by Coneo~datlon
or Rurel High sohool Dlstrlota and o~utiguOus~In-
aepenaent~Sohoo1Districts,aud all othe.~,Suhool
Distrlote,group8 or annexationsof whol~~:'DiatrIots
or parts o?,DIatrictsby vote o? the people roaid-
i ’ Ihg In auoh-Clstrlotsor by aotion o? Gountp Tahool
Roar&a, whether areated by Oaneral cirr:!peoIal Law
In this Bate, and hsretoiore laid out atidestab-
lished or attemptad to be establishedby the propar
o??Iaers o? any County, or by the Leglalaturb O?
Honorable Zamea K. Evetta, P%g% 4
the State of T8X%%, findheretofore reoognized by
either State or County suthorltieaa8 Sohool Die-
triots, am hereby validated In all zeopeota 8%
tfloughthey had.been duly and legally eetablished
In the rirat instanoe. All sots of the Board% of
Trustees In such ~Plstrictean8 all Comulaaloners*
Oourts in ordering an eleotion ,orelaotiona, da-
olarlng ths results or such elootions, levying,
attempting or purporting to levy tare% rar and on
behalf or suoh Sohool Districts, and all bond%
iaaued and AOW outstanding, and all bond8 horeto-
rore v0tsa but not yet.kaaued,ana all bona aa-
aumption tax eleotlons,‘arahereby In all things
validated. The fact that by Yqadvertenoeor over-
sight anr sot or the orrioer0 0r any county in
the~oreatlonOttany Distrlot was omitted shall
in no wise lnvalldats such Diatrlot~ 8na the ra0t
that by inadvertenooor oversight any eet wae
omitted by the Basrd af Trueteee of any auoh Dlr-
triot or the Cosnale%ion%r8~ Court of any County
in ordering an eLdotlon or eleotlons, or in de-
claring the results thereoi, or in levying the
taxee ror suoh Dlatriot, or in the lssuanoe of
the bonda ot any suah Dlstriot, %hall iA no ni%e
invalidateany of suoh proossdings or any bonds
80 ieeued by auoh Dlatriots.
*All eat% of the County Roards of Truetea%.
of any and all Countlss in rearranging,ohanglng,
or aubdivld5.ngeuoh Sohool Dlstrfots or lnoress-
ing or aeoreaaing the aree tbereot, in any Fohool
Dlstriot of any kind, or in oreating new Dlstriota
out of part% oi existing Diatrlots or otherwiee,
are hereby in all things validatsd.
"sao. 2. 411 Sob001 Dlatrlote mentioned in
thla Act are hereby authorized and eagomr%d to
levy, a%%fw%, aAd oollsot the a%me rate or tax a%
1% now being levied, aesesead end colleotedthem-
IA, and heretofore authorized or attempted to,be
authorizedby any eot, or aots or said Distriota,
or by any Act, whether -Gmerhl or rfpecial,oi the
Legialaturs.
*i?80. 3. This Act shall not apply to tm~yDfs-
triot, the organizationor oreatlon of whloh, or
Honorable JamaftIL Evatts, Pago 5
oonsolldationor annexation of any territory in
or to suoh Distrlot whioh 1s now lnvolr%d ln llti-
&ion, or the validity of the organizationor
oreatlon of whloh, or aonaolldstlonor annaxatlon
at territory in or to suoh Dlstriota, is attaoked
in any suit or lltlgatlonpending in any ocurt or
competent jurladiotlonwhich has been filed hrre-
torore or wlthln tventy (20) Bays arter the 8ft8Ot-
lte date of thla Aot. Prcwldid furthar that thla
A%t %hall not %pPlY to any Dlstrlot whlah nk%yhat%
bson @atabll%hrd'oroonsolldated,and whloh ma
later returned to lta orlglml etetue.”
Chief Su%tio% Our&on, apeaking tar tha Suprome
court in ths aaaa 0r Anam90nCounty Rowi Matrlot no. 8 T.
Pollard, 296 S.~W. 1062, had the following to ear regarding
validatingclots:
Tha gonaral and e%t%bli%ho#rule is, rihet
the Legislature aould hare authorlsed in the first
inatanoa it oan ratify, 1v at the time or ratlrl-
oation it haa thr inltlal authority to aubhorlco."
kid JwiOo aritt, ~peclki~ror the Oanrari%8lon
or
Appeal% in tha ease oi Lyford IndopendontSohool Dlatrlot
at al v. WUliaar IndependentBahool Diatriot et al, )O S. W.
(Zd) 854, raid the followlag:
Vhe validating aot ln quaatlon la not a
apeoial but a genaral law,.and the power ot the
Laglolatureto enaot auratire atatuter or this kind
la no longer an open qu%atlon la thl8 at%fb.* Me
aleo Twing t. Rhodo%, 16 8. W. (2d) 258; Tom Onan
county Y. Moody, 289 8. WT. 3811 Brown t. Trimeott,
In&ependantSohool Dirtflot at al, 34 S. W. (2d)
.
In view or the,rooMgoing authorltiea,It la tha
opinion or thie dapartment that %v%n if the oonsolldatlon
were invalid at the tlm% of the ardor of thm aouaty Sohool
Board, the oonaolid%t%ddlatrlot 1% mu, by virtue of it%
validationby Artlole 2815g-25, a legal %%hool dl%trlot.
Very truly your8
ATTOBBEY OBWBBAL OF TKXA?