The opinion
OFFICE OFTHEATTORNEY GENERAL OFTEXAS /
QmAcn c. MANN
A-“” .s*-
Ronorab,leli.B. Baker
count]rMitoxllay
Folsaan county
Coleaan, Gmaa
e minutes or the colema
c 8, 19JO la
ting twe alamt3ntary
hlte Cbapsl of the %nteamial Ron1
Bo. a oulu up ror ooFmiberatlon.
regardlw, the lttex rpoa yhrcl,fcmt~inccs,
uorl, xx, Plexoe, xl-i 3-i.a. lRlxtxl*
(10uawU~0t16 belief oi all that mob a
~ntaplag wowl8 Kreatly laareaoe tbe sfliaLsao~~ oi theft
OlenmntrrJ~ aobool. So at thr in8tWO6 of the &IJem aad
White CbaDOl Gchcml Dl8trict aaffwith the 001LQUxraMO
of tho Centannie Bohool.Board, ths xeptlsetasking @cm-
sall?rrt.ionof the two j&mfmtUy 6Ubd.6 iQX the
easula~ year wan granted.*
“i’cr the sahool year 1939-40 lt sees8 there
a:11 be 29 clezsntarp pupils in the Y:hite Chapel
elementary school dlstrlct. A number or tho patrons
of this local elementary district Oeslro to have their
clc%entary school rcestabllehed. The school board doea
sot xisb t6 do thlh* thereiore 3 would like to bavr.
your opinion ns to vhether ttlls local board 1s obli&rA
to reestablish this sohool. Also, would the aountf
board of &ohool trunteee have any authority in the
roattcr7”
k Careful search of the statutes relstln@ to rural high
schooi Ofstrlctn does not revenl any provision exprearly reQuiring
that elementary schools rlthin the rural hi@ eohool dlstrlot sntst
be mastabllshsU after they have beian dlroontlnued.or oonsoll&tod.
mtiole petri, hevised Clvll statutc8, 1925; provlaer ar
f OlLovm :
“The oounty board of school Qwsteas ahall not hare
the authority to abollch or oonsolldate any elementary
school district almaay eotabllshei3 axoopt upon ths ooto
cr a majority or the walliled eleotoro re~lding In suoh
elemntary Olstrlct; provided that when any mohoolrith-
in tin elementary alatrlot rtdls to he*? nn lrorags daily
attendance the preoedin& year of at hlsaettwenty pupil.8
it may be dlaoontlnued by t&o board or trwteaa of Said
rural high sohool dlstrlot, and aald dlatrlot mar be oon-
solldated by the oounty board at sohool trumteeo nlth
ame other dlstrlat or dI8trlatr tar elemcntary8ohool
purposes; provided that it tberc la more than one *mite
or one aolomd sohool in ,euoh elementary sohool dlstrlot
the board of trustee8 of the aaid rural high school al*-
tricts ‘or an independent dlstrlot, as the csee my be,
rz~y aonsolldate such white or oolorsd .sdhoole or $ho
elementary district; end provlaed that the board OS trustees
of a rural high sohocl Oiatrlot stay transfer the pupila
of one elementary dlatriet to another within the rural
hl(rb satiooi dlstriot, nben~ the transfer 1s made tram an
nlencntary aifmm df lower olaerirIoatfon to one of
hlpber ohseffloation; and provlaea further that the bcmrd
Or tNStoS8 Of #I rYrtd high 80h001 a;StrfOt riW tXWIrar
pupils from an elerentary dli%trlOt to any Other elOm8nt6rY
dlatrict within the rural h&h eohool district UDQIIWpll-
oatlon or tho pamnts or:&uardlan of the said pupils.
Eon. i . i:. iieher, $3.
“K~encvcr :Ine :.r more eo.mon cchool dietriots
are onncsed tc a cozzon mhool district or to an
5ndepondc:it d?atrIct under the provjsione of tieotion 1,
euch coumn or Independent district shell maintain
elemntery oehoole of huoh clssslfIoatIon as the oouuty
board xay dt+elghate In eaoh Clatriot 80 qnexed, for. the
wee length or term provided for the schools oi-the
said covmx; ochooi dlatrlct or lndepandent dlstrlct.
provided such schools may be dlsooatlnuod by the looal
board oi truotoes when the average dally attendanoe of
er:y such eohoola for the preceding year is lee8 than
twenty.”
You do not state in .your letter that the board of trustees
of the rural hlph ochool district evsr dlscontlnued the White Chapel
alemmtary nchool dirtrlct abut we armme suah Is the ease slnoe
the order of the oouuty board reoites that the purported ooneollda-
tion was kith the cohourrenoe of the rural high mhool board. Tou
~111 note that krtlule 2929t plaoea the authority to dlroontlnuo
an elementary school In the board of truataea or the rural hlgb
sohool distrlot and not Iu the oounty board of sahool trueteao.
Tbe oountq board of school trustees Ia authorlaed to consolidata
euoh elemntary dIetrIots under uertoln oonditlons r:lth another
district for clomontary school purposea, but In this commotion wa
call your attention to the order entsred by the Colman County
imbool Eoard which doe8 not purport to ‘aonsolldate the two olamen-
tary eoboole exoept *‘top the enauin& vear.a
In Chastein v. kauldlaa (T. C. A. 1Osb) 32 S. :;. (2d)
2tJ5, the court tacitly approved an agreenient that an elementary
school would be keeatabllahed or resumed wider oertaln conditIonS,
however, in that aa6e tho average attendance during the last
preoeding sess!on wag as mch or more than twenty elcmental?y pupIla.
5.0 cell t&is to your attention lnaemuch aa it Is possible that 8oxv.e
euch aCroe=ent mleht have been made with retcrence to the &bite
Chapel elementary sahool in view of the wording or the mlnutell Or
the oounty sehoo 1 board.
i‘be power of the board oi trusteea of the rural distrlat
to dlsaontinue an elementary sohool Is not. .depenbent upon,the possi-
bility of ho% meny elementary pupila there will be In the sohool
dietriot for the current year but it Is provided that *when any
sohool rlthin my slomantary district Sails to have an avera&e
dally attendanoe the preosdlng yoar of at lea& twenty pupils It IMP
disoontinucd by the board of trustees of aa%Q rural high oohool
d:striot.”
Eon. VI. B. Baker, #4.
Based upon the faota a8 subialtted by you, It la our
opinion thet the local board of the rural high school district
le not required to reestablish the Yhlte Chapel Elementary
Gohool Xstrlct for the sohool year 1939-40.
We are further of the opinion that the county board of
aohool trustee8 1s not authorized to reestablieh an elementary
aoh within a rural high SObOo di8trlat where the board of
t-tees of said rural high school dftirlot ha6 dleoontinued
suoh elementary eohool ae provided by law.
Yours very truly
ATTORIJEY OgNgRbL OF ‘IgXAB
Aaaistant