Case Information
- 63: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF. TEXAS . . . ‘. A,USTiN
GROVER SELLERS
*~ORNLY bENLRhL
ponorable VI.- B. .King, Acoountant
yoint Legislative Committee
~astia,. Texas
‘A &%3r sir:.
i
the sahool year rillok:. ._
‘.
passed ‘by the 48th ,i
‘.
*i
;C’
i l Aot shall, .send- to .the State Superin-
tendent of Pub,lic Instruction, on fbrms provided.by said authority, all information~ that may be required.
Said rorns will include a budget by .which the amount ,of Salary Aid to which a school vii11 be eligible shall beg determined . . . i-., . . . . . The State Superintendeat shall, subject to the provisions of thin Act ,. grant $0 the 5cl1001 an vaunt of ai’d as will, with State and County ~\vri i&able *2 6379
WI B. King,. page 2 .
.
[4] .
.Punds, together.wlth all other funds including rnnintain the tuition, I .’ school for such a period and in such _ a manner as authorized in this Act . . .?: October 1 oi each scholastic year ., for which aid is asked. ‘Schools
whose applications for state aid are filed. later than October 1 of .
eaoh year for which aid is asked, shall be ineligible for any type or ,.aid,* n ‘The .M dway Inae endent. School District is a state aid SC It 001 quali f ied in all respects law of the State of to receive
state aid under the rural aid
. Texas _ unless _ it is IneLigible to reoeive such aid un;
der the provisions or the law above quo ted ;
n0n September 30 1943, the kidway independent’ School’Distriat of :Xadison County, Texas, filed in.
proper form with the State ‘Department 02 Education, ‘a tentative Salary AM Approval sheet, prescribea.
.f de .’ c: knd distributed by that Department, and signed by ,: Deputy.Stat,e-SuperintenFent.
. .
“On the basis of this tentative Salary hid Approval sheet, it hss been the joint departmental
procedure to advance .fifty per oent of the antioft
patcd Salary Aid ,earnin@ to’every school filing eaid sheet. (This is done pursuant to Article 9,
i of the ocrrent Equslizatron Aid Law, which we quote t. . .’ Initial payment of not more than
as r0n0nt3: fifty per cent (505) of salary., tuition and transporta-
tion aid may be made by the State Superintendent of, Public Instruction after Septefaber l-of each year o.f
the biennia! as soon as a basis for payment. can be
determined, and approved by the Legislative AC-
co-Wtant....‘)
*The Bidway .I~ndependent School District, having riled this tentative Salary Aid Approval sheet, would’
have baen eligible. for the partial payment had’ it not
been that the reooras of this~ office reflected au ovcr-
payment of $1166 to this p~artiaular school.distriat dur- ing the sohool year 1942-43.
Donorable ~W. B. King, page 3
“Had this overpayment been cleared prior to the &al approval of the Salary Aid Advanced .Pay-
ment, the Uidway School would have received fifty
per cent or its estimutea earnings without further of any kind.‘ (80th the State Department
of educetion and the Joint Legislative hcountant
has approved the tentative Salary Aid Approval Sheet). The. remaining f3Zty per cent of the salary aid earn- ings are~.approved. and paid on the basis of a more
det,ailed application which was filed by the district .~ in question after October 1, 1943.
,-The State Department of Eaucation has approvk the above mentioned application (that is, the applica- tion amending ,&he tentative Salary Aid Approval. sheet). *Pursuant, t0 the::e Pa&,-I respectfully submit
this
“rijll+itig quest ion : -
“(1). .I$ the tentative Salary Aid Approval, Sheet above mentioned filed. by the Midway .Independent School District on September 30; 1943,. an applioation under the rural aid .law and the departmental construction of same as So authorize me, as legislative accountant, to approvs the Midway application for state aid for the school year 1943-447 w* *bin _ In addition to the foregoing letter you have furnished rile of all papers
us witqthe in connection with the application mentioned, which consists of the,“tenative salary aid approval” filed in the Department of.Education on September ,30, 1943, and a1 napplication for equalization school aid,” filed in said Departmer .on November 17, 1943.
‘We quote the fol.lowing from Section 1 of Article 2 ~of Chapter 373, Act8 oi the 48th Legislature:
“The applications shall be sworn to by the county superintendent of all common school’ districts
and. president ‘and secretary of the board of trus-
E;sa;af.tll independent tichool districts applying
‘; ., :( :._ Bonorable I;’ t B, King, page 4
.1 , Section 2.01 said Act which you quote in your letter
h&e here&ore been held to bs mandatory in our Opinion MO. O- 3423, a Oopy OP which opinion you have. A district whose ap- plication is filed after October 1st is inel$$ible for any kind or aid;
The only paper filed in the.Department of Education prior-to October 1, 1933, was not signed and sworn to by the President and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Midway Independent School District, but was signed bp WI C. Perkins, Deputy Sta,te Superintendent, There was nothinS on file in the of Education upon which,this tentative approval could Departneat have- been based, and no other application being on file on October 1, 1943, it 18 our opinion that sams is insufficient to warrant you as the LeSislative Aocountant to approve the Llidway applioa- tion ion State, Aid for the year 1943-44. We admit that this seems harsh and that it ruling
will prove burdensome to the Midway District. to lose the aid to which it would’have been entitled if it had filed a legal prior to October 1, ~l.943. .. . . :. _‘.
‘In this connection,’ we quote ,the following from Texas durisprudehcs, Section 119, Volume, 39: _,
[1] .: .~ is applyinS ana interpreting ’ “Generally speakinS, and in ordinary cases, a statute a court is
not concerned with the objection that it is ~burden-
some, or that it operates harshly, unfairly, or un-
justly, since these are questions properly addressed The function of the’ court is to
to the Legislature.
determine what is the law, its ap- irresp ctive, of parent ‘justice or injustice; and,obviously the fact t .’ that a rare case may arise wherein the operation of i . . a statute will cause hardship, cannot affect a proper
. - construction.*
;...
.Any other construction of the statute than the one given herein would set a dangerous preoedont. .I :.
s’TwiU. be recorded for a precedent; And mny an error by the same example, Will. rush into the State; it ounnot be.” . . . [*] -1,. .- . . . . Wo
gmo~able Vi, B, King, page 5 , . a
. .
.Fie are retur&ng herewith the filed
on Oo?obar 18, 1943, which you sub;nitted tc uq+n connection vith your request. :.
Yours very truly
. ATTCWGYGENkXALOFTExAS .
B,' .&$* .
' A;sistant ‘.’ . :: . .
. /
. ‘.
: ”
,