Case Information
*1 Hon. A. J. Bryan, Jr. Opinion No. C-2075
District Attorney Re: Annexation of Pleasant View Nillsboro, Texas Common School District to Blum
Rural High School District--neces- sity for approval of board of Deer Sir: trustees.
We are in receipt of your letter of March 11, 1940 in which you submit the following question to this departmen i for our opinion:
did the County Board of School Trustees
bave iii*power and authority to group Pleasant View Common School District No. 105, having a scholastic population of 39 with Blum Rural High SchooS Dis- trict No. P ha&g at the time a scholastic popu- lation of 412, for high school purposes?" The following facts are presented: On May 24, 1929 the County Trustees of Hill County tlgroupedll Blum Independent School District with scholastic population of 184 Rock Creek Common School District with scholastic popula c Ion of Caruthers Common School District with scholastic population of 46, and Live Oak Common School District with a scholastic population of 28 to form the Blum Rural High School District No. P. -This actlon was necessarily taken under the first part of Article 2922a R.C.S., 1925, urn- der the process designated as Itgrouping”. B y the terms of Ar- ticle 2922b the district thus formed was classified as a con: non school a istrict.
October 1, 1938 the County School Trustees entered an order grouping Union Iirll Common School District having a scholastic population of less than 150 with Blum Rural High School District which it appears from our Opinion 0-1639 had a scholastic population of 362. In our Opinion C-1639, it was held that this ‘tgrouping(l was proper under the authority of County Board of School Trustees of Limestone County v. Wilson, 15 S.W. (213) 144 without the necessity of holding an election. Necessarily the Alum Rural High School District was considered as being classified as a common school district otherwise it would have been an tiaonexationl' under Article 2922a.
Your letter continues as follows: "On February 22, 1940, the County Board of School Trustees entered an order attempting to group the contiguous Pleasant View Common School District No. 105 with Blum Rural High School Dis- trict No. P. for high school purposes. It is ad- mitted that Pleasant View Common School District has a scholastic population of and that Blum RuralHIgh School District has a scholastic popu- lation of 412.1’
Article 2922b, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, provides as follows:
"Rural high school districts as provided for in the preceding article shall be classed as com- mon school districts, and all other districts, whe- ther common or independent, composing such rurel high school district shall be .referred to in this Act as elementary school districts; provided that all independent school districts enlarged by the an- nexation thereto of one or more common school dis- tricts as provided for in Article 2922a shall retain its status and name as an independent school dis- trict and shall contintie to operate as an independ- ent school district.under the provisions of the ex- isting laws and the laws hereafter enacted govern- ing other independent school districts, except as otherwise provided for herein."
The Blum Rural High School Mstrict was not origl- nally formed by ~~annexation" under Article 2922a and the action taken on October 1 1938, was not an "annexation". Although it now has a scholastic population of 412 Blum Rural High School District is classified as a common school district.
The proposed district will contain 6 elementary dis- tricts and have an area of less than 100 square miles and for that reason Article 2922c, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925 does not apply and the rule laid down in County v. Mitchell {Corn. Appl 1931) 38 S.W.(2d) 770; (T.C.A.) 48 S.W.(2d) 803,~and other cases following same is not applicable.
Article 2922a, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, provides, in part, as follows:
"In each organized county in thisstate and in any county which shall hereafter be organized, *3 Hon. A. J. Byran, Jr., page 3
the county school trustees shall have the author- ity to form one or more rural high school districts, by grouping contiguous common school. districts hav- ing less than four hundred scholastic population and independent school districts having less than two hundred and fifty scholastic population for the pur- pose of establishing and operating rural high schools, provided also that the county school trustees may an- nex one or more common school districts or one or more independent school districts having less than two hundred and fifty scholastic population to a common school district having four hundred or more scholas- tic population or to en independent district having two hundred and fifty or more scholastic population upon the approval of the board of trustees of each school district affected; provided that when one or more common school districts are so annexed to a com- mon school district having four hundred or more schol- astic population or to an independent district of two hundred and kfty or more scholastic population, as the case may be a board of trustees shall be elected from the district at large and shall have the management and control of the district as enlarged until the time for the next election and qualifications of trustees for common and independent districts, as provided by General Law. . . .‘I
Whether the Blum Rural High School District is classi- fied as a common school district with a scholastic population of more than 400 or as an Independent district with a scholas- tic population o 3 more than 250 the action of the county board was not 8’grouping” but “annexatIonI for only common school clis- tricts having a scholastic population of less than 400 and in- de endent districts with a scholastic population of less than 2 0, may be 8Qrouped1t to form a rural high school district. P
Both common school districts with more than 400 schol- astic population and independent districts with more than scholastic population come within the provision for llsnnexationfi and the statute provides that annexation may be made “upon the approval of the board of trustees of each school district af- fected.”
You state in your letter that the consent of the Board of Trustees of Pleasant View Common School District has never been obtained and no election has ever been ordered or held.
The approval of the Board of Trustees of the Pleasant View Common School District No. 105 never having been obtained *4 as required by statute, it is our opinion that the County Board exceeded their authority in ordering the annexation.
Yours very truly ATTORNEX GENEFUL OFTEXAS By /s/ Cecil C. Cammack Cecil C. Cammack, Assistant APPROVED APR 4, 1940
/s/ w. F. Moore
FIRSI! ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
APPROVED: cxI&n~~~~~T!rEE
BY:
CCC:RS:wb