Case Information

*1 ' OFFICE OFTHE AmORNEY GENERALOFTeXAS AUSTIN

Honorable Fhelburne H. Glover

County Attorney

Marion. County

Jerrert3on, Texas

Dear Sir: opinloli No. O-&O,099

Rer Employment and aalary of'sohool bus drlrar and route of opera-. tion or hi8 bus. 5.

Fe hare reoeived Ootokr 6, 1941, your letter

In whioh bou ask the opinion of thls,department on the rol- lowlng queatlone~ivhfoh we quote trOm y&r letter1

"1. Where a man Itar been employed.to drive a school bus, a&the revenues derived iron the State permit .payment to suoh driver the sum or $30.00 per month for his servloea nhioh Is ad- mittedly Inadequate, 0811 the Loos1 Trustees or a partioular alstrlot augPasnt his salary out,of the Common Sohool Dlstrlot fund of auoh Dlatriot?

"2. (a) Do the Truateee 8 Common SohO Distrlot hare the right to employ a~bus driver, or must suoh driver be employed by the County Fohool Board?

u(b) Is the route over whloh a sohool bus driver operates a matter for the Looal Trustees, or the County Sohool Board to detennlne?"

For the sake of oonvenienoe we nili answer your questions In reverse order.

titlole 2687a, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes reads-in pert 8s roiiov~s:

"The trusteee of eny sohool distriot, can- ,mon-or independent, maklngprorislon, for the transportation of pupils to anb from aohool shall for su& puTpOSe 8LUplOY Or COntraOt dth *2 Honorable Shelburne H. Glover, Page 2

a reaponelble person or firm. No person ahall be employed to tranaport pupils, who is not at least twenty-one years ot age and a aompetent driver or Eotor vehloles and sound in body and mind."

However, Seotlon 4 Artiole V 0r the Rural Ala Appropriation (Acts 19W, 47th Leg., R. B. 284) provides ae rollowez

wCounty Board6 of Trustee8 ere hereby author- &d to employ bus drivers for one year and the salary or no bus driver may be paid, out of the County Board Transportation Fund oreated herein unlees euoh hue driver la so employ+ Provided further, that only puplla parsons dlreotly oon- neoted dth the sohool syaten.shall be transported on sohool buses .Wle In the prooeea or transport- ing pupils to and from the q&&w1 8nd any bus driver violating the forego$ng provisions ehall rorrelt hi6 oontraot and ahell be~lmmedlately die- oharged by the County 3oaxd or Trustees. However, aubjeot to the provlalons herein, bus drivers who own their own buses end are 80 employed may be given a contreot for not to exoead two (2) years oondltloned that said bue drivers agree to make.lmprovements on their buses, so as to more adequately insure safer transportation ror the aoholestlos, and the route or suoh bus is not ohenged ror the aeoond year of the oontraot."

It is elementary that the tiglslature in appro- ' prletlng pub110 moneys is empowered to proride the manner

of their disbursement, end as we .held in Opinion No. O-~$6, lt~la wlthln lta provlnoe to attaoh "oondltlona to their expenditure." Therefore, a sohool alstrlot whloh oomea within the provisions of the Rural Aid Appropriatlon~Blll and elects to aocept the bonerite thereof' must oom ly with the provisions and oonditlons of the bill before i.& ..i will be entitled to receive aid thereunder. Feation 4 quoted above provides for the ewloyment of~buo d?lvers by the oounty board of trustees. Assuming that the sohool dls- trlot ti whloh you have ref'erenoe is eligible ior aid and intends to,‘rcioelvi it under tho bill, it follows that the bus driver Tuust,M esployed by the oounty board of trustees.

Honorable Shelw H. Olover, Page 3

Seotlon 1 of Artiole V of the Rural Aid Bill read8 in pert a6 r0imfm

*The County Superintendent end County So&~1 Boards d the several oounties of this State, sub- jeot to the approval of the State Superintendent of Pub110 Instruction, are hereby authorized to annually set up the meet eoonomloal system or transportation posalble for the purpose ot trans- ~uplla rrom porting both grade and high aohool P str1ot.w their dlstrlota, and wlthln their d It follows from the came reasoning expressed above that route of operation of the bua Is e matter, not for the looal board of truetees, but for the oountg superintendent and oounty boar&of trwteea, subjeot to the approval ot the State Superintendent, *a part of the authority to set up an eoonomloal ~eyatem or tranoportetlon.

We tura'now to your ramafn~g question, whether the loeal board oi truetees may supplement the bus drlver:a 8alary $30.00.

Saotlon 2 of LLrtlole I Or the Rurel Md Bill pro- vides aa rollowsr ,

"sea. 2. Tax Levy. lo school district shall .' be ellglble to receive any type of aid authorlaed

under the provlelons or this Aot unless it shall ba providing for the annusl aupport or its sohools 'by voting, .levying and oolleoting for the ourrent aohool fear a looal malntenanoe aohool tax of not less than ritty oente (504) on the one hundred dollara or property valuatfon in the entire dls- trlot. The property valuatlone shall not be leas than said property is valued for State and oounty purposes. The~lnoome from suoh e malntenanoe tax in exoeas the required tlfty oenta (500 main- tenance tax must firat be used to retire lndkbted- neaa, ii any, in the looal and equallzatlon (Rural Aid) sohcol funda. After the indebtedness In these funds, ii eny, has been retired the lnoome from this malntenanoe tax in exoeas of the required fifty be used at the dle- cents (504) malntenanoe tax ma cretlon of the looal aohoal au orltles'or the dle- % trldt ior any lawf'ul school purpose. Provided that *4 Honorable Shelburne H. Ulover, Page 4

no looal funda may be used to lnoreese teaohers' salaries dlreotly or lndlreotly above the aalery schedule provided tor ln this Aot. An or all tax above fifty oents (506 f may not mlntenanoe be lnoluded in the oaloulatlon of need ror ala but shall be reported in the budget. If the ln- oome from the malntenanoe tax above fifty oents (50#) Is not spent as preaorlbed herein, it shall be lnoluded as reoelpts in the budget. In order to oomply with the terma oi thla aeotlon it shall be neoeasary for suoh aohool districts applying ror any type of aid authorized under the terms or this Aot, to report all vciLuatlona wlthln auoh dlstrlots lnoludlng all oonsolldated dlstrlota and annexed dlstrlots and failure to report all suoh valuations shall prevent suoh dlst.rlot from reoelvlng any type of aid authorized under this Aot. Provlaed that the tax provisions and other lnhlbltlons provided in aald Aot shall not apply to the sohool where the Alabama Indians attend eohool in Polk County, Texas." We have been informed by the Department of Edu&r- tlon that under the rules and regulations governing trans- portation In Texas, the mexlmum expense that oan be allo- ror operating any on6 bus Is as fo&lowsr an amounti not to exoeed $30.00 per month ror a driver, plus an amount not to exoeed $40iO0 per month for operation expense of the bus plus one-fifth or the orlglnal ooet of the bus for the year.

Under the aot, dlstrlota whloh reoelve aid ior tranaportatlon oosts have their looal taxes restrioted and bud&eted;.tharerore, no dlstrlot partlolpatlng in the rural aid funds la to have .any surplus funds above the $30.00 per month ror the bus driver unless suoh district has a looal nainteniinoe tax rats above fifty oents (506) on the one hun- d?ed dollars of property valuation. In that ease, auoh ex- ceaa revenue could be used to Increase the bus driver's of the school indebtedness, if any. SShry, after retirecect

This opinion has been writteu on the assumption

that the dlstrlot ie eligible for aid nnd desires to reoelve the same, snd your questions have been answered on that be&r. There is nothlng.ln the bill whloh oompels sahool dlstrlots to seek its benefits. If the dlstrlot does not ohooae to *5 Bonorable Shelburne B. Glcmr, Page 5

partloipate under the sot, then~ under Artlole 26878 the looal ,boer& my erzploy the hue driver. fir hi.% ealsry, and deter- -e the route of operation oi! hi% bum.

Very truly youre AmORi4EY G.F:T"NERAL OF TEXAS .

BIRST AC

ATTOi'JW

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