PRICE DANIEL 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

Ha; Itlton Qllllland opinion Ho. v-855; 

County Attorney 

Howard county Re: The mandatory or permisslvs 

Big Spring, Texas nature of Article VIII, S.B; 

116, 51st Legislature, relative to the aollsolidation of 

dormant school dlstrlcts with 

Dear Sir: 

adjoining districts by oounty 

boards of school trustees; 

Your inquiry reads In substance; 

The first sentence of Article VIII of S; 

B. 116, 51st Legislature, Acts 1949, provides: 

"Within (30) thlrtg days from the effeotlve date of this Act, the County Board 

of Trustees of the several counties of 

the State are hereby authorleed and required to consolidate by order of said 

Board each dormant sqhool district within the county (as herein defined) with 

an adjolnlnq district or dlatrlots~" 

Question: Are these quoted provisions mandatory or permissive in nature? 

Other provl6lons of said Artlole VT11 are pertinent to your Inquiry and necessarily rust be omsldered 

in amlving at a construotlon of the Aoti Follcwins the first ? 

roper 

sen eme above quoted, Artlole VIII provides In partr 

* . . 
-? 

x031; Eelton 011U.aad, page 2 (V-855) 

“If a oount line district Is or becomes 

dormant as her &a defined, the pro?ielons 

tbi6 A& Shall apply and be followed by the 

of 

several aountier affeoted to the extent of the 

territory In each respective co3xmtyb” 

It should be noted that Senate Blllr 115, 116, 

6nd 117 are designed oolleatlvely to provide a ompreben6iv6 and more effialent method of State admlmirtratian 

of Its public free sohools, to uarantee to eaoh ohlld 

of Sohool 

3 

e In Texas the aval f ability of a ~-tar 

Foundation chool Program set up In S;B. 116, and to iiaanoe this program from 6ources set out In Artlole VI 

of S;BZ 116 and State monies provided In SiBi 117. 

Article VI of S.B. 116 provides that eaoh looal sohool district of this State 16 oharcged with a contribution to the support and finuoing of it6 looal 

sohool prolp’am in acaordsnce with these comprehensive 

laws; It also provides the procedure for. the det6rmUation of suoh amounts; Ir,the enactment of this Foundatian Sohoox Program, the Legislature was aware of the 

exlstenoe af so-called “dormant” school distrlota, which 

ex&a; le al and ori Inal 

oar! !i 

entities, having a local 

but whlo do not opepate a school. Artlolo 

VIII of S,Bi’ll6 so indicates; 

Had the Legislature In Article VIII merely authorized ocmolidation aotion by county board order and 

not in addition thereto “required” such action, then possibly the entire authority 60 granted would be disoretionary or permissive in nature rather than mandatm, 

However, with respect to dormant dlstrlots the Leglslature has not only “authorlsed” but has “required” the 

oounty board o? trustees of the several counties to oonsolldate *by order of the board” eaoh suoh defined dormant dletrlot wlthin its county with an adjobtng distrlot or dlstrlats; 

Webeter define6 “require” to mean (1) to demand; (2) to render neaessary a6 a duty; (3) to request; 

(4) to make necessary, to oomand, In 

word %equlred a6 usod in 8~ Art provldin 

37 so‘ 380, 388 (Ala; Sup. 1904) It was 

city authoM.tleS in eitie6 of 5,000 lnhabl 

are “hereby l nth4rlzed, empowemd, aad *requtiedl” to 

adopt 8ueh ordlmnoc6 a6 would be Ree66S6aPy to prevent 
Ho& ntarr Qilllland, page 3 W-855) 

rtook fra 1-4 at large I6 l qtivalent to 'oemaaded' 

and is mndatorj On the city auth0titi*s OS th6 oiti66 

a nd t0WB6 to wh laIh tl pplie6; ghssr aat$oriti$r glv 

padrtarf af-fQBt to U6@ Of WOl'd6 X'OqUbO ud l'Oqllb 3' 

PC0 CltOd in 37 ~OX'dS & PhZ'WWS (POm; M;) 90402. ti 

it6 Opini0R HO. v-293, thiS OffiW adVl66$ thst~th6 U66 

of the words 'are autharised aad dlreoted in KB; 501, 

Aots 1947, when oon6lderod with the purpos? of the who10 

bat, made the provisIon thereof mandatory. 

The primary purpose of this hrtlole i6 to roquire oonsolldatlon OS any dormant dlstrlot a6 therain 

derinefx; It Intended to provide a more effioient bandllng of finances of looal sohool dlstriota under the new 

finanolal plan of the ainU6um Foundatitm School,Program, 

to e1irlnat.e dormant school distrlots, and to obviate 

olrmltou6 dlspo6ltlons of school ftmde. 

Statutes whloh regulate and presorlbe the tiw, 

ln which public officers shall perform spsoiflsd duties 

are generall;l regarded as directory; The rule 16 well 

6tat.d in 2 Sutherlandt6 StatUtollJ ~OlIEtPUOthlk (26 u.) 

1117, Seotioa 612. 

"PrOViSiOnS regulating the duties Of publie officers atid SgeolfJing the tiI60 for their 

;%;;f?noe are In that regard generally dlThough a statute dlreots a thing to 

be done*at a partioular time, it does not neoesmrlly follow that it ma7 not bo dons afterwards. In other words, a6 the Oa606 rmiversally hold a statute speoifying a tl.me within 

whioh a p&o oftioer!lB to perform an oifiolal act resgardlng the rights and duties of 

others is directory, rmless the nature of the 

act to be performed, or the phraseology of the 

statute, is such that the designation of time. 

must be oomidered a6 a 1iecLtatlOn of the power of the officer," 

A sin this ssme author observes, In section 

611, p; 111&: 

'Those dlrectlans which are not of the 

essence of the thing to be done, but whloh are 

given with a view merely to the proper, orderly and prompt omduct of the business, and by 

the failure to obey the right6 of those interested will not be prejudioed, are not 0-y 
Ho& Elton QlllllaImd, page 4 (v-8)55) 

to be 3x1 arded a6 nmndatorj; aad If ths rot 58 

perr0m elt , but not in the tiu 029 in the pmoi8. Isdo indloatedl It will stU1 br 6UffiOielntl If that ,Ihioi 16 done aOO@Bppho8 the 

uuMt8ntial purps66 dr th8 rtatabi 

~&?&I the 

tiu “wlthitl tMrty 

slon in Artlole VIXI pr6sorlbi 

days frt68 the 6Sr60tiv6 date "fi 0 

thlr Aot" should be ragafled a8 dlreotory and not as a 

Uritatl0a on th* aonrolidatlon ,*ewer sated the county 

sohool bear@ tJmro~;,, l’k@r ebnrt,m& F o& mmb&or the 

rot to aOQbs$u#h it8 fuia purf+Blr and l xpre66es what we 

thi8k the L&glslaturs lnttiaded; 
xon. Elton (lilllland, page 5 (V-855) 

m@'qided fvrther, that any School distrlat wMOh is not a dormant school dl6triot 

a6 defined in Artiois tif1 of this Aat m&y, 

6ubjOOt to t&8 approt~l of thqboa&'dr of truBt888 of th8 di6t?iOtE OQHOO 

Sohbox hpcl*tmaent, pzld 

84 the OOlUitJ 

%!B ,.4tats com8i8- 

sloaer Or Wauatlqn, aonttiast for 8 per$Oa 0r 

Qaa $qr ‘0 t 

rolwlgt, bat IF 

f&l? It8 eatW9 robolrat~q Qo- 

'wait8 grad doA@,@d, ta a QQM$- 

guoU5 diQt?SOt; The aoholastio 08nsus tiol$s 

of both di8tricts shall be oombiaed, thr p8r 

shall be pald direat to 

and the ,Wablned ovcsb@ll be wed $n QetqrcprOfO88iQ$Ua Udt8, fQP 

dlstriot shall. be elig%iUnder this prOVi6iOIB It seem olur t&t a 

soboo& district may beoosu dormnt for a period 0r one 

f 

a~, but if for two 6uoO8s8ive yem8, it beoom86 sub8ot to th8 provislone or ArtiOl8 VIII, S.B. 116; 

We 8~~0 oOm1 Ored also Seotion 5 Of ArtlO& 

Vri S.b 115, JOte'l94$,,to deter&q whether t&at loot$& o&iOte with Ma8olidatlon pravlsions 0r ArtLol8 

V&I of &;B.,,&Uj kqr8in quoted awl oonstrurd. &ootikm 5 

of Article vXf provldeb: 

%o provlrion in this Aot shaJ1 b8 interpxetti to ve 

oation, t&ie S &’ 

$0 the State Bparb oi Muat8 Dspartprent of Bduoatim, 

the @ate Comnlmloner 0r Eduoatim, 

~~~~"~~~r~~~~~~~t~~~g~ tm- 
Hon. Elton c+llliland, page 6 (v-855) 

bs o&m@ or oonsolldated, any Independent or 

WHWI SahofiJ M&riot in this State* It ie 

of this Act that the M&inew exlet in re 

OlOSiPg 0 

qilbF$e%8 i&f this StRte .~4haii COdiMM 

rlbm* u r~root;” (Ondersooring aIm#j~) 

S;#b 115 Is oonoerned wlth the public school 

ofriclals and offices on the State level, thtilr creation, 

authoi-ity, and duties; Further, the words “or anyone 

whQjj@oev8rp as employed ln Section 5 of Artlole VII under 

thC&oatrlne of eSusdem nencl~ls apply only to State r&e 

mtnitration off-by that Act and not to 

a66tbeFs of the OountJ board of sohool trUStOOB+ 

Therefore, the above provlslons of Se&ion 5 

af Article VIJ gf SIB. 115 are not applieablr to, n(*, 

do the5 oonflio;t with, the authorit ranted oounty 

bertwls of sohool ttiustees in Article #I XI d s;B, 116; 

SuMMARY 

The f$.rst sentence in the first paragraph 

of Article VIII of S;B; 116, 51st Lege, 1949, 

regarding the ooasolldatlon by order of oou#q 

sahool boar&8 of doJ?mmt echo01 dintriot #8