R-475 

‘RICE DANIEL -:. 

,lro- GBNERAL July 16, 1947 

Hon. John C. Marburger Oplnlon Ro. y-304 

County Attorney 

Fayette County Re: Finality! of a decision 

La Grange, Texas of the State .Board or 

Raucat ion sustaining 

Dear Sir: 

.- 

action of a Cot&y Sohool 

Board ~oloslng an ~elementary school. 

We -refer to your’ letter of June’ 26,. 1947, in 

which you ask us to review -your .lnqulry-‘o$ May 8, 1947, 

in which-.you submitted the following:.. ~, . -’ 

:,.- ‘*Sine time during the year l94k, by order of the County Board of Sohoo.1 Trustees 

of Fayette County, Texas,’ the Willow Springs 

Common School District and the Fayettgvllle 

: Common Sahool ‘District and other contiguous. 

. :. doramon school alstrlats were grouped and 

formed the Fayettevllle Rural High Sohool 

District; Arter this .grouplng bye the County 

Board of School Trustees, an elementary 

~School was maintained ,at the Willow Springs 

School for ‘the year 1944-1945. During this 

school year some eight grades were taught 

wlth’about 53 pupils in attendance, malntalnlng an average dally attendance for 

said school year far above twenty. 

“During the later part of the X944- 

,1945 school year, the- Board of .Trustees for 

the Fayettevllle Rural High School Dlstriot 

by’ Its order closed the Willow Springs Elementary Sbhool .for the coming 1945-46 

school year and ordered the elementary pu- 

~~11s of the Wll4oy .Sp,rlngs District to attend eohool at.the .Fayettevllle Rural High 

School’. The majority of the tax payers 

Andy patrons of the Willow Sprl,ngs Distrlot i 

protested to the Trustees of the Fayetteville Rural High School District, because 

.,9f the oloslng of the Willow Springs School, 
Hon. John C. Marburger, Page 2, V-304 

and finally the matter was taken to the 

State Superintendent at Austin, Texas. On 

April 1, .1946, the Willow Springs Elementary 

School was again opened and six grades were 

taught In said school for some forty days, 

being the remainder of said school year. 

During these forty days that the Willow 

Springs School was reopened,.said school 

aid not maintain an average daily attend-.' :~ 

ante of at least twenty pupils for ~various 

reasons, such as , parents did not.want to. 

'~'transfer their children from one school to 

another ,. With only eight weeks of schoolre- 

_~.. .malning,,ana others.had transferred their 

children out of the district. 

"At the ena of the school year 1945- 

J946, the Board of Trustees of the Faveftevllle~,Rural High School District again entered Its order closing the Willow Springs 

School for the 1946-1947 school vear for 

the reason that the average dally attendanae 

receding year of 1945-1946 was be- 

-You&k .whether or not action of the .varlous 

Boards was legal,.ln &osl~ng .the school.~ After recelvlng your,lnqulry.we .lea.rned.,that the action of the Trustees .of ,tpe Fayettevllle Rural High School.Dlstrlct, 

the subject of your Inquiry, was, reviewed and affirmed 

by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and 

the State Board of Education., .snd that no appeal was 

taken from the decision of the State Board. We are enclosing copy of each of said decisions ,for your lnfornation. ,. 

The Wlllow'Sprlngs School was changed to a 

six grade.elementary school.. No aRpeal..was taken from 

the order of. the, School Board which so dlasslfled the 

school'. .In the. appeal from the or.der,closing the school 

the Stat.? Superintendent found, as a fact, that when all 

of the .&hlldren In the district withinthe first six 

grades,. counting those'who attended the Willow Springs 

School,,and also those who attended the Fayettevllle 

School, the av.erage dally attendance was less'than'twentY. The evidence showed'that, some children who live In 

an adjoining county attended the,WllLow Springs School 

before the co'nsolldation. 
Hon. John C. Marburger,. Pa~ge 3,.v-304. ;' 

,Rlght of appeal andthetrlbunals of-such appeals is provided for In Articles 2656and 2686 of Vernonls.Clvll Stat~utes. The Interested partles.haQ the 

choice ~of appellate tribunals and, chose to app.eal:t.othe 

State Superintendent of Public In§truction Lana the State 

Board.of Educatlon;.any right whioh they ever had on the 

faots are foreolosed by the 'final de~olslons of those agencies. 

In the.cas.e;.of Blalr.~.~Board.of Trustees, 

Trinity Independent School District, 161 S.W.(2d). 1030, 

the Court quotes ftimthe opinion written by Judge Alexander while a member of the ,Waco Court of Civil Appeals, 

In Gragg v. Bill, 58 S..W. 28 150; (Writ refused) as 

follows: 

.~ 

: . 

. . . 

"By the'provlslons of the above statute 

(Art. 2656, R. S.1925) the Leglslat,ure has Y . 

committed to the state superintendent, ,as .one 

specially tralnea'ana experlenoed ;i.n school 

matters, ~the responsibility of .decidlng.all 

questions relating to ,the internal affairs 

and management of the public sohools of Texas. 

His decisions In such matters are..flnal unless 

ireversed by the state board of edt.icatlon,the 

decision of that board becomes final and cannot 

-and will not be Interfered with by the courts 

.un.less such board acts arbitrarily or ls,actu- 

.ated by fraud or abuses Its, dlsaretlon. The 

findings of such board on matters comm1tte.d to 

Its jurisdiction, when not arbitrary or &aprlclolls, are prima facie true and are 8s~ binding 

on the courts as Is the verdict of a .jury; and 

the .oourt wlll"not.put itself In the position 

of the board'ana try-the ~questlon anew for the 

purpose of testing the expediency or wisdom 

of the decision of,the board, nor forithe purpose of detelmlnlng whether or not under slmllar testimony It-would have made a similar or 

: a different ruling.* 

We are of the opinion that the~faot Issues involved In the closing of the Willow Springs Elementary 

S,chool and transferring its scholastics to the Fayette- 

,vllle School have been finally adjudlaat.ea and are not 

subjeot to ~revlew. ._ 

Appealsmay be taken from tbe..flnal decisions 

of the State.Board of Eduaatl.on to the courts, to review 

law.questlons, If suoh appeals be prosecuted In a reasonable time. 
24 Hon. John C. Marburger, Page 4, V-304 

No time being fixed In which appeals'may be 

taken from the State Board to :the courts, the lnterested parties had a reasonable time, after juagment, In 

which to make such appeal for review of any law question 

.lnvolved. The judgment of the State Board of ~Edueatlon 

was rendered onFebruary.6,, 1947, and no such appeals 

have been taken as of this date. 

In Trustees of Chlllicothe Independent School 

Di'strlct v. Dudney,,142 S. ~W. 1007, the,Cou?ct had the 

question of the time all'owed for appeal where no time 

Is fixed land; In that regard, said: 

"In the absence 'of. any such a rule, the 

sole Inquiry Is: What Is a reasonable time 

under al.1 conditions surrounding the Instant 

case? The district judge , after a full hearing, has decided that 30 days was a reasonable time within whlch:appellee herein should 

have prosecuted hls'a'ppeal to the State Superintend.ent. By reason.of the. chaotic condition 

of the affalrs'exlstlng In the Chllllcothe 

School, appellee should have'proseauted his 

~appeal wlth.all reasonable dispatch." 

: 

',:' It had been shown in that case, that the appeal 

could have.been mad,e In 18'days. " 

: 

In Watkins v.. Huff) 63 S.W. 922., the Court sala, 

concerning the time ror~suoh'appeals: 

"The Statutes providing for such appeals 

: .are silent as to prooedure, and prescribe no 

time within whlch.to perfect the appeal. A 

reasonable tlme;without unnecessary delay, Is 

the rule In such cases. Harkness v. Hutcherson, 

':90 Tex; 385, 38 S.W. 1120." '~ 

We are of the opinion thatmore than a reasonable time in which to appeal to the oourts has elapsed 

since February 6, 1947, by reason of which the decision 

of the'State Board'of Eduaatlon, rendered on that datej 

closing the Willow Springs Elementary School, has bec~ome 

final'on all justlclable issues of~both, fa,ct and Law+ 

. . 

SUMMABP 

Where the Trustees of the Fayettevllle 

Rural High School Dls,triat closed the. Willow 

: _~ -, 
Hon. John C. Marburger, Page'.5,'V+X)4- 

,;~ 

25 

Springs Elementary School in Fayette CoUnty 

and those~opposea to such action appealed.to 

the State Superintendent of.Publlo Instruotlon, 

and to the State Board of Education, both of 

~whom affirmed such action and final dealslon 

of the State Board was rendered on February.6, 

1947, and no appeal therefrom was taken, all 

lssues.of.both law and fact .concdrnlng the 

closing of said school are now foreclosed. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEXGENER& QFTEXAS 

BY 

ATTORNEYGENEUL 

ViTW:djm:jrb 

,