PRICE DANIEL ATTORNEY GENERAL

Ha; Itlton Qllllland opinion Ho. v-855; CountyAttorney Howardcounty 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 CountyBoard 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 VT11are 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;Eelton011U.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 theof 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 moreeffialent method of State admlmirtratian of Its public free sohools, to uarantee to eaoh ohlld of Sohool 3 e In Texas the avalfability of a~-tar Foundation chool Programset up In S;B. 116, **and** to iiaanoe this program from6ources 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 oharcgedwith a contribution to the support and finuoing of it6 looal sohool prolp’amin 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;

Hadthe 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 dormantdletrlot 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 makenecessary, 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 

### 5,000lnhabl are “hereby 

### l

nth4rlzed, empowemd, aad *requtiedl” to adopt 8ueh ordlmnoc6 a6 would be Ree66S6aPy to preventHo& ntarr Qilllland, page 3 W-855)

rtook fra 1-4 at large I6 

### l qtivalent to 'oemaaded' and is mndatorj Onthe city auth0titi*s OSth6 oiti66 

### and t0WB6 

### to

whlah It l pplie6; ghssr aat$oriti$r glv3' padrtarf af-fQBtto U6@OfWOl'd6X'OqUbO ud l'Oqllb PC0CltOd 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,whenoon6lderod with the purpos? of the who10 

### bat,madethe provisIon thereof mandatory.

The primary purpose of this hrtlole i6 to roquire oonsolldatlon OSany 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 ainU6umFoundatitm 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 16well 6tat.d in 2 Sutherlandt6 StatUtollJ ~OlIEtPUOthlk (26 u.) 1117, Seotioa 612.

"PrOViSiOnS regulating the duties Ofpublie officers atid SgeolfJing the tiI60 for their ;%;;f?noe are In that regard generally dlThougha statute dlreots a thing to be done*at a partioular time, it does not neoesmrlly follow that it ma7not bo dons afterwards. In other words, a6 the Oa606rmiversally hold a statute speoifying a tl.mewithin 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 ssmeauthor 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-yHo& Elton QlllllaImd, page 4 (v-8)55)

to be 3x1arded 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

## doneaOO@Bppho8 the uuMt8ntial purps66 dr th8 rtatabi

~&?&I the tiu “wlthitl tMrty slon in Artlole VIXI pr6sorlbi days frt68 the 6Sr60tiv6 date 0 "fi 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& o&mmb&orthe F rot to aOQbs$u#h it8 fuia purf+Blrand 

### l xpre66es whatwe thi8k the L&glslaturs lnttiaded;xon. Elton (lilllland, page 5 (V-855)



### m@'qidedfvrther, that 

### anySchool distrlat wMOhis not a dormant school dl6triot a6 defined in Artiois tif1 of this Aat m&y, 6ubjOOt to t&8approt~l of thqboa&'dr of truBt888 

## of th8 di6t?iOtE OQHOO 

### Sohbox hpcl*tmaent, pzld 84 the OOlUitJ %!B ,.4tats



## com8i8- sloaer OrWauatlqn, aonttiast for 8 per$Oa 0r Qaa$qr ‘0 t rolwlgt, batIF f&l?It8 

### eatW9robolrat~q Qo-

'wait8 grad

### doA@,@d,

taa 

### QQM$- guoU5diQt?SOt; The aoholastio 08nsus tiol$s of both di8tricts shall be oombiaed, thr p8r shall be pald direat to and the ,Wablned ovc

### sb@ll be wed $n QetqrcprOfO88iQ$UaUdt8, fQP dlstriot shall. be elig%i

### Under this prOVi6iOIB

It seem olur t&t a soboo& district 

### maybeoosu 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.,,&Ujkqr8in quoted awl oonstrurd. &ootikm 5 of Article vXf provldeb:

%o provlrion in this Aot shaJ1 b8 interpxetti to ve oation, t&ieS

&’ $0 the State Bparb oi Muat8 Dspartprent of Bduoatim, the @ate Comnlmloner 

### 0r Eduoatim, tm- ~~~~"~~~r~~~~~~~t~~~g~Hon. Elton c+llliland, page 6 (v-855)

bs o&m@ or oonsolldated, any Independent or WHWI SahofiJM&riot in this State* It ie of this Act that the M&inewexlet in re OlOSiPg0 qilbF$e%8 

### i&f

this StRte .~4haiiCOdiMM 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 eSusdemnencl~ls apply only to State r&e mtnitration off-by that Act and not to a66tbeFsof the OountJboard 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 #IXI d s;B, 

### 116;



## SuMMARY The f$.rst sentence in the first paragraph 

## ofArticle VIII of S;B; 116, 51st Lege, 1949, regarding the ooasolldatlon by order of oou#q sahool boar&8of doJ?mmtecho01 dintriot #8