HE ,~%TOKNEY GENERAL 

OFTEXAS 

Honorable Bevington Reed 

Commissioner of the Coordinating 

Board 

Texas College & University System 

P. 0. Box 12788, Capitol Station 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Dear Dr. Reed: 

Opinion No. M- 1081 

Re: Authority of the Board of 

Trustees of Kilgore College 

District to provide for interior redistricting of the 

district in order that trustees may be elected accordin 

to population. 

You have requested this office to render an official opinion 

concerning the authority of the Kilgore Junior College District to 

subdivide the district and elect members to the Board of Trustees from 

within each one of these sub-districts instead of electing all of the 

trustees from the entire district at large. 

Specifically, your question is as follows: 

"Does the Board of Trustees have the authority to provide for interior redistricting 

of the district in order that trustees may be 

elected according to population?" 

You have stated in your letter that prior to September 1, 

1969, the Board of Trustees of Kilgore Junior College District, acting 

under provisions of Section 51.072(h) of the 1969 codification of the 

Texas Education Code*, adopted the laws pertaining to Junior College 

Districts of Texas. 

Numerous amendments to this Code were enacted by the 62nd 

Legislature in 1971. Included in these changes was the renumbering 

of many of the Sections of the 1969 codification. Those portions of 

* This first codification of the laws on education was enacted in 

1969, effective September 1, 1969. Acts 61st Leg., 1969, R.S., 

ch. 889, p. 2735, H.B. 534. 

-5288- 
Hon. Bevington Reed, page 2 (M-1081) 

the 1969 codification with which we are concerned were carried forward by the 1971 amendments verbatim under different Section numbers. 

We will hereinafter use the new Section numbers in making references 

to the provisions of the Code which we consider. 

You have enclosed with your letter a proposed resolution 

which would subdivide the district into geographical areas of approximate equal populations. The proposed resolution provides that 

trustees elected from, each of the districts shall be residents of the 

district in which they are elected. This resolution states that the 

Board of Trustees of Kilgore Junior College District is now comprised 

of nine persons. The stated need for the proposed resolution is 

predicated upon the purpose of complying "with decisions of the United 

States Supreme Court which require that trustees should be elected in 

proportion to population." 

Avery v. Midland County, 394 U.S. 474 (1968) applied the oneman, one-vote principle to county governments in Texas. The holding 

was restricted, however, to the following, (P. 485) 

"Our decision today is only that the Constitution imposes one ground rule for the development 

of arrangements of local government: a requirement 

that units with general governmental powers over an 

entire geographic area not be apportioned among 

single-member districts of substantially unequal 

population." 

Hadley v. Junior College District,,-3.97 U.S. 50, 252 L.Ed.Zd 

45, 90 S.Ct. 791 (1970) holds that a \Sunior College District is a "unit 

with general governmental powers", and that it meets the criterion set 

out in Avery. However, neither of these cases stands for the proposition 

that at-large elections are unconstitutional per se. 

Whitcomb v. Chavis, 403 U.S. 124, 29 L.Ed.Zd 563 (1970) holds 

that multi-member districts are not inherently invidious or violative of 

equal protection. At-large elections are not, per se, unconstitutional, 

but the test is whether or not there is an invidious discrimination 

against a minority group. Dusch v. Davis,,. 387 U.S. 112, 87 S.Ct. 1554 

(1967). 

In the absence of a finding that there exists an invidious 

discrimination against some minority group in at-large elections of 

Trustees~ to the, Board of the Kilgore Junior College District--in a 

-5289- 
Hon. Bevington Reed, page 3 (M-1081) 

direct attack on the constitutionality of Section 130.082(f) of the 

Texas Education Code--the statute is controlling. 

Section 130.082 is captioned, 

"Governing board of junior college of 

other than independent school district." 

Section 130.082(h) reads as follows: 

"Notwithstanding anything in this code to 

the contrary, the provisions of all or any part 

of the laws of this state in effect immediately 

prior to the effective date of this act and relating to the name of any junior college district 

or the name of its governing board, or to the 

number of members of its governing board, or the 

procedures and times of electing or choosing said 

members, shall remain in effect under the following conditions. If, at any time before the effective date of this act (but not thereafter), the governing board of any junior college district shall 

specify by resolution or order the particular provisions of the aforesaid laws applicable to it 

which it desires to remain in effect, then such 

particular provisions shall continue to apply 

to said board and its district: provided that 

at any time thereafter the governing board may 

make this section in its entirety applicable 

to it and its district by appropriate resolution or order, and thereby permanently cancel 

the effect of the aforesaid particular provisions 

of other laws. All resolutions and orders permitted by this section shall be filed immediately 

with the Coordinating Board, Texas College and 

University System." 

Prior to September 1, 1969, the Board of Trustees~ of Kilgore 

Junior College elected to avail itself of this option and to retain 

the number of trustees and the manner of their selection on its Board 

of Trustees in accordance with its previous operations. The Board 

of Trustees consisted of nine members and has continued to operate 

with nine members by virtue of the Board's action. 

Section 130.082(f), in its relevant portion reads ,as follows: 

-5290- 
Hon. Bevington Reed, page 4 (M-1081) 

"Members of a board shall be elected at 

large from each junior college district at regular elections to be called and held by the 

board for such purpose, at the expense of the 

district, on the first Saturday in April, in 

each even-numbered year. . . ." 

The precise question for our decision may thus be restated: Do the provisions of Subdivision (h), supra, which authorize 

board members to be selected in a manner different from the provisions 

of the Act, empower the board to make additional changes after the effective date of the Act, September 1, 1969? 

It appears that the legislative intent was to create uniformity 

among the various junior college districts of the same class. Although 

the Legislature saw fit to permit an existing Junior College District 

to continue to operate under preexisting laws, we do not perceive that 

it was the intention of the Legislature to allow or permit any given 

Junior College District to change its mode of operation after September 

1, 1969, except in strict compliance with the terms of the Education 

Code. It is our opinion that it was the intention of the Legislature 

that Junior College Districts, after September 1, 1969,, should operate 

as they were operating on that date or in accordance with the terms of 

the Education Code, and no other. 

Stated another way, it is our opinion that when the Trustees of the Kilgore Junior College District elected to continue operating as they had before the adoption of the Education Code, their 

method of operation thereby became frozen and could not thereafter 

be changed, except they could elect to abandon all deviations from 

the particular provisions of the Education Code and operate in toto 

under that Code. 

We conclude under the facts presented that the Board of 

Trustees of Kilgore Junior College does not have the authority at 

this time to provide for interior redistricting of the district in 

contravention of the requirement of at-large elections of Trustees 

pursuant,to Article 130,082(f), Texas Education Code. 

SUMMARY 

The Board of Trustees under the circumstances 

and facts presented does not have authority to 

provide for internal redistricting of the Kilgore 

-5291- 
. 

Hon. Bevington Reed, page 5 (M-1081) 

Junior College District at this time in contravention of Article 130.082(f) of the Texas Education Code. 

Prepared by Robert Gauss 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Kerns Taylor, Chairman 

W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman 

John Richards 

Lewis Jones 

Jack Goodman 

William Craig 

SAMUEL D. MCDANIEL 

Staff Legal Assistant 

ALFRED WALKER 

Executive Assistant 

NOLA WHITE 

First Assistant 

-5292.