Hon. L. A. Woods Opinion wo. V-872- 

State Superintendent .~, 

Department of Education Re: Procedure to annexporAu&n, Texas 

~Dear Sir: 

tion op spciilg LakePar+ Distriot to'Texarkana I.S.D.,'Feconsi+ 

eringAttotiey General 

opinion Ho. o-3823 

dated August 7, &9&l. t 

You have referred this office to Attorney Genera1 

tion 

Opinion Woo, O-3823 rendered by a prior administraand holding that ,Texarkana Independent School-District may annex any part or the whole of a contiguous 

common distriot (Spring Lake Park Comaon District) by 

complying with the prooedure.set outs in its ape&al law; 

designated as Section l-a in.Chkpter'.~9,.Se~~~~ll.no. / 

297 .'Special Laws of the *39th Legislature, 1st C-S., 

1926. ‘L .^ ., 

Seotion l-a provides as +ollows: 

"Whenever a zaajority of the lnhabitaiits;.,qualified to-vote fop metibers of the 

Legfslature~of any t&ritobyadjbiiiin& the 

limits of the TexarkanaIndependbnt Sohool 

Dlstriot, shall desire such tez%itory to be 

added to and become a part of mid independent school district, and a majority of such, 

qualified voters sign a petition to that efSect, any three of such qualified voters may 

file with the board of trustees of said independent school distriat the said petition, 

making affidavit of the facts set forth in 

said petition, fully describing by metes and 

bounds the territory proposed to be annexed, 

and showing Its location with reference to 

the existing territory of the Texarkana Independent School District; provided, that 

said territory proposed to be added must be 

contiguous to one line of said independent 

school district. And upon filing of said 

petition, affidavits and descriptions, with 
- . 

Hon, L, A, Woods, page 2 (V-872) 

the president of the board of trustees, 

it shall be his duty to submit the ssme 

to the board, and, if upon investigation 

by the board it is found that the proposed addition is necessary and practicable, 

the said board of trustees, by resolution 

duly entered upouits minutes, may .receive 

such proposed territory as an addition to, 

end as becoming a part of the colp~orate 

limits of the said Texsrkana Independent 

School District;. After the passage fnd 

adoption of such resolution, the territory so.received shall be a part of the 

Texarkana 'Independent School District; 

and the.inhabit$nts thereof shall thenceforth be entitled to all the,~~rights and 

privileges as other citizens and inhabitants of,the said indeoendent schooldistrict: The 'wlioie. or'*& uortion‘& anY 

cont.ixuous common school district.vwhether 

bondedor not'.mav bemexed'to the-Texar- ' '.' 

kana: Independent.Sohool Districtin the ' 

manner herein oresdribed. o .." (FderG-~,, ' ~' _~' 

scoring ours.~) .r ' *:: 

, .: ; 

tion 

1 of 

In Opiuion No, 0-38~23, evident1 no: consider& 

was givento . Section"2 of Artidle 27 ci' e snd Section 

Article,.27@f, V,C.S., enacted by the-'&l& Legislature, 1st C+.; Abts-192q0 ~You requestthatwe review 

that opinion-in the light of such statutesgnd-@vise 

whether its'holdin&is'correct. . 

~'T' Thb 'two' 1929 Aots, shove referred to; ~are~-how 

in effectand must be coristrued together, CountySchool" 

Trustees .of Orawe County v,~ Dist;'Trustees~~bf~Piairie 

View CoSoDo,'~ 137 Te$,a~c 125, / 153 SOW&d 434 1,:('194.1]f.:Board 

of School Trustees of You& 

S,W,2d 530 (Texa Coma;-App. 1 

;;&y v. Bullock C.S,ms 

)P ! ./ 

..~ 

c Without repeatin all of the terms &the above 

.designated sectionsof thy iii 1929 Acts,'provi.sion is-made 

therelnthat 'in each coui+ty,of.this State the:countyboard of trustees &iall.havg the authority, when duly petitioned.& provided in said Acts, to deta&'from; and 

annex to, any:.school distriqt'territory contigu6us to the 

common boundary line of the two dis~tricts; provided the 

board of trusteesof the district &which the'annexation is to.be,~made,:~approves-,by m$jority vote,theproposed 

transfer:ofterritory; ' Thei:Adts prescribe further'proce- 
Hon. L, A. Vioods; page .-3 '(v-872) 

: 

‘ ~'dure, if:more than tenpercent of the district is in- 

.volved,-and speoific,ally-provide that "no schooS district shall b&reduced $6'ep area .of. less ~thari nine 

square mi1es.v . . . 

.~ ,, _. 

,The-repealingclause of the 1929 Acts, Chapter ‘47; Section 3+ reads in part as follows,: 

,.. 

"All lawti and parts af laws, Gtirieral 

arid~S~ecial,'in'o~nfli,ct h&reijith are'hereby repealedi . .v'~. _ .' 

a repeal of 

to; or in~olisistent with, , 

L. 

discuss whet&r 

themin (providing for automat&z ei; 

of city oontrolled.sohool districts 

was repealed by the 1929 .A&% above 

it has been held InCit of Beau; 

.: 'mont 'Ind. School Dist. v. Broadus; 182 &W. --5mKz. 2d 0 

;~.,Civ. App: 19l$+; error ref.). t&t article 2804 hasp not 

been-repealed, e&pressly.nor,by 

'1929 Abts, for the. reasonthat& 

.o~f-the,,. laws relating to 

: ~:distr%cts,and othersehool-,districts.in the county shows 

a manifest intention ,on%he~ part of the-law-making body 

to provide-for two separate'classSfications of districts, 

nsmel~, a district locatdd~withina inuAicipal.ity, over 

which.the qitg has ass)uu@ control; andadistrlct over ~“ .. which a City has no control. Opinion'~-3823 properly 

,:, holda'that~Artiole 2806 is'notapplidable to Texarkana 

Independ~t~~School'b~kittict. 

"The ~egisl&X've historycoiicerning the TeXar- 

: kana Independent'SohoolDistrictshows'that it is not a 

munioipaIIy controlled sohodl district. '-It is.an independent scihool~distriat created~~bg Bpecial'law;divorccity cdjitrol in 1920. Chap. 31, S.B. 9, Acts 

Legislature, 3rd C.S., 1920, as.amended'by-Chap-;-. 

297;~ SDec. Laws of 39th Leg., 1st C.S., 1926; 

A.G. :OpinionNo. 0-3823;.V-650. We find no like ,legislative history which would operate~to save from the repealing &feats of ths 1929 Acts, school district.8 like 

Texarkanacreated bye special law and which do not fall 

within the classification of. a municipally controlled 

school digtr1c.t. 
- . 

Han, L, A. Woods, page 4 (V-872). 

It is our opinion, therefore, that to the ex-~ 

tent that the annexation provisions found in Section lo+ 

of S.B. 297 (the s ecial law applicable to the Texarw 

Independent School P are repugnrat to, or inconsistent 

with, the Acts .of 1929 (Section 2 of Article 27&e md 

Section 1 of Article 27&f) they have been repealed by 

the Section 3 of the.1929 Acts, above quoted. 

Section l-a of S.B.-297 provides that the petitlon for annexation of' contiguous territory to the 

district~.shall be filed with the board of trustees of 

the Texarkana district, ,,and that such.board by resolution may receive such territory. The subsequent 1929' 

Acts provide that such a petition for detachment and annexation of territory to a contiguous district shallbe 

submitted with the county board of trustees, and (the 

. other procedure of the Acts being complied with) the 

county board may pass an order transferring said terri-~ 

tory. Construing the Acts of 1929 together, asthey must 

be Qen common and independent districts are involved, 

they contain the express prohibition that "no school 

-‘district shall be~reduced to.an area of lessthan nine 

square miles.". Thus,.the,oounty school board has au- 

.thority ~&der~Section 1~ of Article 27wf, and Section.2 

of Artiole 27428 to detach snd'annex portions of~,school 5 

districts in accordance with the procedure ,thereof, but 

,i~ _,, they ~would have no authority~ thereunder to annex or detach an entire ac,tive school'distri6t.. Weiriert I.S.D. v. 

Ellis, $? S.W.2d 374 (Tex;~'Civ. Ap& 1932) * &g&nbothsm 

v. County School Trustees,.220 S.W.2d, 213. ITsx. C,iv. App. 

1949). /I : 

Clearly, therefore, the authority~ grsnted~:Coun- 

.ty School boards, and~the procedure prescribed in the1925 

Acts herein considered confli&~$with and supersedes the 

authority granted Texarkana board of trusteesand the 

procedure prescribed in Section l-a of Senate Bill 297,~~ 

insofar as the power and procedure for,annexatlon of a 

part orportion of .the contiguous common school district 

may be involved, Tothis extent, Sectiqn l-a is repealed by @he subsequent 1929 Acts. 

i 

.Thes~e 1929 Acts~, however, d6 not oonflict.with 

the authority granted the Texarksna board.in~s'uoh Sectiti 

1-a stop annex'the whole of sply contiguous con+n'district 

<underthe procedure and in the manner therein prescribed. 

The Springlake Park district not being dormant so as to. 

.A 

be subject to the provisions of Article 27&&e& V.C.S.;, 

j 

or Article VIII of S.B. 116, slst' Legislature, those 

laws could not beapplicable to conflict with the authority granted the Texarkana Board in Section l-a to annex 

I i 
659 

,Hon* L. A. Woods, page 5 (V-872) 

the whole of that contiguous common school district. 

Article 2806, authorizing oonsolidation of school districts by an election prooedure therein provided, does 

not contain a repealing clause. Article 2806.-t being repugnant to the provisions of Section Al-a, it is 

merely cumulative. 

Accordingly, Opinion po. O-3823, dated August 

7, X9,!& is fnodified by the holding of this opinion; To 

the extent, also, that A. G. Opinion.V-650 follows and 

relies on the holding in Opinioh o-3823, it is modified 

-by this opinion. , 

The authority granted the board of trus- 

-.&es of Texarkana Independent District'~and 

the procedure prescribed in Section l-a of' 

S.B. 297,~Special Laws of ,39th Legislature, 

1st called sessipq, 1926, to ,annex a portion 

of a contiguous oommon school'distriot, beiln&nflict with Section 2 of Article / 

r;&e and Section 1 of Article 27&f (Acts 

"'of 19 ); have'beeqlrepealed by-Sectioni3, 

GhaP* AcQtB.1929. Atlnexatiozl of a portion of contiguouS Springlake'~Pz&k Common 

Sohool.Distri+ ho~~T~+kanaDistrict may 

be aocomplished-'tbrough the county board of 

trustees ina-ccordanoe with and subject to 

the.-provisio&i ofSection 2 oP~A~ti@l6 27.&e 

.&dSection l~.of Article 2'(&f;V.C%3. .AtV 

tomiey; General Gpin+ons-100s.. 9-3823 and Vi650 hire -~aocoi.di~ly~~modif~~d’~~ere)lgI, - ;.':i,:.- i. 

', : .'. 

:. ~y;,;,.ve& tmk& 

ATTpRNEY GENERAL 

GEO:bh:gr:mw 

Chester E. Ollison 

Assistant