Ron. L. A. wood3 

State Superintendent 

Department bf Education 

Austin, Texas 

,,., 

Dear Sir: Opinion No, O-6945 

Re: Disposition t6 be made of sample 

textbooks which were submlttea by 

various publishing comp&iies but 

which were not adopted by the 

State Board of Education 

Your request for opinion has been received land carefully considered, by thLLs department. We quote from your request 

as follows: 

'Article 2846 of the Revised Civil Statutes 

provides, in substance, that at least thirty days 

prior to the date of the meeting of the State 

Board of Education every person, firm, or'corporation desiring to submit bLds shall file with 

the State Superintendent of Public~~Instruction 

nine copi~es of each book on which a bid will be 

submltted. 

"Article 2856 of the Revised Civil Statutes 

provides, in part, that the State SuperMtendent 

shall carefully label and file away the samples 

adopted as furnished for exam1natlon to the Board 

as descrlbed in the statute mentioned above. 

"I would like for you to advlse me what dispositLon should be made of the remaining samples 

of books that were submitted to me by the various 

publishing companies which books were not adopted," 

Articles 2846, 2855, 2856 and 2876e, Vernon's Annotated 

Texas Civil Statutes, read as follows: 

Art 0 2846. 

II 0 0 0 D . 

"Deposits of Samples, At least thirty days 
Hon. L. A. w00as - page 2 o-6945 

prior to the date of the meeting of the saM Commission, every person, firm or corporation desiring 

to submit bids shall file with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction nine copies of each 

book on which a bid will be submitted, in each of 

which copies there shall be printed or stamped a 

statement of the price at which such book and special 

editions thereof are sold-in other places under 

State or county adoptions, and the minimum quantltles 

of which it will be sold at such prices, and there 

shall be also printed or stamped Ln such books a 

statement of the publisher's catalogue price of the 

same and special editions thereof, together wfth 

trade discounts and the condltlons under which, 

and the-purchasers to whom, such discounts are 

allowed, and the place of delivery. There shall 

also be printed or stamped in each book the price 

at which it is offered to-Texas, f.o.b, the Publlsher's Texas depository, with and without exchange. There shall also be printed or stamped in 

each book; the mlnimum wholesale price at which 

such book, and special editions thereof, are sold 

f;o.b. the shipping point of the publisher ana the 

name of the shipping point shall also be stated. . 

"BFds and Cash~ Deposits. Bids/when filed ~by 

the publishers, shall state spec~flcally at what 

priceeach book will be ~furnlshea, and such bid shall 

be accompanied by specimen copies of each book 

offered, and it shall be required that each bi~dder 

deposit with the Treasurer of the State of.Texas' such 

sum of money as the Commission,may require, to beg not 

less than five hundred ($500:00) dollars, nor more 

than twenty-five hundred ($2,5OO.OO) dollars, accorcling to the valne of the books each bidder may propose 

to supply; * 0 D Such deposits shall be returned to 

the unsuccessful bidders on certificate of the State 

Superintendent that no contract has been awarded 

on the bid for which the sum was deposited. Acts 

1927, 40th Leg,, pa 308, ch, 213 1 4.” 

Art, 2855 - Deposit to be returned 

"When any person has been awarded a contract 

and he has filed his bond and contract with the 

commlsslon and the same has been approved, the 

commission shall make an ora.+ on the Treasurer 

of the State reciting such fact, and thereupon the 

Treasurer shall return the deposit of such bidder 

to him; but if any successful bidder shall fail to 
Hon. L. A. Woods - page 3 o-6945 

make and execute the contract and bond as herelnbefore provided, the Treasurer shall place the 

deposit of such bidder In the State Treasury to 

the credit of the available' school fund, and the 

commission shall readvertlse for other bids to 

supply such books which said bidder mag~~have falled 

to supply. All unsuccessful bLaaers shall have 

their deposit returned to them by the state treasurer as soon as the commission has decided not 

to accept their bids." 

Art. 2856. Commission to issue proclamation 

"As soon as the State shall have entered 

into the contract for the furnishing of books 

for the public schools of this State under the 

provision of this Act, it shall be the duty of the 

Commission to issue Its proclamation of such fec~ts 

to the people of the State; and the State Superintendent of Public InstructLon shall carefully 

label and file away the copies of the books adopted 

as furnished for examination to the board; and such 

copies of such books shall be securely kept and 

the standard of quality and mechanical excellence 

of~~the book or books so furnfshed under this Act 

shall be maintained in said books so furnished under 

contract authorized by this Act during the contlnuance of the contract," 

Art. 2876e. Dlsposltlon of textbooks 

"The State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

with the approval of the State Board of Education, 

may provide for the disposition of such textbooks as 

are no longer In a fit condition to be used for 

purposes of instruction, or for discarded books remaining the property of the State. In case of the 

disuse of books in fair condition, inspectors of 

the State Department of Education may require the 

continuance of the use of said books," 

In Opinion No. O-5443 of this Department the following 

inquiry was propounded by the Department of Education, towit: 

"The State Board of Educatlon~ at its July 

6th meeting directed that' your advice be sought 

in regard to the following.matter. 

"There are on hand ln the State depository 

at Austin many textbooks on various subjects 
Hon. L. A. Woods - page 4 o-6945 

which have accumulated because of the expiration 

of the contract for the particular books and 

replacement by adoption of other books in the 

subject field. The Board desires to know what 

authorities are empowered to dispose of such of 

these books as are neither under current adoption 

nor USed as supplementary source material In the 

public free schools. Your attention 13' directed 

toTArticle 2876e of the Revised Statutes of 

1925 0 The Board has beenapproached wlth a proposal for sale of the usuable texts which have 

been discarded because of the expiration of the 

adoption period, and desires to be advised concerning its authorltg in the matter of the sale 

of these books, and of free textbooks which, because of condition, are no longer usable in the 

public free schools." 

Our answer to the above quoted inquiry in' Opinion No. 

O-5443, after quoting Article 2%76e, V.A.C.S. was as follows: 

"This statute appears to deal speciflcally 

with the very essence of your Inquiry, and supplies 

the answer thereto, While the books mentioned are 

not in an unfit 'condition to be used', they nevertheless are 'discarded books remaining the property 

of the State.' Therefore they may be disposed of. 

by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction; 

with the approval of the State Board of Education. 

"The effect of this statute requires the joint 

action -- that is, by initiative and approval-- 

of the State Superintendent and of the State Board 

to effect a sale." 

However, Opinion No. O-5443 is not applicable to your 

question because the sample books you inquire about have never 

been adopted as textbooks and therefore would not come under 

the provisions of Article 2%76e, 

Analyzing the above quoted StatUteS it would seem that 

the unsuccessful bidders ,would be entitled to have their sample 

copies of textbook8 returned to 'them if they desired them returned. It also appears that if they did not want them returned 

but chose to abandon them to the State OP make a gift of them 

to the State they could do 80, 

However, It is OUT opinion that any such samples which 

become State property by gift OP abandonment s,hould be disposed 

of in the manner provided by Article 666, Vernon's Annotated 
Hon. L. A, Woods - Page 5 o-6945 

Texas Civil Statutes, which article reads as follows: 

'All property belongrng to the state, regardless of where it is located, under the control of 

any department, commlssion, board, or other state 

agency, with the exception of state eleemosynary 

Institutions, colleges, and institutions of higher 

learning, when it shall become unfit for use, or 

shall be no longer needed, shall be placed under 

the jurisdiction of the Board of Control, and the 

Board of Control shall sell such pro 

advertising it not less than four (4 P 

erty after 

days in a 

newspaper in the county wherein the property is 

situated, ProvIdea, however, that if no newspaper 

is published In the county whereln the property is 

situated, notice of said sale setting out the time 

and place of sale and the property to be sold shell 

be posted in three (3) public places, one being in 

the court house In the county wherein the property 

13 situated, Provided, however, that if the value 

of such 

($100.00 P 

ersonal property is less than One Hundred 

Dollars and not sufficient to justify 

the cost of advertisement in newspapers as outlined above, the Board of Control may sell such 

property in any manner that It deems for the best 

interest of the State. The money from the sale 

of such property, less the expense of advertising 

the sale, shall be deposited in the State'Treasury 

to the credit of then General Revenue Fund. And 

provided further, that any property placed in then 

hands of the Board of Control, as outlined herein, 

may be transferred by the Board of Control to any 

department, commission, board or state agency In 

need of same, and the debit and credit shall be 

made on the basis that such property can be purchased in tbmarket at the time of the transfer, 

If a market exists, and if not, at its actual or 

intrinsic value as set by the Board of Control. 

The Board of Control shall make a written report 

to the Comptroller after each sale. The report 

shall include the following items: 

"1 * Name of the newpeper and the dates of 

advertisement of notice of sale; or If posted, the 

date and place of pO8ting. 

"2 . Each Article received. 

“3 * The price for which each article was sold. 
Hon. L. A. Woods - page 6 o-6945 

“4 0 The name and address of the person to whom 

each article was sold,. 

"This~ report shall be signed by the Bbard of 

Control and a member of the department, commission, board or state agency having control of 

the property before sale." As amended Acts 1943, 

48th Leg. p. 272, ch. 171, xl0 

Very truly yours 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/Wm. J. Fanning 

Wm. J.'Fannlng 

Assistant 

WJF:BT:wc 

APPROVED DEC 6, 1945 

s/Carlo8 C. Ashley 

FIRST ASSISTANT 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

Approved Opfnion Committee By s/BWB Chairman