Honorable T: M. Trimble

First Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction Austin, 

### Texas

Dear Sir: Re: Does the extension of the bounaaries of the city of Texarkana automatically extend the boundaries of the Texarkana Independent SchoolDistrict?

We are in receipt of your letter of July 25, 1941, in whictiYOU reauest the opinion of this denartment as to whether
or not"the extension automatlcallg extend ent 3choolDistrict. of-the boundaries of the city of Texarkana the boundaries of the Texarkana Independof the Revised Civil Statutes reads as

Extending city

.. -. . l_lmltsto include

- Article 2804 follows:

"Art. 2804. district. Whenever tne llinits0s any lncorporatea city or town constitutingan independent school district are so extended or enlarged as to embrace the whole or any part of any independentor common schooldfstrlct adjacent to such incorporatedcity
or town, that portion of such adjacent district so embracedwithin the corporate limits of such incorporated cftg or town shall thereafterbecome a part of the independent schooldistrict constitutedby IsuchIncorporatedcity or town.

"Ifwithin the portion of such district so embraced there shouldbe situated any real property belonging to such district, such city or town may acquire the same upon such terms as may be mutually agreed upon between the governing body of such city
or town and the authorities of such district.

"Thisarticle Shall not apply where it shall be determined at an election held within such city #or town by majority vote of those voting thereon ,that the territory or any portion thereof to be soHon. 'T. p1. Trimble, page 2 O-3823

embraced shall not thereby become a part of the independent schooldistrict constitutedby such city
or town, but shallbe taken into the c~ltylimits for municipalpurposes only, and shall remain for school purposes a portion of the adjacent independent or common schooldistrict as though said city limits had not been extended.

. . ."

It is apparent from the above quoted article that is the city of Texarkana is a city constituting an Independent schooldistrict, then the extension of Fts boundarleswould automatically extend the boundaries of the schooldistrict,

The city of Texarkanawas first chartered by the Legislature in-1907by Chapter 104, House Bill 743, Acts of the 30th Legislature. Section 172 of said act granting a charter to thedty of Texarkana provides aa follows:

"PublicSchools - IndependentDistricts -The City of Texarkana is hereby constituted and shall continue to be a separate and independent school district."

Under the above quoted enactment of city of Texarkana constituted an independent schooldistrict. However, in 1920, the L#egislature

passed Chapter31, Senate Bill 9, Third Called Session, 36th Legislature. Section 1 of saidArticle provides as follows:

"Sectlon 1. That there is hereby created the Texarkana IndependentSchoolDistr%ct, which shall includewithin its limits all lands and territories includedwithln the corporate limits of the city of Texarkana, Texas, the boundarles of said independent schooldistrict to be fdenticalwith the limits and boundaries of said city and said independent schooldistrict is hereby incorporatedand made,a body corporate ln law for free school purposes only, separate and distinct from the corporatlon of Texarkana, Texas."
Apparently, by the above quoted Article, the school systemwas divorced from the city of Texarkana and there was created the Texarkana IndependentSchoolDistrict. Said school district was made a body corporate in law forfree school purposes,only, and the' Legislature said speclflcally that itwas to be separate and distinct from the corporation of Texarkana, Texas. It is~quiteapparent, therefore, that after the passage of the above quoted enactment the city of Texarkana no longer constituted an independent school district but rather the Tex-Hon. T. M. TrFmble, page 3 O-3823

arkana IndependentSchoolDistrict was created as a separate distinct corporate entity apart from the'~municipa1 corporation constituting the city of Texarkana. '~~Apparentlg some question
arose because of the fact that the Section 1, supra, of Chapter 31 provided that the boundaries of the Texarka~naXndependw ent SchoolDistrict 'should be the same as the boundaries of the city of Texarkana. The distinction to be known in this
case was'made by the Supreme Court of Texas Ln the case of Snyder vs.'Bafrd IndependentSchoolDistrict, 111 3. W. 723. The Court stated as follows:

"Thedistinctionbetween a atstrict Incorporated for School purposes only and~a town or cLty which constitutesan independent school atstrict must be kept in view, for upon that distinction depends the Proper solution of the question certified. .Acorooration for school purnoses only Is not an incoruorated tits-OP town as .%neci.fied inthe Constitution but is simuly the incornorationof a 8ChOOl distrir Which may embrace the town or city only or itmay smbrace a town or city and rural territory 6e observed that, by careful use of language,Itwill the Legislature, in-creatingthe Baird Independent SchoolDistrict, preserved the dLstinctlon between the incorporated city of Baird and the incorporated Baird IndependentSchoolDistrict. The first section of the act which creates the district declares that an incorporationfor free schoolpurposes only is thereby created, to be known, not as the CYty of Baird, but as 'theBaird IndependentSchoolDistr1ct'. Again, in Section 2 the distinction 'LB definitely drawn, It is Said that the city of Baird is divested of the control of itspublic free schoolswlthin its limits, and the control of such school8 is vested in the Baird IndependentSchoolDistrict. The city of Baird is not an independent schooldistrict. Neither is the Baird IndependentSchoolDistrict a city." (Underscoringours).

It IS the opinion of this department thatArticle 2804, supra, has no application to the Texarkana IndependentSchool District and that suchArtLcle would not operate so a8 to extend the boundaries of the Texarkana Independent SchoolDistrlct upon the extention of the boundaries of the city of Texarkana.

The question is also raised in this case because Of the fact that the Act of 1920 creating the Texarkana Independent School District, supra , provides in SectIon 1 thatthe Texarkana IndependentSchool distrfct shall includewithln its.-.

Hon. T. M. Trimble, Page 4 o-3823

limits all lands and terr%tOPieB includedwithin the corporate limits of the city of Texarkana, Texas, and the boundaries of said independent schooldistrict is to be identicalwith the limits and bound,aries of saLa city.

The question iswhether the intentionof the Leglsla,- ture by the use of the foregoing languageWaB to define the boundaries of the district as of the date of its creation, that is,was this a shorthandmethod for giving a metes and bounds descrlptlon, or was it contemplated and intended that the boundaries of the diBtriCt should In the future follow Ipso facto any changes that might be made In the boundaries of the other corporation, the city of Texarkana, so that they ,wouldalways remain Identical. The caption of the originalAct merely provides "AnAct incorporating the Texarkana Independent SchoolDistrict" in relating to Section 1 of the Act, and the caption nowhere declares a Legislative intention that in the futurewhen the boundaries of the city of Texarkana are extended that the same shall automatically extend the boundaries of the Texarkana IndependentSchoolDistrfct.

An analogy may be drawn to theAct creating the Rouston Independent SchoolDistrict befng Chapter 19 of the Special Laws of 1923, page 317,which reads inpart a8 follows:

"AnAct creating and lncorporatlngthe Houston IndependentSchoolDistrict, and defining itsboundaries; providing that Said act shall automatically extend to all territorywhich may hereafterbe included in the new city limfts by an extension thereof, and providing how the territory adjacent to said district may become part of said district; D O D

"Sec. 2. That there is hereby created the Houston IndependentSchoolDistrict, which Shall includewithin its limits all land8 and territory fncludedwithin the corporate limits of the City of Houston, and in addition thereto, all lands and territory adjacent to the corporate limits of the said City of Houston, and includedwlthln the limits and boundaries of Harris County Common SchoolD1strlc,t Number 25, as defined by an order of the commissfoners' court of Harris County, Texas, on September 20, 1915, the boundaries of safd independent schooldlstrLct to be identicalwith the limits and boundaries of said cfty, and those of said Independent schooldistrict; and said independent schooldistrict Is hereby incorporated and made a body corporate In law for free schoolpurposes only, and the name of safd corpora-Hon. T. M. Trimble, page 5 O-3823

t;iOn and said independent schooldistrict shallbe

‘HOUStOn &dependent School District.’

"Sec. 3. In the event of the extension of the city limits of 'the municipality of the City of Eouston after the passage of this Act, the territory taken into said city by such extension shall automatically become a part of the~Houston.Independent 3choolDistrict, and subject to the provisions of this Act."

Upon careful consideration, itwould seem that had the Legislature intendedto do more than define the boundaries of the Texarkana IndependentSchoolDistrict at the date of its creation, Itwould havemore specifically so provided as in the case of the Houston IndependentSchoolDistrict, and more adequate notice would have been given in the tttle that not onlywere the originalboundaries being fixed and defined but that provisionwas also being made for a change in those boundaries after their original establishment.

It is the opinion of this department that the extension of the municipal boundaries of the city of Texarkanadid not automatically extend the boundaries of the Texarkana Independent SchoolDistrict and that the boundaries of such schooldistrict are subject to the applicable laws relating to bodies corporate for school pUrpOBeS Only,

In your letter you al80 ask what steps are necessary for those sectionswhich have been annexed to the city of Texarkana to be taken in order for them to become a part of the Texarkana IndependentSchoolDfstrict. The territorywhich has been annexed to the city of Texarkana forms a part of the Spring Lake Park Common School District,

We call your attention to Chapter 49, Senate Bill 297, Special b&W8 of the 39th Legislature,First Called Session, 1926,.Said Act reads In part aspfollows:

"Section 1. That Chapter 31, of the local and Special Laws passed by the Thirty-sixth Legislature, at its Third Called Session, 1s hereby amended by adding thereto three new sections to be designated as Sections l-a, l-b, and l-c, and which shall read respectively, as follows:

"Section l-a, Whenever a majority of the Inhabitants,qualified to vote for members of the Legislature of any territory adjoining the limits of the Texarkana IndependentSchool District, shallHon. T. M. Trimble, page 6

dlssiresuch territory to be added to and-become a part of said independentschool district, and a majority of such qualified voters sign a petition to that effect, any three of such quallfiea voters my file with the board of trustees of said lndepsendentschooldistrict the said petition,making a,ffldavlt

of the facts set forth in said petition, fully descrlblng by metes ana bounds the territory p:roposed

to be annexed, and showing its location with reference to the existing territory of the Texa:rkanaIndependentSchoolDistrict; provided, that said territory proposed to be added must be contlguous to one line of said independent school district, And upon filing of said petition, affidavits and des,criptions,

with the president of the board of t:rustees,it shall be his duty to submit the same to the board, and, if upon lnvestlgationby the board it is found that the proposed add,itfonis necessary and practicable, the said board of trustees,by resolutionduly entered upon itsminutes, may receive s,uch proposed territory as an addition to, and as becomlng a part of the corporate limits of the said Texarkana IndependentSchoolDistrict. After the passage and adoption of such resolution, the terrltory SO received shallbe a part of the Texarkana IndependentSchoolDistrfct, and the lnhabftants thereof shall thenceforthbe entitled to all the rights and privileges as other citizens and lnhabitants of the said Independent school district. The whole

--, or any Portion of, any continuous common school district,whether bonded OP not, mav be annexed to the Texarkana IndenendentSchool District

rn the manner herein prescribed...." (Underscoringours)

The above quoted statute clearly provides how territory may be annexed to the Texarkana Independent SchoolDistrict. It specificallyprovides that part of the territory so annexed may be part OP whole of a 

### commonschooldistrict. You are advised thatthe procedure outlined therein should be followed in annexing the territorywhich is now part of the city of Texarkana to the Texarkana IndependentSchool District.

### Hon. T. M. Trimble,page 7 O-3823

Yoursvery truly

ATTORNEYGENERAL OF TEXAS

By s/BillyGoldberg BillyGoldb‘erg Assistant

BGrN:wc

APPROVBDAM) 7, 1941 s/GroverSellers FIRQTASSISTANT ATTORNFXGENERAL
ApprovedOpinionCommitteeBy s/REKChairman