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OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

Apprll 13, 193s 

/ 

Eonorable T. Bi. 'i'rimble 

First Assistant State Superintendent 

Austin, 'terse 

zje?lr sir; 

ur hater or mxob 81u, 

.D, with the Qrsnr %S.D. 

ropwfticm in this pet%ttlon 

e Contsat Go\urty Llim C.8.D. 

OS t&l texrltory belongColeman Comty CM rttarhOS ool%mam aouuty. 

@rlndstefi uoubl like azwuarad I*: 

altlcpna b4 subm%ttad to Ml4 

th% one petition, In the form 

h attachti?"' 

3%~ follouing aopl4a of roaolotlons acw~paw ywar letteri 
200. r. L . 'I‘rirnble, April 13, 1939, Rege 2 

snd partly In Coleman Couutp, Texas, hereby petition 

your honor to order au election to be held on hprll 15th. 

1939, at Content Schoolhouse in &mid Content Consolidated 

Coitnty ilne Common ; "chocl District No. 3, for the purpose 

OS determining whether or not that part of aaid Content 

Consolidated County-Line Common tchool District !?o- !', 

which lies and is situated in huunels County, Lex~ 

being more fully described in School histrict Reoord ~~~ 

SF . and 

of 

Ruuuels County, Texas, Vol. 1, Papa 97, shall be consolldsted f'or school urposcs with Crews Commoa ::choo 

bl;;Jg;ir in Idnels County, Yeres,sza;; M;F&Lbei, 

and for the further purpo 

irhethar or’not that nart of the Content Coneolldat4d 

6 

County-Lin4 Go-n School Dlstrlot Wc 3 hi h li4rr in 

'Eobrmn county. Texas. mor4 fnu.~ a&ik:~ in School 

Dietriot Bsao& ot R&ale Oount$, T4xa8, Vol. 1, pa908 

91 and 92, shall be oonsolldated for school 'PIIFPOIKI~ 

with the Rorlo4 Commm SohoolDlstrlot.888. in Coleman 

tiounty, Texas, aaId. dlatriot6 b4ing ooetlguous. 

"Wltn4sa our hurds this th4 ZSrd day o? l@rch, 19S9. 

(Sl@md)" ~ 

--e-w 

C-n Sahool Dlstrlctj3, which 114s and-1s atltuated~in 

Bunn4le Oounty,~ Tsxaa, and being more fully desorlbed in 

School Distrlot Recorda of Runnols County, Texas, Vol. 1, 

page 97, h4r4by maks applloation to the Donorable Nuntg 

Jwl~e or Runnsle County, T4xa8, for an 814oti@2n to b4 

held on April 15th. 1939, at Crera Sohoolhourr4 ior the 

purpose of d4terminlng whather or not a majority of ths 

legally qualified voters of said dllrtrlct desire that 

Crews Consolldatad Common Sohool histrict #R, of Runnals 

County shall be consolidated with that Portion 6t Content 

Eonaolidated County Line Common School Metriot #3 that 

lies ti~iiy in tunnels county, Yerae. for school &rpoaea. 

*Witn4sa our bands this the 23rd day of Maroh, 1939. 

(Signed)" 
Her.. in. 2:. I‘rlnble, April 13, $939, Yaea 3 

'i'hc facts subzitted with this request are neager and 

We have had sozce difficulty in determining whether the above petltions gurport to follow any particular statute or a combination 

0r 1eCislative acts. 

Articles 2806 and 20115, Kevised Civil Statutes, 1926, 

provide for the orfymlzation an& dlssolutlon of consolidated 

school districts. Article 2806 provides In part as follows: 

",S;)n the petjtlon of twenty (20) or .a majority of 

the legally qualified voters of each of several contiguous 

common school districts, or cont=ua independant sohooldistricts pray- for the oonsolidation of euoh districts 

ror school purpos%s, the Ootmty Judge shall issue an ordsr 

for an aleotlon to be held on the sams &ay ln oaoh suoh 

dlstrlot. . .* 

Artiole ax.6 prorides: 

%uoh oonsolliIate& distrlots may in the same mnaor 

provided for their oonsolldatlon, bs dlssolved,and the: 

districts inoltadad theraln rastora4 to thakr orlp$nal~-. 

status, except that it 8bal.l not'ba n40484427 to provl6& 

polling place.8 in eaoh dfstrlot. Saoh:suoh dlstrlot whsn 

so restored shallassusm an4 bo liable.for its pro rata 

part of thq outstanding flnanolal obl&pHiloss of t&o 

oonsoli&sted dietriot, so* pro rata pert to be:.?maed oa 

the relation the total assessed valuation of all~property 

in the dlstrlof bears to fhs total assssss4 valuation of 

property in the oonsolldatsd dlstrlot, as shown by the 

aesessment rolls or the dlstrlot for the ourrant yr. 

No eleotlon for the dissolution OS said oonsolldata4 

dlstrlots shall be held until three ysars have alapssd 

after the date of the eleoflon at which suoh dlstrlots 

were oonsolldated.* 

without quotw same, we note aleo Artlole 874Zb, 8eC. 6a, 

contains ths same ess%ntlal elements material hero as Art1010 e806, 

except that it more speclfloally provides for esparats petitions + 

and requires the action of the County Board of Trustees in sach 

aounty. 

Manifestly, the petitlone set out above 4r4 lnsuf~lclent 

to ootaply with our stetutes oii ooneoli6atlon of dlstrlots and dissolution of consolidated districts. Articlqs &SO6 and %Pab, 

Ssc. Sa clearly contemplate the oonsolidatlon or tw6 or more 

*school dletricttP ae contracted to the d%taohment of a part Of a 
HOE. T. t'. ?rirr.ble, April 13, 1939, Page 4 

district aild attachment to another. Article 2815 clearly ccntelcplat

that wheo a consolidated district is dissolved the original districts 

shall return to their original status. IS this is to be a disaolution and the districts returned to their original status, by what 

theory would the Colman County part of the dissolved consolidated 

district vote GUI the question of whether the iiunnels County part 

and the Crews Comon School histrict in Xunnels County should oonsolidate? In like manner, how viould the Runnels County portion 

after dissolution of the consolidated district join in a petition 

to call an eleotion on the question of whether that part of the old 

Content Consolidated District beiog in Coleman County should consolidate -with Novice in Coleman County? That is a question purely 

between the consolidating distriots. 

We do not think the patitltm IS rriflolsnt to oall au elaotion to dlsrolve Co&ant Conrolldated Distrist under Artlola 8815. 

In the riret plaoe It doe8 not purport to be au l lsatlon to dls- 

~olvs the oon8olIdetad distriot but one to deteoh It8 territory, 

(It not appearing rrom the facts $lvan whether this 4lvI~Ion hollows 

old district llnnse or not;) end then oonrolldete those dateohed 

portion8 with other dlstrlota. But If It should be eontended that 

a 4188olutlon I8 nsoeasarily oonsentad t0~i.n toting to oonsolidete 

Its parts with other diatrlots, we eel1 attantlon to tha saae of 

Consolidated Oo@mon Sohool Dlstrlot Wo. 5 v. Wood, (T 0 A 19957, 

Writ dIsmIssed), 1lS 8. W. (9) 851, whardn It we8 held that In 

order to oomply with that part of Article 7~3.5 whloh provldee that 

dlwolutlon may be effected In the same manner a8 oonaolIdetIon, 

one or mora petltlons, elmed by ZOTamty of the~le(pally 

quallrlsd voters ol aaoh of the rormerly e%ImtIng dlatrlots must 

b e l eaurad and a petmn from the dlstrist asa'wh~le 2.8 ln8Pitl- 

.oient. Aooording to this oaaa, a pajorlty iota o? the aon8olIdatad 

dImtrIot a8 a whole would not be aurilolent to dIs8olte but there 

must be e majority vute in saoh of the old dlrrtrlsta. 

We next oome to the question of whether the petition 

oomplies with Art&ale S745f providing for transfer of territory. 

klthout pasring upon the questlon ot whether 97481 applies to oonsolidated districts lying In two or more oountiea, we examine the 

provisions or this statute. 

Artlole S745f, Aote 1986, 44th Leg., p:TQO, Ch. 559, 

% 2, prorides: 

The petition shallgive the mete8 and bounds of 

the proposed district an'd be signed by a~mjorlty of .the 

,. qualiried voters residing In eaoh territory to be dataohsd;" 
Hon. 1~. L. ?rimble i April 13, 193Q, Z)ape 5 

The plain vjordixq? of this statute is that the petition is 

to be signed, not by a majority cl’ the voters from the whole 

district but by.a majority “in each territory to be detaohed.r 

Article 2742f further provides: 

n that before any portion of any district has 

any pa&‘tiereof detached au eleotlon shall be held at 

which the qualified taxpaying voters of such diatrlct 

eoupht to be divided shall first vote by a majority vote 

to alvlde said distrlot and shall define the part of 

said original dletriot sought to be deteohed; . . .v 

Y'hs queatlon to be voted upon Is not whether a part of a 

dletrlot shall bo oonrolld.dbted with another but whather the dlatrlot 

ahall be qivlded end territory deteohed. Arter the voter8 glre 

their oonsant to the dl~l8lou, the County Boefl or Trwtees detaohes 

th? territory and etteohecl to another dlatrlot, oreatlug a new 

dl&trlot which we do not thluk we8 lnteuded~to be a~woou8011datod 

dlatrlot* as that term 1s used la Our statutes. Xradditlon to 

this, before the newly oreated dlatrlot la a Yallh dirtriot, the 

LeglUhtuI?e.mUSt IVktlfy the eotlon of the CoMty Board a8 provided 

lu the statute. 

An addltlonai provlslon OS Artlole Pi4Sr 18: 

R . . . and provided further t&t the dlatrlot to whloh 

suoh territory is desired to be added aheii have au eleotlon 

at rhloh the qualliled taxpaying votera of mob orlgllml 

dlatrlot to whloh moh terrltmy Is sought to be added 

ehall~vote by a majority vote to assuue-that pMusrtloa&e 

f the Qistrlot rrom ~&ion Nob 

the detaohed territory beam to 

the orlginel~ dlatrlot from which deteohed, and at.aeld 

eleotlon only those quallfled taxpayiugvoters lnslde the 

territory of the newly formed distrlot tvhall.vbte.w 

The only pus&Ion voted on In this phase of the statute 

Is whether the lndobtednesa la to be assumed and not whather the 

territory shall be added. We note that the quest&m preaentqd 

In the Crsws Consolidated Distriot petition Ia whether it @hail be 

oonaolidated with a portion of the Content'DistrIdt and not whether 

lt,wIll esmme a proportionate part of the indebteduese. The wording of this petltlon lndloa~bs that the dlstrlots were attempting 

to oomply with Artlole SSO6 or ArtJole ST&b, Seo. 5, but aa 

pointed.out above, this it.'&8 noe'dolia. 

Undoubtedly these petition8 wouid not satiety the provision8 0f~Artlole ti74ar. 
Hon. T. K. 'I'rfmble, April 13, 1939, rage 0 

The view we take of these petitions renders the question 

of whether the propositions can be submitted in one petition wholly 

academlo. We are of the opinion that the fern: of the petitions 

submitted is insuffiolent to call an election for the purpose of 

dividing or dissolving Content County-Line Consolidated District 

No. 3 or to consolidate or attach ite parts to other school districts. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORI4ZYGENERALOF?EXAS 

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