,. -- 

Honorable L. A. Woods ,‘~ 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction 

Austin, Texas 

Dear S,ir: Opinion No. O-4678 

Re: Salary aid where entire district is transferred by contract under Rural Aid Bill 

(Acts 1941, 47th Leg.,, R. S., 

Ch. 549, H.B. 284, p. 880) 

We have received your letter of recent date, which we quote 

in part as follows: 

“Article 1, Section 1 of House Bill 284 provides 

in part as follows: 

“‘Districts maintaining a school at home and 

having less than an average of one (I) enumerated 

scholastic per square mile are exempt from said 

minimum requirement and are eligible for aid for 

only one teacher. . . .’ 

“Article 8, Section 1, which provides for the 

transfer of an entire district by contract, provides 

in part as follows: 

“‘All of the funds of the district, including the 

State aid to which the district would otherwise be entitled under the provisions of this Act, or such proportionate part thereof as may be necessary, shall 

be used in carrying out said agreement; . . . .’ 

“This question: If such district as referred 

to in Article 1, Section 1 above is entitled to a salary 

grant on one teacher if it operates a school at home, 

would it not be entitled to the same amount of aid if 

such district contracts to another district as provided 

in Article 8, Section I? 
- . 

. 

Honorable L. A. Woods, page 2, O-4678 

84 3. 

. . . . 

Article I, Section 1 of House Bill 284 provides that the scholastic 

provisions of the Act shall be distributed “in such a way as to assist all 

school districts which have not fewer than twenty (20) nor more than five 

hundredi(500) original enumerated scholastics. . . .” That part of Section 

I quoted in your letter exempts districts maintaining a school at home and 

having less than one enumerated scholastic per square mile from the minimum requirement of twenty scholastics, and provides that such districts 

are eligible for aid for one teacher. 

Section 1 of Article VIII governs the transfer of the entire scholastic enrollment of a school district which is unable to maintain a satisfactory school. This transfer does not consist of individual transfers, but of 

the entire scholastic enrollment as such. This provisions applies only to 

transfers for the school year 1941-42. Said section reads as follows: 

“Section 1. For the school year 1941-42 upon the agreement of the Board of Trustees of the districts concerned or on 

petition signed by a majority of the qualified voters of the district and subject to the approval of the County Superintendent, 

State Superintendent and Joint Legislative Advisory Committee, 

the trustees of a district which may be unable to maintain a satisfactory school may transfer its entire scholastic enrollment, 

or any number of grades thereof, to a convenient school of higher 

rank, and in such event, all of the funds of the district, including 

the State Aid to which the district would otherwise be entitled s~- 

der the provisions of this Act, or such proportionate part thereof 

as may be necessary shall be used in carrying out said agreement; provided that no aid shall be allowed for teachers that 

are not actually employed in the contracting schools.” 

You have informed us that some fifteen school districts in the sparsely 

settled portions of Texas are affected by this question, that the teachers were 

actually employed in the contracting schools, but that the districts have not 

received salary aid, and that such aid is necessary to carry out the transfer 

agreements. In other words, the receiving school has received and taught 

the students composing the entire scholastic enrollment of the sending district and has employwed the teacher for such scholastics; but the sending district has received no salary aid, which it would turn over to the retieiving 

school under the terms of the contract. 

You wish to know whether you are authorized to pay salary aid to the 

district under that part of Section 1 of Article VIII which provides that “all 
Honorable L. A. Woods, page 3, O-4678 

the funds of the district, includ~ing the State Aid which the district would 

otherwise be entitled under the provisions of this Act, or such proportionate part thereof as may be necessary shall be used in carrying out 

said agreement.” (Emphasis ,ours) 

This problem will not arise in transfers of entire scholastic 

enrollment for school years after 1941-42, for under Section,2 of Article VIII the scholastic census rolls will be combined, and the teacherpupil quota will be based upon the combined census total. 

We are of the opinion that the school district is entitled to aid 

under the Act. “Otherwise” is defined by Webster’s New International 

Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (Second Edition, 1938), 

as follows: 

“1. In a different manner; in another way, or in 

other ways; contrarily; . . , 

“2. In different circumstances; under other, or 

any other conditions; . . . * 

“3. In other respects; . . . 

u ., 

. . . . 

We believe that “otherwise,” as used in that part of Article VIII 

which provides that ‘all the funds of the district, including the State Aid 

would otherwise be entitled under the provisions of this Act,” simply 

means the State aid which the district would be entitled if its scholastic 

enrollment had not been transferred by contract. 

Now, turning back to Section 1 of Article 1 we see that districts 

maintaining a school at home and having less than an average of one 

student per square mile are exempt from the minimum requirement and 

are eligible for aid for one teacher. The scholastic enrollments of the 

districts under consideration have been transferred by contract under 

Section 1 of Article VIII. “Otherwise” they would come within the purview of this provisions and would be entitled to aid “under the provisions 

of this Act.” 

It could possibly be argued that no one could know whether the 

district would be ‘“maintaining” a school if the transfer had not been made. 
Honorable L. A. Woods, page 4, O-4678 

The purpose of Article VIII is to provide a means for educating pupils of 

a district in which a satisfactory school cannot be maintained. We do not 

believe that it was the legislative intent to penalize such school districts, , 

but on the other hand, to aid them in conformity with the caption of the 

Act “providing for a more efficient public school system.” 

In view of the foregoing you are respectfully advised that a school 

district maintaining a school at home and having’less than an average of 

one enumerated scholastic per square mile is exempt from the minimum 

requirement of twenty scholastics and are eligible for aid for one teacher. 

The entire scholastic enrollment of the districts under consideration have 

been transferred by contract to another district under Section 1 of Article 

VIII; it is our further opinion that such districts are entitled to the same 

amount of aid for which they would have been eligible had the transfer not 

been made, which aid shall be used in carrying out the transfer agreement. 

Very truly yours 

ATTORNEY GENERALOF TEXAS 

Assistant 

APPROVED JULY 6, 1942 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

APPROVED 

OPINION 

COMMITTEE 

ByChairman