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Honorable L. A. Woods ,‘~ State Superintendent ofPublic 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 1ofHouse 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 ofan entire district by contract, provides in part as follows:

“‘All of the funds ofthe district, including the State aid towhich 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: Ifsuch district as referred to inArticle 1,Section 1above is entitled to a salary grant on one teacher if itoperates aschool at home, would itnot be entitled to the same amount ofaid if such district contracts to another district as provided inArticle 8, Section I?- .
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Honorable L. A. Woods, page 2, O-4678

84 3.

. . . . Article I, Section 1ofHouse Bill 284 provides that the scholastic provisions of the Act shall be distributed “in such away as to assist all school districts which have not fewer than twenty (20) nor more than five hundredi(500) original enumerated scholastics.
. . .” That part ofSection Iquoted inyour letter exempts districts maintaining a school athome 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 1ofArticle VIII governs the transfer of the entire scholastic enrollment ofa school district which is unable to maintain asatisfactory 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 ofthe districts concerned or on petition signed by amajority of the qualified voters of the district and subject tothe approval ofthe County Superintendent, State Superintendent and Joint Legislative Advisory Committee, the trustees ofadistrict which may be unable to maintain a satisfactory school may transfer its entire scholastic enrollment, or any number of grades thereof, to aconvenient school of higher rank, and in such event, all of the funds ofthe district, including the State Aid towhich 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 inthe sparsely settled portions of Texas are affected by this question, that the teachers were actually employed inthe 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 itwould turn over to the retieiving school under the terms of the contract.

You wish to know whether you are authorized to pay salary aid tothe district under that part of Section 1ofArticle VIII which provides that “allHonorable 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 ofthis 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 intransfers of entire scholastic enrollment for school years after 1941-42, for under Section,2 ofArticle VIII the scholastic census rolls will be combined, and the teacherpupil quota will be based upon the combined census total.

We are ofthe opinion that the school district is entitled to aid under the Act. “Otherwise” is defined by Webster’s New International Dictionary ofthe English Language, Unabridged (Second Edition, 1938), as follows:

“1. Inadifferent manner; in another way, or in

other ways; contrarily;
. . ,

“2. Indifferent circumstances; under other, or * any other conditions;
. . .

“3. Inother respects; . . . u ., . . . . We believe that “otherwise,” as used in that part ofArticle 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 ifits scholastic enrollment had not been transferred by contract.

Now, turning back to Section 1ofArticle 1we 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 1ofArticle VIII. “Otherwise” they would come within the purview of this provisions and would be entitled to aid “under the provisions of this Act.”

Itcould possibly be argued that no one could know whether the district would be ‘“maintaining” a school ifthe transfer had not been made.Honorable L. A. Woods, page 4, O-4678

The purpose ofArticle VIII is to provide ameans for educating pupils of adistrict inwhich a satisfactory school cannot be maintained. We do not believe that itwas 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 amore efficient public school system.”

Inview 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 oftwenty 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 1ofArticle VIII; it is our further opinion that such districts are entitled tothe 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 COMMITTEEByChairman