Hon. Henry Taylor, Jr. Qplnlon.No. 

### v-883 County Attorney -4 Bell County Re: The legailty of one Belton, Texas person being both a trustee of an lndependent school dls-

- trlct and a city

Dear Sir: health officer atthe

: same time.

You have requested an oplnlon relative td the legality of one person being'the trustee of an lndependent school district andat the same *In18acity health officer of.an Incorporated city located within the-boundaries of the independent school district.

ThenTexas.constltu&onal prohlbltlon'a'ainst ha-ldlngmore than one offlce of em+m-mt (Sec. &, .Art.

. . XVI) is inapplicable to the question under-conslderatlon since a 'trusteeof an lndepetidentschool district iierveswlthout~compensation. -A.G.Opinions Bos. 

### v-63 andV-242. L$kenlse, Sectl&'33'of Article XVI'bf the Constitution of Texas lanot vrolated under the.facts submitted **since** neither the 'cityhealth officer nor the trustee of an lndependent~school dlstrlct.are paPd out of the State Treasury. 

### V-242. A.G. Opinions NOS. 

### v-63 snd

.

. . It 1s a fundamental rule of law, however, that oneperson may not hold at the s-e time two offices, the duties .ofwhlchare imiompatlble. 'Thotias

v. Abernathy county Line Ind. Sch. Dlst..,290.'m2, (Tex. Comm. ADD. 1927); The nrlnclole of IncomDatldility of of&h is'&ar~y &presaed. In the case of Knuckles v. Board of Education of Bell Count& (KY.),



### ‘h4 S.W.2d 511; atpage 514 

### t.1938) :

"One of the most important tests as to whether offlces are incompatible ls.found in theprinciple that the ~ncompatlblllty is recognized whenever one is subordinate to the other Sn.some of Its important and prlnclple duties, or la subjeot to supervision by the

## “/aI i

Hon. Henry Taylor, Jr., page 2 

### (v-883)

Other, or where a contrariety and antagonism would result In the attempt by one person to discharge the dUtl83 of both. Under this principle two offices are Inoomp$lb&e. where the incumbent of onehas thepower to remove the Incumbent of the other, though the contingency onwhich thepower may be exercised is remote, and It also exls'tsWh8r8 the inCUD bent of one office has the power of appolntment as to the other office,

. . . or to au- 'dltthe accounts of another, or t0 8XerciSe a su~erv'isionover another." ,'

. The question before the Supreme Court In the Thomas case, supra, was whether the.offlces of school trustee of an independent school district and city alderman were incompatible. The Court Inholding that the two offices were Incompatible qtated the following:

"In our opinion the offices of school trustee and alderman are incompatible; for tUJd8rOUT system there ~@r8in the city COUIIcl1 or board of aldermen various directory op supervisory powers exertable in respect to school property located within the city or town and in respect to the duties of school trustee perfonnab18 wlthin'lts llmits-;e.g., there mlnht we11 arise a conflict of discretion or duty in re9Pect to health, quarantine. 'sanitary, and fire prevention reauletlons. See articles 1015, '1067;1071, R.S.,1925. If the same person could be a school trustee snd amember of the city counc11 or board of aldermen at the Sam8tim8, risspects, school policies, inmany Important

would be subject to direction of 

### the council or aldermen instead of tb that of the trus$>es."

Article 

### ,@+30,V.C.S. prOvid88,:

"Each city health officer shall perform such duties as may be required ofhim by general law and city ordinances with regard to the general health and sanitation of towns and cities, andperform such other duties as shall be legally required ofhim by the mayor, goyernlng body or the ordinances ofhis city
or town. He shall discharge andperfo~rmmuchHon. Henry Taylor, ,br.,page 3 (V-883)

dutlesas may be prescribed forhim under the directions, rules, regulations andr8- qulrements of the State Board of Health and the president thereof. He shall be required to aid and assist the Stat8 Board ofHealth inall matters of @arantine, vital and mortuary statistics, inspection, disease prevention and suppressiop and ssnltatlon within his jurisdiction.- He shall atall times report to the Stat8 BoXrd of Health, lnsuch manner and form es said board may pr8SCrlb8, the presence ofall contagious,,infectious and d&ngeroug epldemic diseases within his jurisdiction, snd shallmake su‘chother and further reports in suchmanner and form and at suchtimes as said Stat8 board shall direct, touching all suchmatters aamay beproper for.sald board to dlr8c.t;andhe shall aid sflld.Stateboard. at alltimes ln.the enforcement ofproper rules,.regulatldnsand requirements in the enforcement of all sanitary laws, quarantine regulations andvital statistics ~collectlon, i andperform such other duties as said State board shall direct."

It Is well se&led lnthls State that schobl authorities have the power to enforce regulations relatlireto themaintenance ofhealth Inproper conduct of the pub~llcschools and tomake such **rules** and regulations neoessary toprevent the spread of contagious dls- ,e;;:si9;;:t?of Dallasv. M6selp, 

### 17z.:,d. L(C;;;

Bcoth Y. Board of Education, 

### 70 S.WEI.2d--,350 (Tex. Clv.'Appi 

### '1934 error dlsm.);

.

181, 162.,'i'ie **CJUOt8** the folliwlng from , Schools, S8C. 

### 37 Tex. hr.. pp. 

### 106%~107i:

"The maintenance. of,health being of prime lmportande,ln'the proper conduct of thepublic ichools, it.18 settled that the school authorities can maintain ahealth depsrtment where such department isrelated to and ruz.as.a part of the school system and tends to further theefficiency of~that eystern. ',

**1)**

**. .**  **.** 'Where eAclu81+8 control **of th8**  publicHon. Henry Taylor, Jr., page 4 

### (v-883)

schools of a city or district is given to its board of education or trustees, with power to establish all rules and regulations necessary tomaintain an efflclsnt system, 32~~regulation Intended andreasonably calculated toprevent the introduction or spZ?8adofa contagious and dangerous.disease, such as smallpox,~ls well within the powers granted. School boards, ln the proper edmlnlstratlon of.

### thesffairs~

### 0r schools, may therefore require the vaccination Ofpupils as a condition pr6c8dent to their attendance. And under thelr.power to enact 

### ordinances for the protection ofhealth, leglslatlve bodies ofmunlcipalltles may deny .chlldrenthe right to attend school -less vaccinated. Ordinances and regulations of this nature are not in contravention of constltutional guaranties, nor do they interfere with th8 operation of the compulsory school law, 

### Nor'are the regulations objectionable on the ground that no emergency exists; it lanot a question of emergency, but a qu6stlon whether theboard's action 1s arbitrary.

"

.

. . .

. n If'lt is alleged that the condltlon of*tie*health andbody of aparticular child makes vaccination subjectively danger0-0 such fact should in general be establish-~ edby experts, and it should appear that the condition has been made known t&the school au,thorltl6sandthat an effort'has .beenmade to exempt such child from vaccination. Moreover,,health regulations of this sort, being within the jurlsdlctlon of trustees, can 

### be reviewed only in themanner provided by law; that is,presortto designated school authorltiesmust be had before 'q appeal to the courts.n
In-view 

### 'or,theforegolzig;it is our opinion that the Board of Trustees of in independent school dlstrlcthave 3ubstantlally the s-8 duties as that of the City Health Offlcer'in respect to themaintenance of health in thepublic schools andmaking regulations to prevent the spread ofcontagious diseases inthe schools under its supervision. In view of the holding in the
case ofThomas v. Abernathy County Line Independent

. .Hon. Henry Taylor, 'Jr.,page 5 (V-e83)

School District it la our opinion that the offices of cltvhealth officer and trustee ofan indeuendent school dlairlct are incompatible since there could be a conflict of discretion or duty in offices with respect to health, quarantine, and sanitary regulations involving the school district. You sre therefore advised that the
sameperson cannot be a school trustee of an independent school district and a city health officer of sn lncorporated city where such city lies within &he boundaries of the independent school district.

SUM?dARY

Aperson cannot hold the office of city health officer and trustee of an independent school district at the same time, since the duties of said offfces are lncomuatible. Thomas v. Abernathy County Llne~kndependent school District, 290 s.w. 152, (Tex. coipm. App. 1927); Nuckles v. Board of-Education of Bell County;7Ky.I la S.W.Zd 511 (1938).

_ Yours very truly,

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

JR:bh:mw

.

w FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORXEY GENERAL