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 at the 

: 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 *In18 a city health 

officer of.an Incorporated city located within the-boundaries of the independent school district. 

Then Texas.constltu&onal prohlbltlon'a'ainst 

ha-ldlng more than one offlce of em+m-mt (Sec. &, .Art. 

. . XVI) is inapplicable to the question under-conslderatlon since a 'trustee of an lndepetident school district 

iierves wlthout~ compensation. -A.G. Opinions Bos. v-63 

and V-242. L$kenlse, Sectl&'33'of Article XVI'bf the 

Constitution of Texas la not vrolated under the.facts 

submitted since neither the 'city health 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 one person may not hold at the s-e time two offices, the duties .of whlchare 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; at page 514 t.1938) : 

"One of the most important tests as to 

whether offlces are incompatible ls.found in 

the principle 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 one has the power to remove 

the Incumbent of the other, though the contingency on which the power may be exercised 

is remote, and It also exls'ts Wh8r8 the inCUD 

bent of one office has the power of appolntment as to the other office, . . . or to au- 

'dlt the accounts of another, or t0 8XerciSe 

a su~erv'ision over 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 In holding that 

the two offices were Incompatible qtated the following: 

"In our opinion the offices of school 

trustee and alderman are incompatible; for 

tUJd8r OUT system there ~@r8 in 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 a member of 

the city counc11 or board of aldermen at the 

Sam8tim8, 

risspects, 

school policies, in many 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 of him by general law and city ordinances with regard to 

the general health and sanitation of towns 

and cities, and perform such other duties as 

shall be legally required of him by the mayor, 

goyernlng body or the ordinances of his city 

or town. He shall discharge and perfo~rm much 
Hon. Henry Taylor, ,br., page 3 (V-883) 

dutlesas may be prescribed for him under 

the directions, rules, regulations and r8- 

qulrements of the State Board of Health 

and the president thereof. He shall be 

required to aid and assist the Stat8 Board 

of Health in all matters of @arantine, 

vital and mortuary statistics, inspection, 

disease prevention and suppressiop and ssnltatlon within his jurisdiction.- He shall 

at all times report to the Stat8 BoXrd of 

Health, lnsuch manner and form es said 

board may pr8SCrlb8, the presence of all 

contagious,, infectious and d&ngeroug epldemic diseases within his jurisdiction, snd 

shall make su‘ch other and further reports in 

such manner and form and at such times as 

said Stat8 board shall direct, touching all 

such matters aa may be proper for.sald board 

to dlr8c.t; and he shall aid sflld.State board. 

at all times ln.the enforcement of proper 

rules , .regulatldns and requirements in the 

enforcement of all sanitary laws, quarantine 

regulations and vital statistics ~collectlon, 

i and perform 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 relatlire to the maintenance of health In proper conduct of 

the pub~llc schools and to make such rules and regulations neoessary to prevent 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 

the public ichools, it.18 settled that the 

school authorities can maintain a health depsrtment where such department is related to 

and ruz.as.a part of the school system and 

tends to further the efficiency of~that eystern. ', 

1) 

. . . 

'Where eAclu81+8 control of th8 public 
Hon. 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 

to maintain an efflclsnt system, 32~~ regulation Intended and reasonably calculated to prevent the introduction or spZ?8ad of a contagious 

and dangerous. disease, such as small pox,~ls 

well within the powers granted. School boards, 

ln the proper edmlnlstratlon of. the sffairs~ 0r 

schools, may therefore require the vaccination 

Of pupils as a condition pr6c8dent to their 

attendance. And under thelr.power to enact 

ordinances for the protection of health, leglslatlve bodies of munlcipalltles may deny 

.chlldren the 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 la not a 

question of emergency, but a qu6stlon whether 

the board's action 1s arbitrary. 

" . 

. . . 

. 

n If'lt is alleged that the condltlon of*tie*health and body of a particular 

child makes vaccination subjectively danger0-0 such fact should in general be establish-~ 

ed by experts, and it should appear that the 

condition has been made known t&the school 

au,thorltl6s and that an effort'has .been made 

to exempt such child from vaccination. Moreover,,health regulations of this sort, being 

within the jurlsdlctlon of trustees, can be 

reviewed only in the manner provided by law; 

that is, presort to designated school authorlties must be had before 'q appeal to the 

courts.n 

In-view 'or ,the foregolzig; it is our opinion 

that the Board of Trustees of in independent school dlstrlct have 3ubstantlally the s-8 duties as that of the 

City Health Offlcer'in respect to the maintenance of 

health in the public schools and making regulations to 

prevent the spread of contagious diseases in the schools 

under its supervision. In view of the holding in the 

case of Thomas v. Abernathy County Line Independent 

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

School District it la our opinion that the offices of 

cltv health officer and trustee of an 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 

same person 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 

A person 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