### Hon. Artle Stephens, page 2



### vouchera for a period taught before receipt of certlflcate?

‘C. .Asaumlng that under Article 

### 2882 of the'Revised Statutes of Texas that the contract between the local school board and teaoher was for the.reasons herelnbefore mentioned -void, then would the School board be authorized to makepayment of any reasonable amount to compensate such teacher for services actually performed9” Additional fasts ap&arlng in the letter show that the teaaher ln question had sufficient eahool credits to entitle him to a high sohool &rtifloate except that he had not taken tworequired aourses In government. &ate in the month of August he scoured the position to. teaoh provided ha oould secure a oertlflaate and tbereupbn signed up for the government cotirses in :Texaa Tech and turned In his work to the instructor prior to the opening of the sehool year, but it was not aoaepted aclsatlsfaotqry by the instructor ln oharga. Further delay was ocoaaioned by the fact that the Instructor took a leave of .absence from Texas Tech and the work submitted by the teacher 

### was not’ aooepted and the teacherIe certlfloate. issued by the Department of Eduoatlon until about 

### February 1, 1940.

Please accept &r thanks for the brief which you have submitted with 

### your letter of request.

Artlole 2882, .R.C.S., 1925, reads as follows:

“The oounty superintendent shall keep a record of all oertlflcates held by persone teaching In the publla schools of the oommon school dietriots and of the independent school dletrlcts of his oounty. .Any person whodesires to teach in a pub110 free school of a commonschool district shall present his oertlfloate for record, before the approval of his ~contract. Any

### person whodesires to teach In the pub110 schools of an lndppendent school district ehall preeent his certificate. to the oounty euperlntendent for record before hle. .

Hon. Artle Stephens, page 3

contract with the board of trustees of the lndependent aohool district shall become valid. p tea&W or e.uDerlntendent whodoes not hold 3 valid certlfloate shall not be Dald for teachinn 

### orwork done before the nrantlnn of a valid aertlfioate. eXOeDtfor teaohlruz ln such branches aa are exemDted under the tellne of this law,” -(Underscoring oura). : From your letter of requeet it does not appear that the teacher In question waa teaching In such exempted branches a8 are referred to In this article.

Article 291, P.C., 1925, reads ae follows:

“Any oounty or olty superintendent or school trustee whoapproves any teaoher's oontract or vouoher until the person haa presented a valid certlfioate ahall be fined not lese than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars.” Thls department ruled in an oplnlon, addressed to the Ron. L. A. Woode, dated Oat. 18, 1935, Letter Book 367, p. 917, that a teaoher’e oontraot entered Into under’ facts similar to those set .out above was void.

In Richards v. RlohardsoQ, .(T.C.A., 1914) 1689.W. 50, the court‘ stated:

‘That statute .enjoina a duty upon the teaoher and afflxea a penalty for failure to perform the duty. That penalty la that, unless he has a valid oertlflcate, he ahall not be paid out of free school funda.

. .

.‘”

. . . Appellant, at the time that be entered into the contract with the trusteea, had no euoh oertlfloate and In fact had no valid aertlflcate for any grade. He.may, 88 he claipla, have been entitled to such certlr flcate, but he had not obtained It. The oertlflcate granded by the county superintendent waB. . .

Hon. Artie Stephens, page 4



### null and void, and the contract founqed upon it was null and void. .*Not only’does the law provide that no teacher whohaa not a.valid certificate shall receive tltly'.Qf the.fnz?a eohool fund, but Itla madeamlademeanor for any board of trustee8 to approve any oontract until the person hae presented a‘valid oertlfloate. g$le 1512 (Pen. Code).Rev. Criminal State.

Acontract madein violation of law would be absolutely void. W.&Telegraph Co. v. Partlow, 30Tell. .Clv.‘.App. 599, 7l S.W, 

### 586;Iioemer v. Sheldon Srrhool Dlatrlot, 4 N.D. 

### 197,59N.W. 

### 1035r25SALA. 

### ,383, 50 Am..St. .Rep. 639; :Ryan v. -Dakota Co. .Dlfit. 

### 27Mlnn. 

### 433,8N.W. 146s Xlmball v. .Sahool Dist., 23

### wash.520,63 Pao. 

### 213.Schafer v. Johna, 23N.D. 

### 593,137N.W. 

### 481,42.L.B.A. (N..S,) 412; Flanary v. Barr@tt, 146Ky. .7l2, 143S.W. 

### 38Ann. caa. 1913C, 370. *

. . .

‘Appellant has not performed any aervloes for the moneyhe eeeka to oolleot, but; on the other hand, he has reoelved .)llO. of the .free school 

### money to which he was not entitled. Railway v. Randolph, 24Tex. >317. *The o&glnal oontraot was.vold, beoauee repugnant to the statute, 

### and it oould not have been ratified and oertalnly cannot be vitalized by obtalning,a oertlflcate andendeavoring to have It read a8 though of date anterior to the execution of the oontraot. It would not matter howcompetent andwell fitted he was to teach, nor that he mayhave been 

### entitled to a flat-class oertifioate; he did not have It whenhe entered Into the oontraot; and that Instrument, being null and void In ita lnoeptlon, oould not be vitalized and purlfled by any subsequent events, but it ‘ia so. ..
Hon. Artle Stephens - page 

### 5

;;gzt;$y and lneffeotu81 that nothing can

.' "The statute provides for the employment of teaohere whohave valid oertlfloatae, and It 16madea crime for a board of trusteea.to employ one whohaa not a valid certificate, and the statute does not say that the trustees can employ a pewon to teaoh whola entitled to a oertlfloate, nor one whomayobtain a certlfloate at some future time. The teacher must exhibit to the trustees a valid oertifloate, and, aa said by Juatloe Nell1 1n.W.U. Telegraph Co. v. Partlow; herein cltedz ‘A contra& without suoh a oartlrlcate

. . . would unquestionably be void.' See, aleo, .Qoose..' RI!?& Bankir. Sohool Township, 1 N.D. 26, 44N.W. 1002, 26Am.3% Rep. 6053 Bryan v. School Diet. 111 Mlch. 

### 67,69N.W. 

### 74;MoCloakey v. School Dlst., 

### 134.Mioh. 235, 95 &W; 

### 18." The statute before the co&z In that oase required that a valid oertlflca$e be held and exhlblted before the local board of trustees could enter Into the aontraot. The present statute raqulras that a valid certlPIaate be held and filed with the oount;JI.superintendent before he,shall approve the teaoher'a aontract. The approval of 'the '. oounty school superintendent la essential to the validity of a teaoher'e oontraot madewlth the trua.teea, 

### a common ~achool district. 239 3.~. 

### 987. Xl11 vs. 'Smlthvllle Ind. School I&3t;.:!

A. It la our opinion that the te,acher*a contract entered Into and approved-under the faota presented 

### is void and conwenaatlon may not be paid thereunder to the person holding euch void oontraot. B. The county school superintendent is: .' not authorized to approve vauoh&a Issued to 

### aperson as oinqpeneatlon 

### for teaching In a ciommon

school district for a period during which euoh teaoher did not hold a'valld teacher's oert%rlcate, alnoe such approval le apeolflcally p*hlbited by law. C. A pereon teaching In 

### a ooupon school. .. .
,Hon..&tie .stephene - page 

### 6

district wlthout first having obtained a valid teacher’s aertlflaate maynot be paid a reasonable amottjit‘Par aervl&M aq$u: ally parformed out oP the @blic achoQ1 Pun& of thie state, for ‘the period. dursng wh$oh such teaaher did not hold a valid oertlflcate; A$tloZe 2882, R.C,S., 1925,. epeolPloally @royld&g that the.teacher. %a11

. not be paid for t&aching or worgdone “b$P&% :

the granting of a val~d,oertlPlca,te.JW

_ This. Qp$.ni& d,oe@. E?Qt :aPpl;p tQ teach branches -exempted.urM#r th$ car@ qi Art$?i(i .19255;and:klated a$Btutqe;. ”

~oui-8 vei-y:truly

.’

.CCC:ob ATpoRNEy. qaa@ OF.TEjtAs

.& a/.C,eoil;C, Canqqaok

‘+3e,+itant 

## IIPW qpr‘-li, 1+0. w.. “.& : J!?oore F&r~rs~~~~.l~tant Attbrney