9‘aE ,qTI’ORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

Honorable T. M. First Assistant Austin, Texas
Dear Sir: Trimble

State Superintendent

OpinionNo. O-1086 Re: Can the Reagan County Independent SchoolDistrict Trustees, under the facts set forth, legally receive compensation for board meetings? This will acknowledgereceipt of your letterwith request for an opinion,which Is as follows:

"The'ReaganCounty IndependentSchoolDistrict is a district that comprises the entire county. The Board of Trustees of the district perform all of the functions of's CountyBoard of Trustees for the schools In the county. There are a total of five schools in the county. "Themembers of the Reagan County Independent SchoolDistrict Board are forced to travel anywhere from twenty to seventymiles, round trip, for each meeting, and I should say the averagemeeting lasts six to eight hours, as they meet during the 'day time',wh!ch also takes them away from their regular work. I should surely appreciatean opinion on whether they can be legally compensated for board meetingsunder the existing laws, and If they cannot legally receive compensation,what stepswould be necessary to legally establish compensation for at least the regular meetings? There is no schoolboard In the county except the regular board described above."
In a reply to the requestmade, we shall divide it into the two propositions as outlined in the second paragraph ofyour letter:

1. Can the board of trustees of the Reagan County Independent SchoolDistrict be legally compensated for attendlng board meetingsunder the existing law?

2. If the members of the board of trustees of the Reagan-. .

Hon. T. M. Trlmble, Page 2 O-1086

County IndependentSchoolDistrict cannot legallyreceive compensationnow, what stepswill be necessary in order that they might be legally compensated?

In the study of the questions propounded,we will first look to the act creating theRegan County IndependentSchool District which 1s found at page 456 of the Special Laws of the 39th Legislature, 'Regular Session, 1925, and was Rouse Bill No. 470, Chapter 155. The caption of the Act in question reads In part:

"Providingfor a board of trustees for said district to serveuntil the time for the next electionof school trustees inindependent schooldistricts as providedby general law; authorizing the said Reagan 'CountyIndependent SchoolDistri.ctto hold an election to determinewhether or not said district shall assume and make provision for the payment of outstanding indebtednessof the territory Incorporatedherein; validatingand continuing in force current contracts and tax levies of districts included in theReagan County Independ~ent SchoolDLstrict for the present scholasticyear, etc." And SectLon 3 of the body of the Act provides: "The said Reagan County'~Independent School District, as created by this Act, shall have and exerciseand is hereby vestedwith all the rights, powers,prlvllegesati duties of a town incorporatedunder the Geheral laws off this State for free school purposes only, and the board of trustees of the saidReagan County IndependentSchool District shall have and exercise all the rights, powers, privilegesand duties conferred and imposedby the General Laws of Texas upon the trustees of Independentschool districts incorporatedunder the General Laws of the State for free school purposes only." Thus it can be seen that the Board of Trustees of the Reagan County IndependentSchool District was first given all of the powers,prlvlleges and duties of a town Incorporated under the General Laws of the State for free schoolpurposes only.
For the purpose of answering the questtonspropounded, we must look to the authority and powers then given and are now given~to boards of school trustees of towns incorporatedunder General Laws of this State for free schoolpurposes only for powers there granted and Fn addition to this we must look as well to the General Laws of Texas then in force or now in force in that regard for the reason that this clause of the authority given requires that this schooldistrict shall con---

Hon. T. M. Trimble, page 3 O-1086

form to the General Laws of the State in that respect. The General Law then in forcewith regard to the rights, powers, privilegesand duties of school trustees of an incorporated town, Incorporated for free school purposes only, are coveredby Article 2851 through article 2854 of the Revised Civil Statutes of 1911. At the same Session of the Leglslature that created the district, the laws were recodlfled, and we are thus brought to the General Law now coveringdistricts of this kind, which is known as Article 2757 of the Revised Civil Statutes of 1925. This law grew out of and was a reenactment of the Acts of 1905, General Laws, at page 263, and makes no provision for the payment of compensation to school trustees of a town Lncorporated for free schoolpurposes only.

We now come to the next power given to the Board of Trustees of the Reagan County IndependentSchool District as granted In the second part of Section 3 of the EnablingAct, which is as follows:

"SaidReagan County IndependentSchoolDistricts Trustees shall have and exercise all of the rights, powers, privileges and duties conferredand imposedby the General Laws of Texas upon the trustees of independent sohool districts'

Incorporatedunder the General Laws of the State for free schoolpurposes only."
As to what compensation, If any, is allowed to trustees of Independent school~districts,createdby the General Laws ~ofthe State of Texas. Your attention is called to Article 2775 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas as Article is as follows: now in force, which~-

"In each independentdistrict that be organized, the county judge of the said Independentdistrict is situated shall hereafter county inwhich shall order an election for seven trustees,nhb shall constitute the school board of such district, and all of whom shall serve~withoutcompensation. All of the qualified voters of each such district shall be entltledto vote at an election for trustees hereunder." (Underscortngours This law was enacted by the Legislature in 1905 and appears at page 263 of the General Laws.

Chief Justlce Gaines of the Supreme Court of Texas in the case ofHarkness v. Hutcherson, et al, 38 S.W. 1120, 1121, made the following observation:Hon. T. M. Trimble, page 4 O-1086

"The trustees of school comnmnitl.es act under various restrictedpowers, and have control of the school funds which the law carefully fosters and zealouslyguards." We, therefore,can see that the board of school trustees of the district in questionwould not be permitted to issuea warrant against the funds of the district except in cases that are permltted and allowed speclflcallyby law.

In keeplng~with the statutesabove-quoted and the holdr lng of the court as above stated,we must, as a matter of law, hold that there Is now no authorizationby law for the trustees of the schooldistrict in question to be compensated for the duties performedby them.

We come now to the answer of the last propositionpropounded:

"If the members of the board of trustees of the Reagan County IndependentSchoolDistrict cannot legally receive compensationnow, what stepswill be necessary In order that they might be legally compensated?"
'In reply thereto,we hold that this is a matter for the Legislature, and not for thisDepartment to pass upon. Yours very truly ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
By s/Gee. 3. Berry Geo.~3.:

Berry Assistant GSB:N:wc
APPROVED AUG 7, 1939 s/Gerald C. Mann ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS Approved Opinion CommitteeBy s/RWF Chairman