Chairman 

State Board of Control' Re: Several questions relating 

Austin. I Texas to the administration of 

the school bus purchasing 

law by the State Board of 

: 

Dear Sir: Control. 

We refer tQ your request for an opinion of 

this office whlah, lti.&ubstance,s$ates the following: 

Certain questions have arisen concerning the admlnlstratlon of the school bue 

purchasing program created.by Section 3 of 

Article V;Senate Bill 116, Acts 51st Leg., 

R.S., 1949 ch. 334, at p. 638 (Art. 634 

&'I*;:;*' 

and Senate BllS,'gO, Acts 52nd 

. 1951,~ch. 198, p. 325, Sec. 1, 

creating t%e School Bus Revolving Fund, 

(Art:2922-15, Sec. 2, V.C.S.). 

As presently operated, all school buses 

being purchased are bought F.O.B. School Bus 

Inspection Station, N&w Boston, Texas. This 

inspect,lon station Is In reality the Bowle 

County~Educatlon Agency Garage. The County 

Superintendent and County Board of School 

Trustees of Bow$e County have made the lnspectlon and storage facilities of theiragency 

available to the State Board of Control on a 

no-charge basis. 

You ask the following questions: 

1. Under the statutes, may the State 

Board of Control designate as its agent without remuneration an employee of the,Bowie 

County Education Agency with WthQrlty to 

receive new buties from'vendors and sign for 

them iro,that the State Board of,Control may. 

legally pay the vendbr -.the proposed agent 

being wllllng to serve In .auch capacity 

without pay? 
Hon. R. C. Lannlng, page 2 (V-1511) 

2. Should a bus become damaged while at 

the Inspection station and title thereto then 

being in the State Board of Control, Is the 

State Comptroller authorized to approve an 

Invoice for the repair of this unit from the 

same~~fund (Item 71 of the general appropriations to the State Board of Control, H. B. 

426, Acts 52nd Leg., R.S. 1951, ch. 499, at 

p* 1327) from which regular Board of Control 

vehicles are repaired? 

3. If, after the State Board of Control 

has received a valid requisition for a school 

bus from a school district, and a purchase 

order has been executed following the receipt 

of competitive bids, may the school district 

refuse to accept the bus purchased providing 

It meets all specifications? 

Article 634 (B),Vernon's Civil Statutes lnsofar as same are pertinent to this opinion provides as 

follows: 

"All motor vehicles used for transporting school children, Including buses, 

bus chaesls, and bus bodies, ."D . purchased for or by any school,dlstrlct partlcipating in the Foundation School Program, 

shall be purchased by and through the Board 

of Control s . . and no school district nor 

Its officers or employees nor the' County 

School Board shall have the power to purchase for such school district any of such 

Items except In those Instances wherein an 

emergency requires an Immediate purchase 

thereof, to be reported to and approved by 

the Board of Control. 

"Such motOr??ehlcles D . . shall be 

purchased on competitive bids under such 

rules and regulations as may be made by the 

Board of Control. Such purchases shall be 

made on requisition of a County School Board 

or a school district. Requisitions, If for 

the purchase of motor vehicles, buses, bus 

bodies, orbas chaksls, must be preeented to 

and receive the.approval of the Coufity School 

Board and the State Commissioners of Education . . . If, due to climatic and/or road 
Hon. R. C. Lannlng, page 3 (V-1511) 

conditions, special equipment is required 

to guarantee adequate safety and comfort of 

school children, the school district shall 

state 'and'descrlbe such requirements In Its 

requisition and the Board' of Control shall 

be required to purchase such equipmentthat 

said Board determines is adapted or designed 

for such conditions or requirements. 

II . . i 

"Compliance With this Section shall be 

a condition precedent to particlpatlen In 

the Foundation School Fund, and any school 

district falling or refusing to comply with 

the terms and conditions of this Section 

shall be ,lnellgible to share in the Foundation School Fund for one year from then date 

of such failure or refusal or such violation 

of the terms hereof. 

"This Section shall not require the 

purchase of buses, bodies, chassis, . . . 

through the Board of Control, where the 

funds therefore are provided by gifts, profits from athletic contests or other such 

school enterprises In no sway supported by 

tax funds or grants or appropriations from 

any government agency, either State or 

Federal. 

'Any such school district making requisitions for purchase of any of the above 

named articles shall, when sending in the 

requisition therefor, include therewith a 

general description of the article desired 

and shall 

available 

1, 

. . 

"The 

certify the funds that will be 

to pay therefor. 

Board of Control shall have the 

power to make rules or adopt regular;ions to 

effectuate the purpose of this Act. 

Section 2 of Article 2922-15, V.C.S., as 

by Senate Bill 90, Acts 52nd Leg., supra, provides 

as follows: 

amended 

in part 
. 

Hon. R; C. Lanning, page 4 (V-1511) 

"Motor vehicles used for the purpose 

of transporting school children, IncJudlng 

school buses, chassis and/or bodies of scho,ol 

buses purchased through the State Board of 

Control as provided for'ln Section 3 of this 

Act fiodlfied as Art. 634 (B) In Vernon's 

Civil Statutes7 shall be paid for, by the 

State Board 07 Control and there is hereby 

appropriated out of any money in the State 

Treasury not otherwise appropriated, a sum 

Of e . . ($250,000.00) '. . . or so much thereOf as necessary, to the State Board of Control 

to be used for such purchases. 

"The . . . ($250,000.00) . . . hereby 

appropriated shall be known as the School 

,Bus Revolving Fund and when the schobl buses 

provided for In thls.Act are delivered to 

the various schools coming within the provisions of this Act, the governing bodies 

of such schools shall reimburse, the State 

Board of Control for the money expended for 

such school,buses, motor vehicles, chassis 

and/or busbodies provided for herein and 

such money shall be deposited by the State 

W3dlsof Control to the School Bus Revolving 

. 

Under the discretionary authority set out in 

Article 634 (B), if the Board, deems,lt necessary to have 

an agent to inspect and receive at a given location the 

new buses purchased'~ln accordanoe with the act, It could 

designate any person as its agent to effectuate those 

necessary purposes, where the designationwould, not be In 

contravention of exist,ing statutory or constltut,lonal 

provisions. 

According to 'the submitted facts, the person 

contemplated as such,agentis a paid employee of the Bowle 

'County School Board, In charge of the garages and school 

buses operated In the Bowle County school transportation 

system, He is.wllllng to act as agents for the State 

Board of Control wlthout compensation. Section 40 of 

Article XVI, ConstltQtWn of Texas, prohlbftlng the holding by one personat the same time of two civil offices 

of emolument would have no application herei for the 

poaltlons of garage superintendent and 'agent of the State 

to Inspect and receive new school buses for the State 

Board of Control are nbt civil offices, Section 33 of 

Article XVI, supra, would have no application here because 
Hon. R. C. Lannlng, page 5 (V-1511) 

no compensation is contemplated for services as agent. 

Nor can we conceive of a sound basis upon which it may 

be said that the respective duties of the two positions 

would be incompatible., Att'y Gen. Op. v-63 (1947). ,, 

Accordingly, It Isour opinion that the State 

Board of Control acting under its ,discretlonary powers 

granted In Article 634 (B), may designate an employee of 

the Bowle County SchoolHQad as Its agent, without remuneration, to Inspect and receipt for the State Board 

such school buses as it purchases under the statute. 

Concerning yoursecond questlon,you have 

further advised that under the Board's admlnistratlon of 

the bus purchasing statute @rt. 634 (Bly title to the 

bus is placed In the State of Texas when the vendor 1s 

paid with School Bus Revolving Funds, approprlated in 

Section 2 of Article 2922-15, Vernon's Clvll~Statutes. 

That revolving fund was created, of course, 'to facilitate 

payments for duly re ulsltloned buses purchased by the 

Board under Article 934'(B). School buses purchased by 

the Board under the law are purchased for particular 

school districts, and not for the State or any of Its 

departments. Though title to such a purchased bus 

temporarily Is In the State of Texas, the ,State holds 

such titlte In trust for the partibular school dl~strict 

which requislt&oned it, until such time' as the'dlstrlct 

reimburses the3und for the purchase cost expended. II-i. 

no sense may the bus be regarded 'as having bgen purchased 

for the State of Texas or its Board of Control, because' 

the School Bus Revolving Funds is not available for such 

purposes. 

The departmental appropriation In House Bill 

426, supra, which may'be available for maintenance and 

repair of the automotive equipment of the State Board 

of Control, having been specifically appropriated for 

that purpose, clearly 'may not be,used for a purchase 

foreign to its intendment, such'as; the maintenance and 

repair of school busespurchased by the State Board of 

Control as statutory bus purchasing agent for school 

districts. It is observed thatyln'the law first establlsh&ig.the~ State Board of Control as agent for the 

purchase of school busies (Ii. 8. 295, 50th&eg., ,R.S. 

1949, ch..228, p. 401) that legislative appropriation 

was made to the Board to provide for maintenance, equipment and contingent expenses 'as'may be needed to effectuate the purpose of the law. See Sec. 2 of Art. XIII 

and Art. XIV of H. B. 295, supra, at pp. 414 and ,416. 

We find no appropriation made by the 52nd Legislature 
Hon. R. C, Lanning, page 6 (V-1511) 

to the Board for the repair or maintenance of school 

buses damaged while in its care. 

.,. Therefore, it is our opinion that the State 

Comptroller would be without authority to approve an 

invoice for the repair of a school bus purchased by the 

State Board of Control under the provisions of Article 

634 (B), damaged~ while in the care of the Board or its 

agent, for the reason that no appropriation has been 

made available for such purposes. 

With respect to your third question, you have 

further adpised that school buses have been purchased 

by the State Board o,f Control which meet all of the 

specifications or general description expressed~in the 

requisition of the school district, except that the bus 

is not the product of a particular motor company named 

In the requisition. Further, that some school dfstricts 

are refusing to accept school buses purchased ontheir 

requisition merely because the bus is not an X-Company 

constructed bus for which they made request. Your question is whether the school districts can rightfully refuse,to accept,busea which meet ail other spe+if,ications. 

Article 63,4 (R) expressly provides that new 

school buses purchased by the State Board of Control 

upon proper requision from school districts of this State 

"shall be purchased on competitive bids." The statute, 

also specifically authorizes school districts to describe 

in their requisition 

antee adequate 

"special equipment required to ~uarsafety and comfort of school children. 

where needed to'meet certain climatic and road conditions, 

and provides that the requisition"shal2 incl;deT{;;zeln 

a peneral description of the particle desired. 

express provisions authorize only a "general description"' 

of the bus specifications desired by the school distric,t. 

School districts are not empowered thereunder to insist 

that the bus be a product of a particular manufacturer. 

The act requires that the State Board purchase requisittoned buses on "competitive bids", and therefore requires 

that the Board invite bids generally on buses that ~meet 

the general description of the bus desired. As stated in 

Attorney General's Opinion v-938 (1949), the spirit and 

purpose of Article 634 (B) as a whole Is to require that 

school districts purchase its buses through the one agency, 

the State Board of Control on a competitive bid basis to 

the end that such districts shall realize full value for 

the money they acquire through Foundation School Fund 

participation. The Legislature's primary concern was that 

costs of such school bus transportation be minimized by 

purchase of necessary bus equipment at the lowest cost. 
Hoh, R. C. Lanning, page 7 (V-1511) 

Accordingly, it is our opinion that a school 

district is not authorized to list In its requisition 

for the purchase of a school bus a binding specifiCation 

that the bus be the product of a particular manufacturer. 

Further, a school district may not legally refuse to 

accept the bus purchased by the State Board of Control 

for It on requisition, providing It meets all other specifications. 

SUMMARY 

Under 

in ArticPe 

the administrative powers granted 

634 (B), V.C.S., the State Board _. _- 

of Control'may aesignate an employee of BOwle 

County School Board a8 it8 agent, without 

remuneration, to inspect and receipt for school 

buses purchased under that law. 

The State Comptroller of Public Accounts 

may not approve for payment out of funds appropriated to the State Board of Control for 

repair of its vehicles, an invoice for the 

repair of a school bus purchased by the Board 

of Control under Article 634 (B). 

Article’634 (8) does not authorize a 

school district to list as a binding speaification in its requisition to the Board of 

Control.for the purchase of a school bus that 

the bus be the product of a particular manufacturer. A school district may not refuse 

to accept for that reason a bus which meets 

all other specifications than one disignating 

that the bus be the product of a particular 

manufacturer.. 

Yours very truly, 

APPROVED: 

'3. C. Davis, Jr, 

County Affairs Division 

E. Jacobson 

Reviewing Assistant 

Charles D. Mathews 

First Assistant 

PRICE DANIEL 

Attorney General 

Chester E. Ollison 

Assistant 

CEOzam