Chairman

State Board of Control' Re: Several questionsrelating Austin. Texas to the administration of

I the school bus purchasing law by the State Board of

: Dear Sir: Control.

We refer tQ your request for an opinion of this officewhlah, lti.&ubstance,s$ates the following:

Certain questionshave arisen concerning the admlnlstratlonof the schoolbue purchasingprogram created.bySection 3 of ArticleV;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 purchasedare bought F.O.B. SchoolBus Inspection Station,N&w Boston, Texas. This inspect,lon

station Is In reality the Bowle County~EducatlonAgency Garage. The County Superintendentand 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 followingquestions:

1. Under the statutes,may the State Board of Control designate as its agentwithout remuneration an employee of the,Bowie County EducationAgencywith WthQrlty to receive new butiesfrom'vendorsand sign for them iro,that

the State Board of,Controlmay. legally pay the vendbr -.the proposed agent being wllllng to serve In .auchcapacity without pay?Hon. R. C. Lannlng, page 2 (V-1511)

2. Should a bus become damagedwhile 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) fromwhich 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 competitivebids, may the school district refuse to accept the bus purchased providing It meets all specifications?

Article 634 (B),Vernon'sCivil Statutes lnsofar as same are pertinent to this opinion provides as follows:

"Allmotor vehicles used for transporting school children, Includingbuses, bus chaesls, and bus bodies, ."D

.purchased for or by any school,dlstrlctpartlcipating in the Foundation School Program, shall be purchasedby and through the Board of Control s
. .and no school districtnor Its officers or employeesnor the' County School Board shall have the power to purchase for such school district any of such Items except In those Instanceswherein an emergency requires an Immediatepurchase thereof, to be reported to and approvedby the Board of Control.

"SuchmotOr??ehlcles D

. . shall be purchased on competitivebids under such rules and regulations as may be made by the Board of Control. Such purchases shall be made on requisition of a County SchoolBoard
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 CoufitySchool Board and the State Commissioners of Education

. . . If, due to climatic and/or roadHon. 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'descrlbesuch 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
"ComplianceWith this Section shall be
a conditionprecedent to particlpatlen In the Foundation School Fund, and any school district falling or refusing to complywith the terms and conditions of this Section shallbe ,lnellgibleto 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 thereforeare provided by gifts, profits from athletic contests or other such school enterprises In no swaysupportedby tax funds or grants or appropriations from any government agency, either State or Federal.

'Any such school districtmaking requisitions for purchase of any of the above named articles shall,when sending in the requisition therefor, include therewith a general descriptionof the article desired and shall available 1,

. . "Thecertify the funds thatwill 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)

"Motorvehicles 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 Actfiodlfied as Art. 634 (B) InVernon'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 ,BusRevolving Fund and when the schobl buses provided for In thls.Act are delivered to the various schools comingwithin the provisions of this Act, the governingbodies 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 depositedby the State W3dlsof Control to the School Bus Revolving

. Under the discretionaryauthority set out in Article 634 (B), if the Board, deems,ltnecessary to have
an agent to inspect and receive at a given location the
new buses purchased'~ln accordanoewith the act, It could designate any person as its agent to effectuate those necessarypurposes,where the designationwould,not be In contraventionof exist,ing statutoryor constltut,lonal provisions.

According to 'thesubmitted facts, the person contemplatedas such,agentis a paid employee of the Bowle 'County SchoolBoard, 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 Controlwlthout compensation. Section 40 of Article XVI, ConstltQtWn of Texas, prohlbftlng the holding by one personat the same time of two civil offices of emolumentwould have no applicationherei for the poaltlons of garage superintendentand 'agentof the State to Inspect and receive new schoolbuses for the State Board of Control are nbt civil offices, Section 33 of Article XVI, supra,would have no applicationhere becauseHon. R. C. Lannlng,page 5 (V-1511)

no compensation is contemplated for services as agent. Nor canwe conceive of a soundbasis 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 purchasesunder the statute.

Concerning yoursecond questlon,youhave further advised that under the Board's admlnistratlonof the bus purchasing statute@rt. 634 (Bly title to the bus is placed In the State of Texas when the vendor 1s paid with SchoolBus Revolving Funds, approprlated in Section 2 of Article 2922-15,Vernon's Clvll~Statutes. That revolving fundwas created, of course, 'tofacilitate payments for duly re ulsltlonedbuses purchasedby the Board under Article 934'(B). School buses purchasedby 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 purchasedbus temporarily Is In the State of Texas, the ,Stateholds such titlteIn 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 sensemay the bus be regarded 'ashaving bgen purchased for the State of Texas or its Board of Control, because' the School Bus Revolving Fundsis not available for such purposes.

The departmentalappropriation 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 specificallyappropriated for that purpose, clearly 'maynot 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 statutorybus 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 schoolbusies(Ii. 8. 295, 50th&eg., ,R.S. 1949, ch..228,p. 401) that legislativeappropriation
was made to the Board to provide for maintenance, equipment and contingent expenses 'as'may be needed to effectuate thepurpose 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 appropriationmade by the 52nd LegislatureHon. R. C, Lanning,page 

### 6 (V-1511)

to the Board for the repair or maintenance of school buses damagedwhile in its care.

.,. Therefore, it is our opinion that the State Comptrollerwould be without authority to approve an invoice for the repair of a schoolbus purchasedby 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 appropriationhas 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 Controlwhich meet all of the specificationsor general descriptionexpressed~in the requisition of the school district, except that the bus is not the product of a particularmotor company named In the requisition. Further, that some school dfstricts
are refusing to accept school buses purchased ontheir requisitionmerely because the bus is not an X-Company constructedbus for which they made request. Your question iswhether the school districts can rightfully refuse,to accept,buseawhich meet ail other spe+if,ications.

Article 

### 63,4(R) expresslyprovides that new school buses purchased by the State Board of Control upon proper requision from school districts of this State "shallbe purchased on competitivebids." The statute, also specificallyauthorizes school districts to describe in their requisition antee adequate "specialequipmentrequired 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
apeneral description of theparticledesired. express provisionsauthorize only a "generaldescription"' of the bus specificationsdesiredby the school distric,t. School districtsare not empowered thereunder to insist that the bus be a product of a particularmanufacturer. The act requires that the State Board purchase requisittoned buses on "competitivebids", and thereforerequires that the Board invitebids generally on buses that~meet the general descriptionof 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 districtspurchase its buses through the one agency, the State Board of Control on a competitivebid basis to the end that such districts shallrealize full value for the money they acquire through Foundation School Fund participation. The Legislature'sprimary concernwas that costs of such schoolbus transportationbe minimizedby purchase of necessary bus equipmentat 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 particularmanufacturer. Further, a school districtmay not legallyrefuse to accept the bus purchasedby the State Board of Control for It on requisition,providing It meets all other specifications.

SUMMARY

Under in ArticPe the administrativepowers 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 purchasedunder that law.

The State Comptroller of PublicAccounts 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 schoolbus 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 schoolbus that the bus be the product of a particularmanufacturer. A school districtmay not refuse to accept for that reason a bus which meets all other specificationsthan 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