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## TEXE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF 7l?ExAs

January 11, 1968

Mrs. Bess Blackwell Executive Secretary OpinionNo. M-191
State Board of Hairdressers Re: Whether under Section 5-a and Cosmetologists of,,Article734-b,Vernon's Sam Houston Building Penal Code, Junior Colleges Austin, Texas 78701 will be eligible for cosmetology courses the same Dear Mrs. Blackwell: as vocationalhigh schools.

You request from this office ,anopinion as to the above captionedmatter. you have also stated.inyour letter that the Board members have felt that junior colleges are not exempt under the above provisions, althoughpublic high schools are considered exempt and that presently the Texas Education Agency wishes to install cosmetology training courses in junior colleges. Section 5(a) of Article 73433, Vernon's Penal Code, reads as follows:

"Sec. 5. (a) Any person, firm, association or corporation applying to the Board for an original certificate of registrationor license, as a school of beauty culture, shallmake such application in the form prescribedby the Board, giving the data and informationrequiredby the Board. The Board shall, in such applications,require such data, information and facts as it deems necessary to determine such applicant's compliance with this Act and his or its fitness to conduct andmaintain such school. No applicant for an original school license shallhereafter be granted an original certificate of registrationor license unless it shall have a building approved by the Board, having therein a minimum floor space of not less than three thousand, fivehundred (3,500)square feet floor space in a modern



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fireproofbuilding of permanent type construction. Such space shall be divided into three (3)separate departments,viz: a theory classroom, a room forpracticalwork for seniors, and a room forpracticalwork for juniors,and shall have not less than two (2)modern, sanitary toilets in separate roomswhere there are male and female students, and shallpossess and have installed theminimum equipment and apparatus requiredby the Board, sufficient to properly train and fully instruct a minimum of fifty (50)students at one time in all subjects of its curriculum; and such schools shall thereaftermaintain the premises andminimum equipment and apparatus; and such applicants shall furnish a good and sufficient surety bond payable to the State of Texas, conditioned to refund any unused portion of tuition paid if such school closes or ceases operation before~coursesof instruction have been completed. Provided,however, that the requirementsas to floor space, type of building,bond requirement and number of licensed instructors shall not apply to Public Vocational Schools." (Emphasisadded.) The leading case upholding constitutionalityof junior college districts is Shepherdv. San Jacinto Junior College District, 363 S.W.2d 142 (Tex.Sup.1963). The Court in discussina the nature of junior colleae districtsmade the followingobservation at-page 744: -

"Somedifficultyof classificationhas arisenwith reference to junior colleges and the regionaldistricts supporting them. Undoubtedly the framers of the Texas educational system envisioned a system of schools extending from those of an elementary grade to those of a university level, that is, elementary schools, secondary schools or high schools and colleges and universities. The junior colleges, developed for themost part since 1929, are sandwiched in, so to speak,between the high schools on one hand and the colleges or universitieson the other hand. In certain respects, the junior college is what its name implies, that is, a schoolwhich is above the high school levelyet one whose highest grade is below the educational level required for a degree from a university. Yet, as pointed out

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by one of the briefs~on filehere, it would not be inappropriate to refer to the districtswhich support such schools as 'juniorcollege districts' 'advanced independent school districts' or 'graduate high school districts.' The point of this is that junior colleges and their districtsmay in some instancesbe regarded as colleges and in other instances as schools in the nature of advanced high schools. The Junior CollegeAct ,itselfmakes numerous references to independent school districtswhen delineating the powers and operations of a junior college district. "TheTexas junior college history bears some relation to the experience of,other stateswith secondary schools, that is, high schools or college preparatory schools. II II

. . . (Emphasisadded.)
We may say that, dependent upon the curriculum any high school, junior college or universitywould be regarded as academic in some areas and vocational and technical in other areas.

A school of cosmetology is generally considered to be a vocational school as opposed to an academic school.

It is, therefore, the opinion of this office that junior colleges,which offer as a part of its curriculum, vocational instruction, fallwithin the proviso of Section 5-a of Article 73413, Vernon's Penal Code, and that the requirements as to floor space, type of building, bond requirement, number of licensed instructors,do not apply to such schools.
SUMMARY ------- The last sentence of Section 5a of Article 73413, Vernon's Penal Code,which provides an exception forpublic vocational schools, applies to junior colleges of this State,which offer vocational instruction as a part of their curriculum, since a junior collegemay provide in its curriculum for terminalvocational and technical courses aswell as preparatory academic courses.

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Mr$. Bess Blackwell, page 4, (M-191)

C. MARTIN rney General of Texas Preparedby Pat Cain AssistantAttorney General
APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Hawthorne Phillips, Chairman Kerns Taylor, Co-Chairman John Reeves Brock Jones, Jr. W. V. Geppert James Quick
A. J. CARUBBI, JR. Staff Legal Assistant

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