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THEA NEY GENEIRAL

Honorable Ed Keys County~Attorney Ward County Monahans, Texas

Dear Mr. Keys: Opinion No. C-629

Re: Questions relative to election of county school trustees when theboundaries of certainprecincts have been changedby the Commissioners Court.

You have requested an opinion on whether, in the election to be held.onApril 2, 1966, for county school trustees inWard County, the two trustees to be elected from commissionersprecincts shouldbe elected in accordance with the boundaries of the precincts as they now exist or~as theywill exist under a resolution of the CommissionersCourt of Ward Countywhich is to take effect on January 1, 1967. The resolution,adopted on Novsmber 1, 1965, recites that the redivision is being made "for the convenienceof the people of said County," and that the Court is acting pursuant to the provisions of the Constitutionof the State of Texas and Articles 2351 and 23513 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Te'xas D The resolution does not mention precinct offices either specificallyor in general terms, or in any manner undertake to state the effect of the redivision,other than as follows in the finalparagraph of the resolution:

"BE IT FURTRRR RESOLVED that such redivision shallbe effective for all puPposes as of January 1, 1967, and that theprovisions of Section 1 (a)and (b),Article 2351&, R.C.S. of Texas, as amended, shall apply to such redivision of Ward County, Texas; and the County Judge of Ward County, Texas, 'ishereby authorized and empowered to execute all instrumentsand documentson behalf of the Commissioners Courtnecessary to carry out the terms and provisions hereof.

Section 1 of Article 2676,Vernon's Civil Statutes, reads in part as follows:Hon. Ed Keys, page,2 (C-629)'

"SeCtion 1. The general management and control,of the public free schools and high schools in each-county,unless otherwise - provided'bylaw shallbe vested in five (5) ~county,sChool,trusteeselected from the county, one (1) of whom shallbe elected from the county'at largeby the qualified voters of the county and one (1) from each CommissionerlsPrecinctby the qualified voters of each Commissioner'sPrecinct who shallhold office for a term of two (21 years. The time for such election shall be the first Saturday in April of each year; the order for the election of county school trustees to be made by the county judge at least thirty (30) 'daysprior to the date of said election, and which order. shall designate as votingplaces within each common or independent school district the same votingplace or places at which votes are east for the District Trustees of said common and independent school districts, respectively.* y *'.
Paragraphs (a)and (b) of Article 2351&, V.C.S., enacted in 1965, read as follows:

"0 h a W enever the CommissionersCourt changes the boundaries of commissioners precincts or of justiceprecincts, it may specify in its order a future date, not later than the first day of January following the nextgeneral,election, on which the changes shallbecome effective. If an election for any precinct officemid before the effective date of the order, :. tie office shall be filled at the election by the voters of theprecinct as it will exist on the effective date of the change Tn boundaries. A person'whohas resided within the territory embraced in the new boundaries for the lengthof time required to be eligible to hold the office shall not be rendered ineligibleby virtue of the precinct’s not having been in existence for that length of time.

-3051-,Hon. Ed Keys, page 3 (c-629)

"(b)When bouridaries of commissioners precincts are changed, the terms of office of the commissioners then in office shall not be affectedby such change,and'each commissiomer shall~be entitled to serve for the remainder of the term to which he
was elected even thou&the change in boundaries may have placed'his residence outside of the precinct for which he was elected." (Emphasissupplied.)

The answer to your question turns on whether the term "precinctoffice" as used in the underscored' sentence inArticle 23513 is intended to include county schooltrustees'who are elected from commissionersprecincts. In our opinion, the Legislature intended the term to refer only to officers who
are electedby commissionersprecincts and justice precincts at the general election for state and county officers on the first Tuesday after the firstMonday in November of evennumbered years (Election Code, Art. 2.01), and did not intend to include county school trusteeswithin the term.

It is an elementary rule of statutory construction that the meaning of a word or phrase shouldbe determinedwith reference to the context inwhich it is used, and that the same word or phrase may have differentmeanings in different statutes. 53 Tex.Jr.2d 214, Statutes, Seo. 147+ Cf. Att'y Gen. Op. WW-111OA (1962),holding that county school trusteesare not county or precinct officerswithin the meaning of Article XVI, Section 64 ofthe Constitution,which provides terms of four years for "the elective district, county snd Erecinct offices which have heretofore had terms of two years.

In Attorney General'sOpinion Noo.c-580 (1966), it

was stated that the purpose of paragraph (a 4 of Article 23513
was to change the rule in Brown v. Meeke, 9 S.W.26 839 (Tex. Civ.App. 1936, error dism.3,which held that Where an order of the commissioners court changing the boundaries of justice precincts, enteredprior to the filing deadline for,primary elections, provided that the changeswere to become effective
on the first 'dayof January following the next general election and thatprecinct officers were to be elected at that election in accordancewith thenew boundaries, an attempted nomination of a constable for the new precinct was void. That ca6e, it shouldbe noted, dealtwith an office filled at the general election for state and county offices.

-3052-Bon. Ed Keys, page 4 (C-629)

Article 23513 sets the first day of January following "thehext genersl election” a6 the limitationon p'oetpbnement of the effective date of the order.,Although every election" which is held at regular fixed intervals is a general election in the broad sense of the term, in commonparlance it usually
means the general election for state and county offices. Greenwood v. City of El Paso 945 ;Att'y Gen. Op. No. C 186 S.W.2d 1015 (Tex.Civ.App. -43 (1963). The fact that Article 2351 specifies the first day of January following the election

as the cutoff date forpostponing effectiveness is evidence that the lattermeaning was intended'in this statute.'The first day of January coincideswith the beginning date of regular terms of precinct officerswho are elected at the biennia1 November general election,Art. 17, V.C.S., and obviously this provision is tied inwith's recognitionof the desirabilityof electing officers'in accordancewith the new boundaries since the full term of their servicewill be after the changebecomes effective. This would not be true of the office of county school trustee. In the present case,'for example, trustees elected in accordancewith the old boundaries will serve for almost three-fourthsof a year (almosthalf their full term) before the change..

Other reasons could also be advanced to support our conclusion that county school trustees do not comewithin the provisions of Article 2351*,but we believe the foregoing
reasonsmake the legislative intent clear enough without further development. It is our opinion that the coming election shouldbe conducted in accordancewith the commissionerprecinct boundaries as they now exist. There is nothing in Brown v. Meeks, supra, contrary to our holding on this point. In that
c the court rejected the contentionof one of the parties that'hewas entitled to thenomination for the old precinct, but it was on the ground that neither the commissioners court, the candidates,nor the voters had understood that the nomination to be made was for the old precinct and not on the ground that a valid election for thenomination couldnot have'been held if it had been 80 intended. (In that case, the office of constableof the old precinctwould not have been in existence , on the date of the beginning of the new term,but in this case the office for the precinct as itnow exists will continue for almost 9 months. after the new term of trusteebegins.) We thereforeanswer your questionby stating that in the election to be held on April 2, 1966, a candidate for the office must be a resident of theprecinct inwhich he is running, as it now exists, and only the voters residingwithin the precinct as it now exists may vote for that office.

-3053-. .

Hon. Ed Keys, page 5 (C-629)

As a further question,you ask for an opinion, In thti event our answer to your first question ia thatthe clectidn shouldbe held in accordancewith presently existing boundaries, on'what effect the change ifi~boimdaAes'wil1have dn the stat&of these newly elected~ trusteeswhen the order of the commissionerscourt takes effect ofiJanuary 1; 1967." You also ask what ePfCct itWlll~'heve on the status of the two trusteeswho were elected from commissionersprecincts in 1965-

We are of the opinion that both questionsare controlledby the holding In Childrere”Countyv. Sachse, 158 Tex. 371, 312 s.W.2d 380m9U1,“t.o the effect that a change in-precinctboundaries‘does’notcreate a vacancy in the office of county commissioneror deprive the Incumbent of the right to hold office for the ,remalnderof his term, and this ia true ‘even thoughby reason of such change his residence Is not within the pficlnct aa redefined.” The later
case of Whitmarsh v. Buckley, 324’&W.2d 298 (Tex.Civ.App. 19594 explaindd the basis oftthe holding to be that a county
comm ssioner,although elected from a.preclnct, serves the entire county aa a member of the commirslonerscourt; that he Is electednot to act for just hir precinct but to serve the whole county. This Is also true for a county school trustee, even to a greater extent than for county commissioner. Incidentally,the’rule of the Sachse case was enacted into statutory form for the officeofty commissioner in paragraph (b) of Article 23513, quoted above. Although the statute does not apply to the office of county school trustee, the rule-inthe Sachlre caseby analogy doea apply. We thereforehold t-e change in boundaries on January 1, 1967, will have no effect on the tenure of either the trustees elected in 1965 or those elected In 1966.

Where an order of the cammisrioners coust changing the boundaries of commiarionersprecincts, to become effective on January 1, 1967,
was entered in November, 1965, the county school trusteeswho are to be elected from commis6ioners precincts in the election to be held on April 2, 1966, shouldbe elected from theprecincts as they now exirt rather than aa theywill exist on January 1, 1967. Article 2351*,V.C.S., doe6 not apply to the office of county school trustee.

-3064-. .

Hon. Ed Keys, page 6 

### (c-629)

The change in boundariea dtiJ&nuak$ I;,

### 1967, will have no effect on thi 'tiM.M?of iither'the' trustees elected iri1965"6r those'ilecttid in Childress County v. Sachae, 

### 158Tex. 

### 371,3121966.

e

. 

### 360 [193U)

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Yours very truly,

WAGG0RF.RCARR Attorney General 

# By:a+ %= %cx,ec_
Mary K. Wall Aseiatant
MKW:ra:sj

APPROVED: OPINION COMKU'TEE

W. 0. Shultz, Chairman John Reeves Ralph Rash Gordon Case Wade Anderson

APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: T. B. Wright

-3055-