Honorable C. Bu&t Potter 

County Attorney 

San Patricia County 

Sinton, Texas 

Dear Sir: Opinion Number o-4858 

Re: Payment of salary of school superintendent where school district receives rural aid, 

We have received your letters of August 28, 1942 and 

September 17, 1942. We quote the following from the first 

mentioned letter: 

"An Independent School District entered, into 

a two gee= contract on a 12 month a gear salary 

basis, The District paid such salary to the Superintendent for the first yeaT of such contract, but 

at the end of the flpst year, due to the scale fixed in the State Aid contyact with the Department of 

Education, refused to pay same the second gear. 

"The question is, may the District pay the 

Superintendent of such Distplct on a 24 month 

basis under such contract or is such contract invalid due to such provision in view of the fact 

that the school is receiving State Aid?" 

Your letter of September 17, 1942, reads, in part, as 

follows: 

"'The independent school district entered into a two year written contract with the Supt. of 

the independent school district. He served one 

year under the provisions of the contract relative 

to pay, The second gear, he fulfilled his contract with his services, however, the board refused to pay him the salapg pl-ovided in the contract, on the grounds that the contract conflicted 

with Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Equalliation Aid Law of Texas, cited in Public School Laws 

of Texas, pages 234-2X7- The salary is immaterial 

and the board is willing to pay the difference between the provision of such law and the contract 

amount, if they may do so legally. 
. . 

Honorable C. Burtt Potter, page #2 o-4858 

"'The contract having been executed and entered between the school district and the superintendent and same properly approved, same is not 

controversal. * * *I". 

Article I of the current rural aid bill (Acts 1941, 

47th Leg., R.S., ch. 549, R.S. 284, p. 880) sets out the 

factors which determine whether a school is eligible to receive rural arid under the bill. Section 1 of Article 1 sets 

out the scholastic population requirements. Sectiori 2 provides that no school district shall be eligible to receive 

aid unless it votes, levies and collects a local~maintenance 

tax of not less than 50$? on the one hundred dollars of property valuation, which valuation shall not be less than that 

for State and county purposes. We quote the following from 

Section 2: 

'* l * The income from such a maintenance tax 

in excess of the required fifty cents (50#) maintenance tax must first be used to retire indebtedness, if any, in the local and equalization 

~",u;a,.as~i",?n;","o;; iu,cls. After the indebtedness 

has been retired the income from this'maintenkce tax in excess of the 

required fifty cents (50d) maintenance tax may be 

used at the discretion of the local school authorities of the district for any lawful school purposes. Provided that no local funds may be used 

to increase teach= salaries directly OP inErectly above the salary schedule provided for 

in this Act, An 

fifty cents (5Od r 

OP all maintenance tax above 

may not be included in the calculation of need fop aid but shall be reported 

in the budget. * * * (Emphasis supplied). 

Article III of the current real aid bill deals with 

salary aid. Section 1 of Article III defines teacher-pupil 

quota. Section 2 reads as follows: 

"Salary Schedule And Length of Term. No part 

of the aid herein provided shall be used for 

increasing the monthly salary of any teacher, 

except as herein authorized, and funds provided 

for in this Act shall be used for the exclusive 

purpose of extending the length of the school 

term of the schools situated in the district receiving such aid on the basis of a schedule of 

teachers' salaries as determined by the State 

Board of Education foF the school sear 1938-19. 

The annual salary of teachers in accredited 
Honorable C, Burtt Potter, page #3 o-4858 

schools shall be the monthly salary as determined by such schedule multiplied by nine (9). 

The annual salary of teachers in unaccredited 

schools shall be the monthly salary as determined by said schedule multiplied by eight (8). 

The annual salary of Superintendents of accreaited schools with eight (8) or more reco nized 

affiliated credits and entitled to six ( i! ) 

teachers nor more under Section lof this-Article, 

Vocational Agriculture teachers, and Trades and 

Industries teachers shall be the monthly salary 

as determined by said schedule multiplied~by 

twelve (12), The annual salary of Home Economics teachers shall be the monthly salary as de; 

termined by said schedule multiplied by ten (10). 

All such authorized salaries may be paid in 

twelve (12) equal payments, which shall not exceed the contract or the salary schedule, beginning with September 1st of each year, Salaries 

of Superintendents and Vocational teachers may 

begin on July 1st rather than September lat. 

All schools of the accredited class receiving 

aid shall provide a ,term of approximately nine 

(9) months, and schools of the unaccredited 

class receiving aid shall provide a term of approximately eight (8) months. An accredited school 

is herein defined as a school teaching either the 

elementar=y grades, the elementary grades plus two 

(2) years of high school, or the elementary grades 

and foup (4) years of high school and recognized by 

the State Department of Education as doing standard work. Should anv school district eligible to 

receive ala under the urovlsions of this Act maintain a salary schedule in excess of the salary 

schedule,as determined bv the State Board of Bducation for the school year 1918-19 the amount of 

aid received bv such school distriit shall be reduced by the amount of such excess." (Emphasis 

supplied) e 

Although we do not know the salary of the superintendent 

under his contract with the district, we presume that it is 'in 

excess of that fixed in the schedule as determined by the State 

Board of Education for the school year 1938-39, mentioned in 

* Section 2 of Article III. 

We assume that the independent school district under 

consideration was incorporated under the general law and that 

the laws applicable to independent school districts are applicable to this district. Article 2781, Vernon's Annotated Civil 
Honorable C, Burtt Potter, page #4 o-4858 

Statutes, authorizes the board of trustees of an independent 

district to employ a school superintendent. Said article provides as follows: 

"The Board of Trustees of any city or town 

or any independent school district may employ 

a superintendent, principal, teacher, OP other 

executive officers in the schools therein for 

a term not to exceed three gears, provided that 

the Board of Trustees of an independent school 

district which had a scholastic population of 

5,000 OP more in the last preceding scholastic 

year may employ a superintendent, principal, 

teacher, OP other executive officers in the 

schools therein for a term not to exceed five 

years. All twelve-month contracts made by trustees of independent school dist??icts with employees herein mentioned shall begin on July 

first and end on June 30th of the yeap terminat; 

ing the contract, Acts 1905; p0 263; Acts 1923, 

p0 260; Acts 1930, 41st Leg., 5th C-S., p- 123, 

ch. a, set, 1.” 

Thus we see that the board of trustees may employ a 

superintendent fop a term not to exceed three years. You 

state in your letter that the contract was properly executed 

and approved, We assume that all the requirements of law 

were met and that the services of the superintendent under 

the contract were satisfactory, 

We ape informed by the State Department of Education 

that those school districts applying for rural aid are requilred to submit budgets showing theiF revenues and proposed 

expenditmea. Then rural aid is granted to supply additional 

revenue to balance the approved budget and operate the school 

aa set out under the bill, Theoretically at least, the district will have no additional funds after ,the items enumerated 

in the budget are expended. Under Section 2 of Article III, 

where a school district maintains a salary schedule in excess 

of the schedule determined by the State Board of Education the 

amount-of such excess shall be subtracted from the amount of 

aid to be received by said district, 

There is nothing compelling school districts to accept 

pural aid. A&icle XIV of the Act provides a penalty for ViOlation of the terms of the Act, but such penalty applies only 

to the pight to receive rural aid, 

The fact that a superintendent's salary as set by his 

contpact of employment exceeds the amount in the salary ached- 
- . 

Honorable C. Burtt Potter, page #5 o-4858 

ule as determined by the State Board of Education would in 

itself in no way affect either the legality of the contract or 

the liability of the district under the contract, At most 

such fact would affect only the eligibility of the district 

for participation in the rural aid benefits. 

Very truly yours 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/George W. Sparks 

George~ W. Sparks 

Assistant 

GWS-S-WC 

APPROVED SEP 29, 1942 

s/Gerald C. Mann 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

Approved Opinion Committee By s/BWEi Chairman