OFFICE OFTHE AmORNEY GENERALOFTeXAS ' 

AUSTIN 

Honorable Fhelburne H. Glover 

County Attorney 

Marion. County 

Jerrert3on, Texas 

Dear Sir: opinloli No. O-&O,099 

Rer Employment and aalary of'sohool 

bus drlrar and route of opera-. 

tion or hi8 bus. 5. 

Fe hare reoeived your letter or Ootokr 6, 1941, 

In whioh bou ask the opinion of thls,department on the rollowlng queatlone~ivhfoh we quote trOm y&r letter1 

"1. Where a man Itar been employed.to drive 

a school bus, a&the revenues derived iron the 

State permit .payment to suoh driver the sum or 

$30.00 per month for his servloea nhioh Is admittedly Inadequate, 0811 the Loos1 Trustees or 

a partioular alstrlot augPasnt his salary out,of 

the Common Sohool Dlstrlot fund of auoh Dlatriot? 

"2. (a) Do the Truateee 0r 8 Common SohO 

Distrlot hare the right to employ a~bus driver, 

or must suoh driver be employed by the County 

Fohool Board? 

u(b) Is the route over whloh a sohool bus 

driver operates a matter for the Looal Trustees, 

or the County Sohool Board to detennlne?" 

For the sake of oonvenienoe we nili answer your 

questions In reverse order. 

titlole 2687a, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes 

reads-in pert 8s roiiov~s: 

"The trusteee of eny sohool distriot, can- 

,mon-or independent, maklngprorislon, for the 

transportation of pupils to anb from aohool 

shall for su& puTpOSe 8LUplOY Or COntraOt dth 
Honorable Shelburne H. Glover, Page 2 

a reaponelble person or firm. No person ahall 

be employed to tranaport pupils, who is not at 

least twenty-one years ot age and a aompetent 

driver or Eotor vehloles and sound in body and 

mind." 

However, Seotlon 4 0r Artiole V 0r the Rural Ala 

Appropriation (Acts 19W, 47th Leg., R. B. 284) provides ae 

rollowez 

wCounty Board6 of Trustee8 ere hereby author- 

&d to employ bus drivers for one year and the 

salary or no bus driver may be paid, out of the 

County Board Transportation Fund oreated herein 

unlees euoh hue driver la so employ+ Provided 

further, that only puplla or parsons dlreotly oonneoted dth the sohool syaten.shall be transported 

on sohool buses .Wle In the prooeea or transporting pupils to and from the q&&w1 8nd any bus 

driver violating the forego$ng provisions ehall 

rorrelt hi6 oontraot and ahell be~lmmedlately dieoharged by the County 3oaxd or Trustees. However, 

aubjeot to the provlalons herein, bus drivers 

who own their own buses end are 80 employed may 

be given a contreot for not to exoead two (2) 

years oondltloned that said bue drivers agree to 

make.lmprovements on their buses, so as to more 

adequately insure safer transportation ror the 

aoholestlos, and the route or suoh bus is not 

ohenged ror the aeoond year of the oontraot." 

It is elementary that the tiglslature in appro- 

' prletlng pub110 moneys is empowered to proride the manner 

of their disbursement, end as we .held in Opinion No. O-~$6, 

lt~la wlthln lta provlnoe to attaoh "oondltlona to their 

expenditure." Therefore, a sohool alstrlot whloh oomea 

within the provisions of the Rural Aid Appropriatlon~Blll 

and elects to aocept the bonerite thereof' must oom ly with 

the provisions and oonditlons of the bill before i.& ..i will 

be entitled to receive aid thereunder. Feation 4 quoted 

above provides for the ewloyment of~buo d?lvers by the 

oounty board of trustees. Assuming that the sohool dlstrlot ti whloh you have ref'erenoe is eligible ior aid and 

intends to,‘rcioelvi itunder tho bill, it follows that the 

bus driver Tuust,M esployed by the oounty board of trustees. 
Honorable Shelw H. Olover, Page 3 

Seotlon 1 of Artiole V of the Rural Aid Bill read8 

in pert a6 r0imfm 

*The County Superintendent end County So&~1 

Boards d the several oounties of this State, subjeot to the approval of the State Superintendent 

of Pub110 Instruction, are hereby authorized to 

annually set up the meet eoonomloal system or 

transportation posalble for the purpose ot transporting both grade and high aohool 

their dlstrlota, and wlthln their d 

~uplla rrom 

P str1ot.w 

It follows from the came reasoning expressed above 

that route of operation of the bua Is e matter, not for the 

looal board of truetees, but for the oountg superintendent 

and oounty boar&of trwteea, subjeot to the approval ot the 

State Superintendent, *a part of the authority to set up an 

eoonomloal ~eyatem or tranoportetlon. 

We tura'now to your ramafn~g question, whether 

the loeal board oi truetees may supplement the bus drlver:a 

8alary 0r $30.00. 

Saotlon 2 of LLrtlole I Or the Rurel Md Bill provides aa rollowsr , 

"sea. 2. Tax Levy. lo school district shall 

.' be ellglble to receive any type of aid authorlaed 

under the provlelons or this Aot unless it shall 

ba providing for the annusl aupport or its sohools 

'by voting, .levying and oolleoting for the ourrent 

aohool fear a looal malntenanoe aohool tax of not 

less than ritty oente (504) on the one hundred 

dollara or property valuatfon in the entire dlstrlot. The property valuatlone shall not be leas 

than said property is valued for State and oounty 

purposes. The~lnoome from suoh e malntenanoe tax 

in exoeas or the required tlfty oenta (500 maintenance tax must firat be used to retire lndkbtedneaa, ii any, in the looal and equallzatlon (Rural 

Aid) sohcol funda. After the indebtedness In these 

funds, ii eny, has been retired the lnoome from 

this malntenanoe tax in exoeas of the required fifty 

cents (504) malntenanoe tax ma 

% 

be used at the dlecretlon of the looal aohoal au orltles'or the dletrldt ior any lawf'ul school purpose. Provided that 
Honorable Shelburne H. Ulover, Page 4 

no looal funda may be used to lnoreese teaohers' 

salaries dlreotly or lndlreotly above the aalery 

schedule provided tor ln this Aot. An or all 

mlntenanoe tax above fifty oents (506 f may not 

be lnoluded in the oaloulatlon of need ror ala 

but shall be reported in the budget. If the lnoome from the malntenanoe tax above fifty oents 

(50#) Is not spent as preaorlbed herein, it shall 

be lnoluded as reoelpts in the budget. In order 

to oomply with the terma oi thla aeotlon it shall 

be neoeasary for suoh aohool districts applying 

ror any type of aid authorized under the terms 

or this Aot, to report all vciLuatlona wlthln auoh 

dlstrlots lnoludlng all oonsolldated dlstrlota 

and annexed dlstrlots and failure to report all 

suoh valuations shall prevent suoh dlst.rlot from 

reoelvlng any type of aid authorized under this 

Aot. Provlaed that the tax provisions and other 

lnhlbltlons provided in aald Aot shall not apply 

to the sohool where the Alabama Indians attend 

eohool in Polk County, Texas." 

We have been informed by the Department of Edu&rtlon that under the rules and regulations governing transportation In Texas, the mexlmum expense that oan be alloror operating any on6 bus Is as fo&lowsr an amounti not to 

exoeed $30.00 per month ror a driver, plus an amount not to 

exoeed $40iO0 per month for operation expense of the bus plus 

one-fifth or the orlglnal ooet of the bus for the year. 

Under the aot, dlstrlota whloh reoelve aid ior 

tranaportatlon oosts have their looal taxes restrioted and 

bud&eted;.tharerore, no dlstrlot partlolpatlng in the rural 

aid funds la to have .any surplus funds above the $30.00 per 

month ror the bus driver unless suoh district has a looal 

nainteniinoe tax rats above fifty oents (506) on the one hund?ed dollars of property valuation. In that ease, auoh exceaa revenue could be used to Increase the bus driver's 

SShry, after retirecect of the school indebtedness, if any. 

This opinion has been writteu on the assumption 

that the dlstrlot ie eligible for aid nnd desires to reoelve 

the same, snd your questions have been answered on that be&r. 

There is nothlng.ln the bill whloh oompels sahool dlstrlots 

to seek its benefits. If the dlstrlot does not ohooae to 
Bonorable Shelburne B. Glcmr, Page 5 

partloipate under the sot, then~ under Artlole 26878 the looal 

,boer& my erzploy the hue driver. fir hi.% ealsry, and deter- 

-e the route of operation oi! hi% bum. 

Very truly youre 

BIRST AC 

ATTOi'JW 

c 

AmORi4EY G.F:T"NERAL OF TEXAS .