February 11, 1939

Honorable Morris Ralston County Attorney Titus County Mt. Pleasant, Texas
Dear Mr. Rolstxm: OpinionNo.O-1gg Re: Consolidationof one integral unit of rural high school districtwith another school district outside rural high school
. district unit
On February 10th the followingwire was received from you: "Would appreciatea telegraphicreplywestern union collect to the following question. Where two contigiouacommon school districtshave been by the countyboard of trustees consolidatedas rural high school district, then can one of such distri&thereafter, without the consent of the countyboard, petition the county judge for an election as providedby Article 2806 to determinewhether or not that one district can be consolidatedwith some other district for school purposes, and will county judge be required to call such electionnotwithstandingprior consolidationwith other district for rural high school purposes?" and on that date we answered you by the followingwire: "Pete1 school consolidationelection stop county school trustees group cannot consolidate contigiousdistricts forming rural hi& school districts Article 292a et seq stop groupeddistrictsbecome corporatebody composed of nuclear districts stop whole is one corporationand integral unit cannot act independentof other integral units thereof stop county judgewithout authority call consolidation elections conditions stated."
In further answer to the inquirymade, we give you this letter and advise thatwe are hesitant to wire an answer to requestmade by telegram due to the fact that the cases are not always clear to us that you have in mind.Hon. Morris Rolston, Feb. 11, 1939, Page 2 (O-19)

You use thewords "notwithstandingprior consolidationwith other district for rural high school purposes" is confusing in that Article 2806, Revised Statutes, and other Articles relating to consolidation,and Article 2922a et seq. are altogether differentmethods, and our answer to your wire ,wasbesed upon the assumption that you aretalkingabout the fact that one districtwas prior thereto groupedwith another districtby the countyboard of school trusteesunder Article 2922a, et seq., thereby forming a rural high school districtwith one board of trus&ees over the whole of the high school'district thus formed, and on this basis, we give you this letter in order thatwe may make ourselves~ clearer. Consolidation is first raised under the present school laws as we find them to be by virtue of Article 2681, and this law isheld constitutions in the case of Stinson v. Graham, 286 S. W. 264, however, in the subsequentArticle 2695, the question seems to be raised that the county superintendentb.as power to consolidatedistricts in certain instances, but a ruling by the Department of Education has held that such power is not given the county superintendentby virtue of this Article. This then brings the matter down to the statute referred to in your wire, i, e. Article 2806, held as the then exclusivemethod of consolidation. Dover School v. County Trustees, 248, S. W. 1062, This particular law, by its own terms, refers to consolidationof common school districts and consolidationof independentschool districts. The next step we will discuss is the grouping and annexing statute calledArticle 292a, et seq. Under this chapter anothermethod of organizationof high school districts Is given and broad powers are delegated to theboard of county school trustees. Their power of organization is limited in these instances to rural high school districts composing of seven or fewer in number of nuclear districmand to areas of 100 squaremiles or lesswithout a vote of the people,but they may go furtherby electionas is provided, in the subsequent articles dealing with the same subject. These rural high school districts are organizedwith one board of trustees over the entire district and the integral units thereof are a part of the larger corporatewhole and, of course, must be subservient therein. It is true that the integralpart still exists,but the high school set up is one corporatebody. The Legislature evidentlyhas in mind situations arising like that evidently existing in your county, and your attention is called to part of Article 2922f, which provides in part:Hon. Morris Rolston, Feb. 11, 1939, Page 3 (O-159)

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. . . and said districtmay be consolidated by the comty board of school trusteeswith some other district or districts for elementary school purposes; provided that if there is more than one white or one colored school in such a elementary school district the board of trustees of the said rural high school districts or an independentdistrict, as the case may be, may consolidatesuch white or colored schools of the elementarydistrict;
. . . * Thus it can be seen by this and other articles of this chapter relating to schools that itwas the intentionof the Legislature to vest the provisions of the rural high school creation in county boards of school trustees,and if one elementarydistrict of the whole could consolidate by electionwith some outside school, therewould be an immediate conflict of the boards of trustses~ of the consolidated districtwith that of the rural high school district. Ye, therefore,hold that an elementary district of a rural high school district cannot consolidateby electionwith a district outside the rural high school fsmily theretofore formed and have a conflict in the governingbodies of the rural high school and the consolidated district, and your question is answered in the negative.
Yours very truly
ATTORNEY - OF TEXAS s/ George S. Berry

BY George S. Berry

Assistant GSB:R/ldu
APPROVED: s/ Gerald C. Mann AT!COFNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS