DAN MORALES 

.ATTORSEY GNERAL 

QBffice of ttp !Zlttocnep @eneral 

&ate of 7Eexati 

December 9.1991 

Honorable Bill Sims 

chairman 

Natural Resources Committee 

Texas State Senate 

Capitol Building, Room 421 

Austin, Texas 7871 l-2068 

Opinion No. DM-65 

Re: Whether the commissioner of 

education has the authority to create a 

new county education district or to 

reassign a school district to another 

county education district (RQ-225) 

Dear Senator Sims: 

You ask whether the commissioner of education has authority to assign the 

Mason Independent School District (hereinafter “Mason I.S.D.“) to a different 

county education district than that to which it is assigned under the Education Code, 

or to create a new county education district to which to assign Mason I.S.D. Section 

20.941 of the Education Code provides, in pertinent part: 

(a) Each school district in this state is included in a county 

education district. A county education district is composed of all 

school districts that are assigned to a single county in the 1990- 

1991 Texas School Directory published by the Central 

Education Agency, except as provided by Subsection (b) of this 

section. 

(b) The school districts that are assigned to a county in each 

of the following groups of counties in the 1990-1991 Texas 

School Directory published by the Central Education Agency 

constitute a county education district: 

. . . . 

(15) Mason, San Saba, and Llano [.] 

We find no provisions in the Education Code or elsewhere that authorize the 

commissioner of education to create new county education districts in addition to 

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Honorable Bill Sims - Page 2 (DM-65) 

those provided for in section 20.941. Section 20.949, however, provides for the 

commissioner’s “reassigning” school districts, in certain limited circumstances, to 

other county education districts than those to which they are assigned under section 

20.941.’ Subsection (a) of section 20.949 provides: 

(a) If a school district is assigned under Section 20.941 of 

this code to a county other thatrthe county where the school 

district’s administrative offices are located, the school district 

may submit a request to the commissioner of education for 

reassignment to the county in which the school district’s 

administrative offices are located. 

Subsection (b) bf section 20.949 provides that the commissioner of education shall 

grant such a request for reassignment if the reassignment does not have specified 

consequences for the taxable value of property “per weighted student in average 

daily attendance” in the county education district to or from which the requesting 

school district would be reassigned. 

In section 20.949(a), the reference to “assigmnent” of a school district “under 

section 20.941” clearly means the “assignments” of school districts to counties “in the 

1990-1991 Texas School Directory,” as adopted by the latter section’s provisions for 

purposes of county education districts’ composition. See House Comm. on Public 

Educ., Bill Analysis, H.B. 2885, 72d Leg. (1991) (describing section 20.941, as 

amended, as providing “that a school district is assigned to the county it is listed 

under in the 1990-1991 Texas School Directory”).2 The 1990-1991 Texas School 

Directory “assigns” Mason I.S.D. to Mason County. See 1990-1991 Texas School 

Directory, at 89. Also, we understand that the administrative offkes of Mason 

I.S.D. are located in Mason, Texas, in Mason County. See id Thus, Mason I.S.D. is 

not a district which, in the language of section 20.949(a), “is assigned under section 

20.941 . . . to a county other than the county where the school district’s 

administrative offices are located.” Consequently, Mason I.S.D. is not authorized 

%xtion 2~3.941 was added in 1991 by Senate Bill 351. Acts 1991, Rd Leg., ch. 20,s 2, at 406. 

At the same session, House Bill 2885 amended the provisions of section 20.941 to read as they are set 

out above, and also added new section 20.949. Acts 1991,72d Leg., cb. 391,95 7,11, at 1477.1479. 

*Section 20.941 as fust adopted as part of Senate Bii 351, and prior to its amendment to its 

present form by House Bii 2885, provided that school districts were assigned to the counties where 

their administrative offices were located. 

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Honorable Bill Sims - Page 3 (DM-65) 

under section 20.949 to request reassignment to another county education district 

nor is the commissioner of education authorized by that section to grant such a 

request. 

SUMMARY 

The commissioner of education is not authorized to create, 

for inclusion of the Mason Independent School District, a new 

county education district in addition to those provided for in 

section 20.941 of the Education Code. Nor is the commissioner 

authorized under section 20.949 of the code to reassign Mason 

Independent School District to a different county education 

district from that to which the district is assigned under section 

20.941. 

DAN MORALES 

Attorney General of Texas 

WILL PRYOR 

First Assistant Attorney General 

MARY KELLER 

Deputy Assistant Attorney General 

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY (Ret.) 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RENEA HICKS 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

MADELEINE B. JOHNSON 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Prepared by William Walker 

Assistant Attorney General 

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