creatinga teachers'retirement fund, it MS held that the money so retainedwas still public money, and could not be so usedr
"Theauthorityof the board is also questioned upon the groundthat the money retainedis in fact publicmoney, and not the private funds of the teach) a-6. It does not seem ver- material whether the money so assignedbs consideredpublic or privatefunds -- the resultmust be the some. But it is interestingto noticewhat the praoticaleffect is of carryingcut the plan outlinedin the petition. If the entire salary had been paid to relator,and he had then voluntarilyrelin- quishedor paid back 1 per cent thereof for the purposes expressed,it would clearlybe privatemoney; but 1 per cent never had been paid in fact, and it never vrascon- templatedthat it shouldbe. When the relator entered into the contracthe surrenderedavsolute controlover that portionof his salary,and, in effect, entered'into a contractwith the board that his salalywould bs 99 per cent of the amount nominallystated. So from this view of the case it appearsto us that the money retain- ed nsvsr left the treasury,but remainedpublio money, and the board of educationhad no authorityto divert it from the uses mentionedin the statute."
This same case also holds that a contractbetween trusteesand teachers, whereby the teachersare requiredto pay a certainamount of their salaries into a teachers'retirementfund could not be sustainedon the ground that such plan would be in the interestof the schools,and the contractwas declaredto be ultra vires and void.
If a contractcreatinga teachersretirementfbnd oould not be sustained,then, in cur opinion,school trustees,in the absenceof some statuteauthorizingthe same,would not have the power to require in teachers'contractsthat they carry insuranceof any kind. .
Hon. T. M. Trimble,Page 6 (O-2636)
Until the Legislaturehas authorizedthe expenditureof school finds for the purchaseof group life insurance,you are advised that it is cur opiniomthat such funds cannot be so used. Yours very truly
ATTORNEY GENFRALOF TEXAS
By /s/ Grover Sellers Grover Sellers First Assistant
Enclosure
APPROVED DEC 18, 1940 /s/GERALD C. MA3iN ATTORNEY.GENSRAL OF TEXM APPROVED : -. Opinion Cqrrmittee By Bm Chairman THIS OPINION CONSIDZRED Ali'D APPFJXED IN LXWl'ED CONFERENCE