Court Opinion

ID: 9667892
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:57:17.621159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:41.344496
License: Public Domain

MAUZY, Justice
concurring
I concur in the opinion of the court. However, I write to additionally point out that Houston Independent School District’s action was in contravention of the Duty-Free Lunch Law. TEX.EDUC.CODE ANN. § 13.909. Under this statute, teachers are to be allowed at least a thirty-minute period for lunch; and a school district’s provision of a duty-free lunch period cannot result in a lengthening of the school day.
By interpreting its existing Th hour day policy so as to exclude the lunch period, Houston Independent School District effectively used the lunch period to lengthen the school day. Such action constitutes an evasion of the statute.
Whenever a school board acts in contravention of a statute, its act is void and those affected have the right to appeal directly to the courts. Benavides Independent School District v. Guerra, 681 S.W.2d 246, 249 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1984, writ ref’d n.r.e.). The teachers went to court seeking relief for contractual violations. Although the teachers did not specifically plead a statutory violation, their contracts expressly provided that they were to be governed by the school laws of this State. Therefore, in seeking relief under their contracts, the teachers also sought relief from this statutory violation and were entitled to resort directly to the' courts.
For this reason and for the reasons expressed in the court’s opinion, I conclude that the court of appeals erred in dismissing the suit.