Did a Texas school district board have to approve the transfer of its territory to another district under the 1987 Education Code?

Texas AG Opinion JM-771: Approval for School District Boundary Changes

Plain-English summary

JM-771 clarified an earlier opinion about transferring territory from one Texas school district to another. Section 19.022 of the Education Code supplied the detachment-and-annexation procedure and expressly required approval from the receiving district's board of trustees.

The Attorney General concluded that section 19.008 still applied as an additional limit. Under the law discussed in 1987, any boundary change involving an independent school district with an elected nine-member board in a county of at least 100,000 people also required approval from a majority of that district's trustees.

The result did not mean that every transferring district had a veto. The opinion explained that section 19.008 did not cover the Temple and Belton districts mentioned in the clarification request, and it had not applied to the districts involved in Central Education Agency of Texas et al. v. Upshur County Commissioners Court et al.

The Attorney General reached this conclusion by reading sections 19.008 and 19.022 together. Both provisions came from the same 1983 recodification, and the committee report said the former cross-reference to section 19.008 was omitted because it was unnecessary, not because the Legislature meant to eliminate that limitation.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1987. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Did section 19.022 require the receiving school district to approve a transfer?

Yes. The opinion said a majority of the receiving district's board of trustees had to approve a detachment and annexation under section 19.022.

Did the transferring school district always have to approve?

No. JM-771 concluded that transferring-district approval was additionally required when section 19.008 applied, meaning the district had an elected nine-member board and was located in a county with a population of at least 100,000.

Why did the Attorney General read the two sections together?

They were part of the same 1983 act and both concerned school-district boundary changes. The opinion said they should be harmonized so both had effect.

Why was the old cross-reference to section 19.008 missing from section 19.022?

The recodification committee report said the cross-reference was unnecessary because the provisions appeared together in the revised chapter. The Attorney General rejected the view that its omission made section 19.022 the sole rule.

Did JM-771 say the Temple and Belton districts needed transferring-district approval?

No. The opinion stated that section 19.008 did not apply to those districts.

Background and statutory framework

Attorney General Opinion JM-670 had addressed a proposed transfer of 1,200 residential units from the Dallas Independent School District to the Richardson Independent School District. It concluded that Dallas board approval was required under section 19.008 before the section 19.022 transfer could occur.

The clarification request argued that this reading would make transfers impractical and conflicted with Central Education Agency of Texas et al. v. Upshur County Commissioners Court et al. JM-771 responded that section 19.008 was a narrow provision based on board size and county population. The opinion quoted a legislative committee report explaining that the source law had originally targeted Dallas ISD and later also covered Fort Worth and Houston because of population growth or changes in trustee numbers.

Section 19.022 allowed county authorities to approve detachment from one district and annexation to a contiguous district, subject to the receiving board's approval. Section 19.008 imposed the additional trustee-approval requirement for a district meeting its board-composition and county-population conditions.

Citations and references

Statutes and legislative material:

• Texas Education Code section 19.008, approval for boundary changes involving specified independent school districts
• Texas Education Code section 19.022, detachment and annexation of territory
• Former Texas Education Code sections 19.331 and 19.261, source provisions discussed in the recodification analysis
• House Bill No. 634, Acts 1983, 68th Legislature, chapter 785, at 1380, effective September 1, 1983

Case and prior opinion:

• Central Education Agency of Texas v. Upshur County Commissioners Court, 30 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 391 (April 29, 1987, rehearing pending)
• Texas Attorney General Opinion JM-670 (1987)
• Texas Attorney General Opinion M-650 (1970)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-0771
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1987/jm0771.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF TEXAS

August 18, 1987

Honorable Stan Schlueter
Chairman
House Ways and Means Committee
Room 404C, Capitol Building
Austin, Texas 78711

Opinion No. JM-771

Re: Clarification of Attorney General Opinion JM-670 (1987)

Dear Representative Schlueter:

You ask for clarification of Attorney General Opinion JM-670 (1987). Your request letter states that JM-670 "destroys section 19.022 [of the Texas Education Code] and virtually precludes any subsequent transfer of properties from one school district to another because as a practical matter no district is going to agree to give up any of its taxable property." You suggest that JM-670 is in conflict with a recent Texas Supreme Court opinion, Central Education Agency of Texas et al. v. Upshur County Commissioners Court et al., 30 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 391 (April 29, 1987, rehearing pending).

Within the limitations prescribed, section 19.022 provides a procedure whereby territory may be detached from a school district and annexed to another school district that is contiguous to the detached territory upon approval by the commissioners courts of the counties in which the affected school districts are located. Approval by a majority of the board of trustees of the receiving school district is required by section 19.022(c). Section 19.022 does not require approval of the board of the transferring district.

Attorney General Opinion JM-670 concluded:

Before a transfer of "1200 residential units" can be made from the Dallas Independent School District to the Richardson Independent School District by detachment and annexation of territory under section 19.022 of the Texas Education Code, a majority of the board of trustees of the Dallas Independent School District, in accordance with the provisions of section 19.008 of the Texas Education Code, must give its approval.

Chapter 19 of the Texas Education Code was amended by House Bill No. 634, Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 785, at 1380, eff. Sept. 1, 1983. The bill stated that chapter 19, as amended, was to be "a substantive revision of the laws concerning creation, consolidation and abolition of school districts." Included therein are sections 19.022 and 19.008.

Section 19.008, subchapter A, "General Provisions," provides in pertinent part:

(a) Any change in the boundaries of an independent school district governed by an elective board of nine members and located in a county having a population of 100,000 or more is not effective unless approved by a majority of the board of trustees of the district. (Emphasis added).

The source law for section 19.008 was former section 19.331 of the Texas Education Code. The Select Committee on Public Education made the following statement relative to this section in its report and recommendations on recodification of the Education Code to the 68th Legislature, at 33-34:

The law codified as Sec. 19.331, Texas Education Code, was originally enacted in 1955 and its population bracket has never been changed. Using the 1950 census and the nine-member board requirement, the law was designed to apply only to Dallas Independent School District. Because of either population growth or changes in the number of trustees, the law now applies to Dallas ISD, Fort Worth ISD, and Houston ISD.

It appears that the scenario about which you are concerned involves the Temple I.S.D. and Belton I.S.D. Obviously, section 19.008 does not apply to these districts nor was it relevant to the litigation involving the Union Grove I.S.D. and Gilmer I.S.D. in Central Education Agency of Texas v. Upshur County Commissioners Court.

Relative to your comment "It would hardly seem important how many members made up the full Board of Education of any district," we can only reply that this is a matter for the Legislature.

A more basic question is whether approval is required of a majority of the board of trustees of the transferring district in a detachment and annexation under section 19.022 where the transferring district is governed by an elected board of nine members and is in a county having a population of 100,000 or more.

The source law for section 19.022 was former section 19.261. Subsection (a) of section 19.261 provided:

The county school trustees or county board of education, as the case may be, in each county of this state shall have the authority, when duly petitioned as herein provided and in compliance with the limitations of Subchapter K of this chapter, to detach from and annex to any school district territory contiguous to the common boundary line of the two districts. (Emphasis added).

Section 19.022 as it presently appears in chapter 19 omits the language "in compliance with the limitations of subchapter K of this chapter" and provides:

(a) In accordance with this section, territory may be detached from a school district and annexed to another school district that is contiguous to the detached territory. (Emphasis added).

The omission of the reference to the limitations of subchapter K and the addition of the language "In accordance with this section" gives rise to a construction that the intent of the legislature was that the procedure for detachment and annexation of territory is to be governed solely by section 19.022. However, the Select Committee on Public Education in its report and recommendations on recodification of the Education Code to the 68th Legislature at page 41 reflects the following reason for the omission of the cross reference in section 19.022:

Subchapter K of the present Chapter 19, referred to in Sec. 19.261(a), is codified as Sec. 19.008 of this revision. This cross-reference is unnecessary and is omitted.

Thus, the inclusion of both sections in the codification negated the necessity of a cross reference. We believe this more nearly reflects the reason the legislature deleted the reference in the codification. To construe the language "in accordance with this section" as reflecting an intent on the part of the legislature that detachment and annexation be governed by section 19.022 without regard to any other provisions in chapter 19 would in effect render section 19.008 nugatory. Most of the procedures delineated in chapter 19 resulting in the changing of the boundaries of independent school districts have similar provisions. Section 19.023(a) begins, "A school district located in a county with a population of 210,000 or more may be annexed to a contiguous independent school district as provided by this section." Section 19.056(a) states, "If only one independent school district is consolidated with one or more common school districts, this section applies." Section 19.057(a) reads, "If two or more independent school districts are included in the consolidation, this section applies." Section 19.059(a) states, "Any consolidated school district may be dissolved by the same procedure provided for consolidation. . . ." Section 19.081(a) provides, "A countywide independent school district may be created under this subchapter. . . ." (Emphasis added).

Both sections 19.008 and 19.022 are part of the same act passed by the 68th Legislature and both concern changes in the boundaries of a school district. As such, the two sections must be construed as a whole and all of its parts must be harmonized if possible, so as to give effect to the entire act according to the intent of the legislature. Attorney General Opinion M-650 (1970).

We remain of the opinion that section 19.008 provides an exception to section 19.022 in that before any changes can be made in the boundaries of a school district coming within the provisions of section 19.008, a majority of the board of trustees of that district must give its approval.

SUMMARY

Approval of a majority of the board of trustees of the receiving school district is required for a detachment and annexation of territory made pursuant to section 19.022 of the Texas Education Code. In the event that the transferring school district is governed by an elective board of nine members and is in a county having a population of 100,000 or more, any change in the boundaries of that district requires the approval of a majority of its board of trustees. Educ. Code §19.008.

JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas

MARY KELLER
Executive Assistant Attorney General

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY
Special Assistant Attorney General

RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee

Prepared by Tom G. Davis
Assistant Attorney General