Oregon Advisory Opinions January 01, 1966: OP 6062

Advisory Opinion Text

A county is not required to provide office space for the district superintend­ent of an administrative school district, even though the territory of the district comprises the entire county.

No. 6062 January 4, 1966 Honorable John F. Cushman

District Attorney, Hood River County You have requested our opinion as to whether or not Hood River County, act­ing through its board of commissioners, must provide space in the county court­house for the district superintendent of the Hood River County School District. We regard this inquiry as involving the general question of the obligation of Hood River County to furnish office space to the district superintendent and it will be discussed accordingly.

Hood River County School District

No. 1 is an administrative school dis­trict, the territory of which comprises the entire county. This district came into being through reorganization pro­cedures on July 1, 1963. Prior to that time, the county schools had operated under the provisions of ORS chapter 333, commonly referred to as the "county unit system," and the county district superintendent of schools was furnished an office and furniture by the county under authority of ORS 333.240, which provides as follows:

"The county court shall provide the county district superintendent of schools with an office in the county courthouse or other available location and with necessary office furniture, which shall be paid for out of the county general fund."

Although the foregoing provision of law requires that a county furnish an office and furniture to the superintend­ent employed by a county school board of a county unit system, we do not find any similar statutory requirement in the case of a superintendent employed by an administrative school district. By virtue of the reorganization procedures, no further prerogatives of the county unit system remain since it is provided by statute that:

"(3) Notwithstanding any other law, when an administrative school district comes into existence all territory included in the ad­ministrative school district is withdrawn from any other type of school district, except the intermediate education district or the area education district, of which it may have been a part and becomes a part of the adminis­trative school district. * * *" ORS 330.660, as amended by chapter 100, Sec. 95, Oregon Laws 1965.

It has been suggested that the provi­sions of ORS 330.775 would impose an obligation upon the county to furnish office space for the district superintend­ent of an administrative district. This section provides:

"When an administrative school district comes into existence and includes all of the territory within a county, exclusive of joint territory that reports in another county but including joint territory that reports within the county:

"(1) The district superintendent of the ad­ministrative school district shall act as the county school superintendent of the county.

"(2) The intermediate education district in the county is abolished."

In order to evaluate the applicability of this section to the question presented, it is necessary to consider some of the legislative history concerning the office of county school superintendent. The elective office of county school super­intendent was created by an Act of the legislature which is to be found in Sec.15, Laws of Oregon 1899, at p. 215.

This Act also provided for a number of powers and duties of the office and these provisions with subsequent changes were most recently codified in ORS 329.010 through 329.130. As an elected county officer, the county school superintendent was an official of the county and the expense of his office, as well as his salary, was provided for in the county budget in the same man­ner as other county offices. Chapter 265, General Laws of Oregon 1921, pro­vided that the elective office of county superintendent is abolished in those counties in which the county unit sys­tem becomes effective. This was the law creating the county unit system and it also provided for a county district school superintendent who was to be employed by the county school board and was to be provided by the county with an office in the county courthouse or other available location, together with necessary furniture (ORS 333.240, supra).

The rural school district was created by a referendum measure of the 1945 legislature, approved November 5, 1946, by a vote of the people. An addition to this Act was made by chapter 573, Oregon Laws 1947, and provided that the elective office of the county school superintendent should be abolished in those counties in which the rural school law was in effect and included all school districts in the county, and provided further that the rural school board would employ a district superintendent of schools in such counties and that office space would be provided for the superintendent in rooms provided for the rural school board by the county. Chapter 678, Oregon Laws 1957, repealed ORS 329.010, 329.020 and 329.030, which were the provision for election and term of office of the county school superin­tendent, the provision for filling vacan­cies in office and the provision for qualifications for office. This had the effect of abolishing entirely the elective office of county school superintendent, although for the time being it left in effect the remaining statutory provisions in ORS chapter 329 which related to the office. Chapter 544, Oregon Laws 1963, repealed these remaining provi­sions.

This last legislation also abolished the rural school district and created as its successor the intermediate edu­cation district. The intermediate educa­tion district law retained the provision for employment of a superintendent by the board and the provision that office space was to be provided by the county. The few remaining provisions found elsewhere in the statutes which might be said to relate to the elective office of county school superintendent after 1963 have been further amended or repealed by the 1965 legislature and it may now be said that for all practical purposes nothing remains of the powers or duties of the elective office of county school superintendent.

Both the rural school law (and its successor the intermediate education district law) and the county unit law have contemplated a county-wide oper­ational unit with a school board and its appointive superintendent replacing the elective office of county school super­intendent. In each instance when this has been accomplished, the legislature has provided that office facilities shall be furnished to the appointed superin­tendent by the county. Administrative districts were created by chapter 619, Oregon Laws 1957, as a part of a com­prehensive legislative plan for county-wide reorganization of school districts. The accomplishment of a particular re­organization plan could result in an administrative district which would comprise all of the territory within the county, thus also creating a county-wide operational unit. This has in fact oc­curred in Hood River County as well as at least one other county in the state. Presumably, it was in anticipa­tion of this occurrence that ORS 330.775, supra, was enacted by the legislature in 1959. This section provides that the superintendent of the administrative school district shall "act as the county school superintendent of the county."

As noted in the legislative history above, at the time this provision was enacted there still remained certain statutory duties and powers of the elec­tive office of county school superinten­dent although the office itself had been abolished. However, unlike the pro­visions of the county unit law and of the rural school law, there was no pro­vision for the county to furnish office facilities to the district superintendent of an administrative district when he was to "act as the county school super­intendent of the county." In view of the legislative history we can only as­sume that this omission was intentional, and in accordance with the general rule for construction of statutes it is not our prerogative to supply such omission. See ORS 174.010.

Nor can we view ORS 330.775 as in any way constituting the administrative district superintendent a county officer for purposes of inclusion in the county budget. Cf. Opinions of the Attorney General, 1950-1952, p. 237. It therefore appears that this provision cannot be deemed to impose an obligation upon the county to furnish office space to the district superintendent of the adminis­trative school district. This conclusion becomes especially forceful with respect to the present situation in Hood River County, as the statutory powers and duties of the elective county school superintendent no longer exist.

Finding no requirement that office space shall be furnished by the county, we therefore answer your question in the negative.

ROBERT Y. THORNTON, Attorney General, By Loren H. Russell, Assistant.

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