Can a Texas county appraisal district move a school district's boundary line?

Plain-English summary

Magnolia ISD and Montgomery ISD are neighboring school districts in Montgomery County, and the line between them had been set by survey and unchanged for at least sixty years. A developer told the Montgomery County Appraisal District that one of the survey lines marking the boundary was wrong. The appraisal district then moved part of the survey line, which had the effect of shifting a piece of Magnolia ISD territory into Montgomery ISD, and it did so without asking either school district. A House committee chair asked the AG whether an appraisal district has the authority to detach and annex property between school districts that way.

The AG gave a clear no on both fronts. The Education Code, section 13.051, sets out the only process for detaching territory from one school district and annexing it to a contiguous one: a petition, approval by both districts' boards of trustees (with appeal to the Commissioner of Education), public hearings on the effects, and finally an order from the county commissioners court redefining the boundaries. An appraisal district plays no role in that and has no power to make the transfer.

The AG then addressed the trickier possibility that this was not really a detach-and-annex at all, but a dispute over whether the old survey line was accurate. A Fort Worth appeals court had treated a similar situation as a boundary-location dispute resolvable by declaratory judgment rather than a section 13.051 detachment. But even assuming section 13.051 did not apply, the AG found no independent authority for an appraisal district to determine or correct a school district's legal boundaries. Under the Tax Code, an appraisal district appraises property; it is the taxing unit (here, the school district) that must tell the appraisal district its boundaries, and school districts file their boundary descriptions and maps with the Texas Education Agency. So the school district decides where its physical boundaries are, and the appraisal district records them. The Legislature gave appraisal districts no power to second-guess or move those lines. If the boundary's location is in real doubt, the AG noted, an aggrieved property owner or a district can bring a declaratory judgment action to have a court decide.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2017. 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.

What the opinion meant for those who asked

The requesting committee chair and the Legislature (as the opinion described them): The opinion answered that an appraisal district has no authority to detach and annex property under section 13.051 and no independent authority to determine or alter school district boundaries.

Appraisal districts (as the opinion described them): The opinion treated their role as appraising property and maintaining tax maps from boundary information supplied by the taxing units, not deciding or correcting where a school district's legal boundaries lie.

School districts (as the opinion described them): The opinion placed the responsibility on the districts to determine their physical boundaries and report them to the appraisal office (Tax Code section 6.07) and the Texas Education Agency (Education Code section 13.010), with detachment and annexation handled through the section 13.051 process.

Property owners in the disputed area (as the opinion described them): The opinion pointed to a declaratory judgment action as the route to a judicial determination of where a school district boundary actually is.

Common questions

Can a county appraisal district move a school district boundary?
Under this opinion, no. The AG concluded the Legislature gave appraisal districts no independent authority to determine or alter the boundaries a school district has established.

Who can detach property from one school district and add it to another?
The school districts, through the Education Code section 13.051 process: a petition, approval by both boards (appealable to the Commissioner of Education), public hearings, and a final order from the county commissioners court.

What if an old survey line really is inaccurate?
The opinion said that even if the dispute is about the accuracy of a boundary survey rather than a detachment, the appraisal district still cannot decide it. The remedy is a declaratory judgment action in court, which can be brought by an aggrieved property owner.

What is the appraisal district actually supposed to do with boundaries?
The Tax Code makes it responsible for appraising property and maintaining tax maps, and requires the taxing unit to notify the appraisal office of its boundaries within 30 days of any change. It does not authorize the appraisal district to set or correct those boundaries.

Is an appraisal district a taxing unit?
No. The opinion noted that an appraisal district does not impose taxes and so is not a "taxing unit" under the Tax Code.

Background and statutory framework

Education Code section 13.051 provides the administrative scheme for detaching and annexing territory between contiguous school districts: it begins with a petition that both boards of trustees must approve (subject to appeal to the Commissioner of Education), requires hearings on the effects on affected persons, and ends with the county commissioners court entering an order redefining the boundaries (Tex. Educ. Code § 13.051(a), (d), (g)-(j), (i)). The AG concluded a tax appraisal district has no authority to detach and transfer property under that section.

It was not clear the appraisal district had performed a section 13.051 detachment rather than acting on a claim that the long-standing survey line was inaccurate. A Texas court treated a comparable situation as a boundary-location dispute resolvable by declaratory judgment rather than a detachment requiring TEA oversight (Nw. Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Carroll Indep. Sch. Dist.; Carroll Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Nw. Indep. Sch. Dist.). If the Montgomery County dispute was similar, section 13.051 might not apply.

Even so, the AG found no independent authority for an appraisal district to determine or modify a school district's boundaries. Chapter 6 of the Tax Code makes an appraisal district responsible for appraising property for each taxing unit (Tex. Tax Code § 6.01(a)-(b); 34 Tex. Admin. Code § 9.3002 requires tax maps), but no provision lets it determine or correct a taxing unit's boundaries. Instead, the taxing unit must notify the appraisal office of altered boundaries within 30 days (Tex. Tax Code § 6.07), and each school district must file a boundary description and map with the Texas Education Agency (Tex. Educ. Code § 13.010(a)). An appraisal district is not itself a taxing unit because it imposes no taxes (Tex. Tax Code § 1.04(12); Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JM-919 (1988)). Reading these provisions together, the school district determines its physical boundaries and reports them; the Legislature gave the appraisal district no authority to alter them. A declaratory judgment action is available to resolve a genuine boundary-location question.

Citations

Statutes and regulations:

• Tex. Educ. Code §§ 13.010, 13.010(a), 13.051, 13.051(a), 13.051(d), 13.051(g), 13.051(h), 13.051(i), 13.051(j)
• Tex. Tax Code §§ 1.04(12), 6.01(a)-(b), 6.07
• 34 Tex. Admin. Code § 9.3002
• Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JM-919 (1988)

Cases:

• Nw. Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Carroll Indep. Sch. Dist., 441 S.W.3d 684 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2014, pet. denied)
• Carroll Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Nw. Indep. Sch. Dist., 245 S.W.3d 620 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2008, pet. denied)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/ken-paxton/kp-0175
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/2017/kp0175.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from the official PDF. Minor extraction artifacts were corrected; the linked PDF is authoritative.

KEN PAXTON
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

November 13, 2017

The Honorable Abel Herrero Opinion No. KP-0175
Chair, Committee on Land & Resource Management
Texas House of Representatives Re: Whether an appraisal district is authorized
Post Office Box 2910 to modify the boundary of a school district upon
Austin, Texas 78768-2910 receipt of information suggesting the survey
line is inaccurate (RQ-0168-KP)

Dear Representative Herrero:

    You ask whether "a tax appraisal district has authority to detach and annex property from an independent school district." [1] As background, you explain that "the Magnolia Independent School District ("Magnolia ISD") and the Montgomery Independent School District ("Montgomery ISD") are contiguous public school districts located within Montgomery County." Request Letter at 1. You further explain that the recognized boundary line between the districts was "set by survey lines" and has not changed "for at least sixty years." Id. [2] You tell us that a developer provided information to the Montgomery County Appraisal District "suggesting that one of the survey lines marking the boundary between Magnolia ISD and Montgomery ISD was incorrect," and thereafter the appraisal district "moved a portion of the survey line," which resulted in "annexing a portion of Magnolia ISD territory to Montgomery ISD." Id. Furthermore, you state that the appraisal district did not seek approval from either school district "to make this change to the well-established boundary line." Id.

    You question the appraisal district's authority to take such action and suggest that section 13.051 of the Education Code provides the exclusive procedure to effectuate this change. Id. at 1-2. Section 13.051 provides an administrative scheme for detaching and annexing territory between contiguous school districts. TEX. EDUC. CODE § 13.051. The process begins with a petition, which both school districts' boards of trustees must approve, subject to appeal to the Commissioner of Education. Id. § 13.051(a), (d), (j). The school districts must also hold hearings to consider the effects of the proposed change on affected persons. Id. § 13.051(g)-(h). If approved, the commissioners court of the county where the territory is located must enter an order redefining the boundaries of the districts affected by the transfer. Id. § 13.051(i). If Montgomery County residents living within the disputed area, historically considered part of Magnolia ISD, desired to detach their property and annex it into Montgomery ISD, section 13.051 would provide an appropriate avenue to attempt such a change. The tax appraisal district has no authority to detach property from one school district and transfer the property to another school district under section 13.051.

     However, based on the limited facts provided, it is not clear that the appraisal district detached property from one district and annexed it to another as contemplated in section 13.051. It appears a dispute exists about the accuracy of a survey relied on to determine the boundary between the two districts, and the appraisal district concluded that the long-standing boundary line adopted by the school districts is inaccurate. [3] Addressing a similar dispute between two school districts, one Texas court held section 13.051 of the Education Code inapplicable

             because one district was not seeking to actually detach or annex additional property into its district, which would have required TEA oversight, but was instead seeking a judicial declaration of the "parties' rights, interests, and obligations," as to the Disputed Area and the location of its boundary, which could be appropriately resolved through a declaratory judgment action.

Nw. Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Carroll Indep. Sch. Dist., 441 S.W.3d 684, 687 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2014, pet. denied) (citing Carroll Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Nw. Indep. Sch. Dist., 245 S.W.3d 620, 625-26 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2008, pet. denied)). In that case, the districts defined their joint boundary as conterminous with the county line. Carroll Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Nw. Indep. Sch. Dist., 245 S.W.3d at 624. A court determined that the county line was farther north than previously believed, and a boundary dispute thereafter arose between the two school districts about whether to modify the school district boundary line consistent with the newly drawn county line. Id. Clarifying the nature of the suit, the court explained that one school district did not seek to detach and annex area from the other district but instead sought a "determination regarding in which of these districts the Disputed Area is, and always has been, located." Id. at 625. If the nature of the dispute in Montgomery County is similar, section 13.051 may not apply to the issue you raise.

     Even if section 13.051 is inapplicable, the question remains whether the appraisal district has independent authority to determine the accuracy of the survey lines establishing the boundaries of the school districts and to modify those lines. Chapter 6 of the Tax Code sets out the procedures for the local administration of property taxes and establishes a tax appraisal district in each county, making the appraisal district "responsible for appraising property in the district for ad valorem tax purposes of each taxing unit that imposes ad valorem taxes on property in the district." TEX. TAX CODE § 6.01(a)-(b); see also 34 TEX. ADMIN. CODE § 9.3002 (requiring appraisal offices to "develop and maintain a system of tax maps covering the entire area of the taxing units for whom each office appraises property"). No provision within chapter 6 authorizes the appraisal district to determine or correct the boundaries of a taxing unit. [4] Instead, the Tax Code requires the taxing unit, such as a school district, to notify the appraisal district of the taxing unit's boundaries: "If a new taxing unit is formed or an existing taxing unit's boundaries are altered, the unit shall notify the appraisal office of the new boundaries within 30 days after the date the unit is formed or its boundaries are altered." TEX. TAX CODE § 6.07. Furthermore, section 13.010 of the Education Code requires each school district to file with the Texas Education Agency:

             (1) a complete and legally sufficient description of the boundaries of the district;

             (2) a map of the district that:

                 (A) is drawn to the county general highway maps produced by the Texas Department of Transportation or a similar map of sufficient detail to display the names of visible features that the boundaries follow or to which the boundaries are in close proximity; and

                 (B) is an accurate and legible representation of the boundaries in relationship to other features on the map; and

             (3) a list of voting precincts in the district ....

TEX. EDUC. CODE § 13.010(a). Read together, these provisions require a school district to determine where the physical boundaries of the district exist and to forward that information to the appropriate entities. [5] We find no separate authority authorizing an appraisal district to make an independent determination as to the legal boundaries of a school district. Thus, the Legislature has not given an appraisal district independent authority to determine or alter the boundaries established by a school district.

                                  SUMMARY

                   A tax appraisal district has no authority to detach property from one school district and transfer the property to another school district under section 13.051 of the Education Code.

                  The Legislature has not given an appraisal district independent authority to determine or alter the boundaries established by a school district.

                                        Very truly yours,

                                        KEN PAXTON
                                        Attorney General of Texas

JEFFREY C. MATEER
First Assistant Attorney General

BRANTLEY STARR
Deputy First Assistant Attorney General

VIRGINIA K. HOELSCHER
Chair, Opinion Committee

[1] Letter from Honorable Abel Herrero, Chair, House Comm. on Land & Res. Mgmt., to Honorable Ken Paxton, Tex. Att'y Gen. at 1 (June 29, 2017), https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinion/requests-for-opinions-rqs ("Request Letter").

[2] Briefing provided by Magnolia ISD similarly states that the "issue here is the location of the T.J. Nichols Survey line which serves as a marker delineating the boundary between the two school districts." See Brief from Douglas R. Brock, Walsh Gallegos Trevino Russo & Kyle, P.C., to Virginia K. Hoelscher, Chair, Op. Comm. at 1 (July 27, 2017) ("Magnolia ISD Brief") (on file with the Op. Comm.).

[3] Magnolia ISD informs us that it has "no records or recollection of any boundary dispute issues between the two districts and specifically no concerns between the two districts over the location of the T.J. Nichols Survey Line." Magnolia ISD Brief at 1. However, the facts as described indicate that at least one property owner in the disputed area questions the accuracy of the boundary line. See id. at 2; Request Letter at 1.

[4] A taxing unit is an entity "that is authorized to impose and is imposing ad valorem taxes on property." TEX. TAX CODE § 1.04(12). An appraisal district itself does not have authority to impose taxes and is therefore not a taxing unit. Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JM-919 (1988) at 2.

[5] To the extent that a question exists about the location of a district's boundaries, a declaratory judgment action may be brought, including by an aggrieved property owner, to obtain a judicial determination as to the actual location of the boundary of the school district.