Article VII, Section 4 of the Texas Constitution
As amended November 8, 2011:
The lands herein set apart to the Permanent School fund, shall be sold under such regulations, at such times, and on such terms as may be prescribed by law; and the Legislature shall not have power to grant any relief to purchasers thereof. The proceeds of such sales must be used to acquire other land for the Permanent School fund as provided by law or the proceeds shall be invested by the comptroller of public accounts, as may be directed by the Board of Education herein provided for, in the bonds of the United States, the State of Texas, or counties in said State, or in such other securities, and under such restrictions as may be prescribed by law; and the State shall be responsible for all investments.
Editor Comments
As adopted in 1876, this section read: "The lands herein set apart to the public free school fund shall be sold under such regulations, at such times and on such terms as may be prescribed by law; and the Legislature shall not have power to grant any relief to the purchasers thereof. The comptroller shall invest the proceeds of such sales, and of those heretofore made, as may be directed by the Board of Education herein provided for, in the bonds of this State, if the same can be obtained, otherwise in United States bonds; and the United States bonds now belonging to said fund shall likewise be invested in State bonds, if the same can be obtained on terms advantageous to the school fund."
The section has been amended four times. The most recent amendment clarified the section's two references to the Permanent School Fund.
Note that Subsection (f) ("[n]otwithstanding any other provision of this constitution") of Article VII, Section 5 modifies this section's substance.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- Camp v. Gulf Production Co., 61 S.W.2d 773, 776 (Tex. 1933) ("Under section 4 of article 7 . . . . The power and duty to supervise and control the sale of the public school lands of the state carries with it by necessary implication the right to provide means whereby the amount of land owned by the state may be judicially ascertained and determined, so long as the means provided are not in contravention of any constitutional provision. We think that, when the act is properly construed, it does nothing more, and nothing less, than provide a perfectly constitutional and convenient method by which it may be judicially determined whether a given tract of land is vacant public school land.")
- Greene v. Robison, 8 S.W.2d 655, 659 (Tex. 1928) ("The sovereign people preferred a country of independent homes, of independent citizens, to a feudal system, and therefore in their Constitution provided for the sale of its vast domain of public lands. The Legislature provided for their sale to homesteaders only, with requirement of occupancy; also it provided that they should be leased for periods of years. It also granted permanent easements over them for railroad rights of way, and for irrigation systems and sites for water reservoirs, covering hundreds of acres. These acts were vigorously attacked on the same grounds as urged here, but in well-reasoned opinions were all upheld.")
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (this multi-volume and up-to-date resource is available at all law libraries and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (this one-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (this two-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (this resource is published and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)