Article XI, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution

This section was repealed August 5, 1969.

Editor Comments

The former section was adopted in 1876 and never amended.

It read: "The Legislature may constitute any city or town a separate and independent school district. And when the citizens of any city or town have a charter, authorizing the city authorities to levy and collect a tax for the support and maintenance of a public institution of learning, such tax may hereafter be levied and collected, if, at an election held for that purpose, two-thirds of the tax payers of such city or town shall vote for such tax."

Categorized as "deadwood," it and numerous other sections were repealed by the same ballot proposition.

—Attorney Steve Smith

Recent Decisions

None.

Historic Decisions

• City of Ft. Worth v. Davis, 57 Tex. 225, 234 (1882) ("It must be confessed that the true meaning of this section is involved in doubt; and because of that fact, we are justified in giving weight to the construction given it by the legislative and executive departments. That construction is that . . . . But it is the opinion of the court that it cannot be said to be clearly wrong, and that the statutes authorizing town taxation for the support of public schools, upon a vote of two-thirds of the tax-payers of the town, cannot be said to be clearly unconstitutional and void. Having given the subject careful examination, and being still in doubt, the opinion of the court is that the statutes in question must be held valid.")

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)