Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-56 Page: 1 of 3
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OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL - STATE OF TEXAS
JOHN CORNYN
May 26, 1999
The Honorable William C. "Bill" Sowder Opinion No. JC-0056
Criminal District Attorney
Lubbock County Courthouse Re: Whether a constable may execute service of
P. O. Box 10536 process to enforce the compulsory school
Lubbock, Texas 79408-3536 attendance provisions of the Education Code
(RQ-1147)
Dear Mr. Sowder:
You ask whether a constable may be required to serve legal process on individuals who fail
to appear at a truancy hearing. You specifically ask whether section 25.091 of the Texas Education
Code, which grants school attendance officers the power and duty to serve legal process, means that
only an attendance officer may serve legal process dealing with the compulsory attendance
provisions of the Education Code, thus making it unlawful for a constable to serve the same. You
say that the constables have argued that they may not legally serve these summons since the
Education Code places the power and duty on the attendance officer. In our view, constables, when
directed to do so by a lawful officer such as a justice of the peace, may also serve legal process on
a person who fails to appear at a truancy hearing. Further, constables do not have discretion to
determine what process they will serve, when such service has been ordered by a lawful magistrate.
In a county or independent school district that has selected a school attendance officer, the
attendance officer has the express power and duty to investigate each case of unexcused absence
from school, to administer oaths and serve legal process, and to enforce the compulsory school
attendance law. TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. 25.091(a)(1), (2), (3) (Vernon 1996). However, the
Education Code provides that "[i]n addition to enforcement by a school attendance officer, the
compulsory attendance provisions of this subchapter may be enforced by any peace officer, as
defined by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure." Id. 25.096. Constables and deputy
constables are peace officers. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 2.12 (Vernon Supp. 1999). Given these
provisions, the question is whether section 25.091 confers an exclusive grant of authority to serve
legal process in truancy matters to the attendance officer alone.
The grant of authority to attendance officers is not exclusive. No language restricting the
power to serve process in these matters to attendance officers is to be found in section 25.091, and
section 25.096's provision that "any peace officer" may enforce the attendance law provides strongevidence to the contrary. Sections 25.091 and 25.096 may be harmonized by reading them together
to provide authority to attendance officers and to any other peace officers (in which category
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-56, text, May 26, 1999; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274365/m1/1/?q=%221999%22: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.