State Attorney General....Opportunity Loss...

It is unfortunate that the board of trustees did not seek an advisory opinion from the state attorney general’s office related the Richard Fleming case , prior to any actionor litigation. According to the state Attorney General's website :“An Attorney General Opinion is a written interpretation of existing law. The Attorney General writes opinions as part of his responsibility to act as legal counsel for the State of Texas. Unless or until an opinion is modified or overruled by statute, judicial decision, or subsequent Attorney General Opinion, an Attorney General Opinion is presumed to correctly state the law. Accordingly, courts have stated that Attorney General Opinions are highly persuasive and are entitled to great weight. Ultimate determination of a law's applicability, meaning or constitutionality is left to the courts.” CFBISD has sought Opinions from the state attorney general office in the past. An AG opinion may have prevented the expense of prolong ligitgation. The Attorney General is relucant to issue an opinion, once ligitgation has begun. Perhaps the Board of Trustees felt that seeking an opinion was no longer an option once an restraining order was filed by Stan Ingram. http://carrolltonblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/05/carrollton-resident-who-filed.html Mr. Ingram, released statement through his attorney as to motivation for the restraining order, "I believe the boundary, election and tax issues are of legal nature and need to be decided by our State legal system. I have no personal or professional preferences over the outcome. I want it to be fair, legal and quickly resolved." Mr. Ingram should be pleased,the District and Mr. Fleming are engaged in a bitter legal battle, which may take years and tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of dollars to resolve. Did Mr. Ingram really believe that once the question of Mr. Fleming eligibility was referred to the State legal system that the issue could be "quickly resolved?" It is unfortunate that in time of multiple year tax budget deficits and cuts, the District finds itself in expensive and tie consuming legal battle. No one can predict the outcome of Richard Fleming V. Carrollton Farmers Branch Independent School District, however, it is apparent that resources that could be dedicated to education are now diverted to the pockets of trial attorneys. It is unfortunate, that Board of Trustees missed an opportunity to resolve the issue of Mr. Fleming's eligibility fairly, legally, and quickly with out embroiling the issue in the quagmire of that is the State legal system.