Knowlton v. Baumhover
| Citation | 166 N.W. 202,182 Iowa 691 |
| Decision Date | 18 January 1918 |
| Docket Number | 30546 |
| Parties | SHELDON KNOWLTON, Appellee, v. HENRY BAUMHOVER et al., Appellants |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Iowa |
Appeal from Carroll District Court.--F. M. POWERS, Judge.
SUIT in equity to enjoin the defendants, directors and officers of a school corporation, from appropriating, contributing, or paying out public school funds for the support, or in aid of the maintenance or support, of a parochial school, and for other equitable relief. The defendants denied the allegations of the petition; and, on trial to the court, a decree was entered substantially as prayed, and defendants appeal.
Affirmed.
Reynolds & Meyers, for appellants.
Sims & Kuehnle, for appellee.
Maple River Township District is a school corporation of Carroll County. One of its subdistricts includes a small village bearing the name Maple River, and is spoken of in the record as "Maple River District," or "Maple District," and sometimes as "No. 4." For many years prior to March, 1905, a schoolhouse had been provided for the use of this subdistrict, and a public school regularly maintained therein. At the March, 1905, meeting of the board of directors, a resolution was adopted to the effect that, because of the "inadequacy" of the school building, and for the "saving of expense," it was advisable to rent for school purposes "the north room of the second story of the building standing on Lot 11, Block 7, in the town of Maple River, for a period of ten years at a yearly rental of two dollars and fifty cents and that the president of the board be authorized to enter into such a lease with Joseph Kuemper." This was done, and the schoolhouse property was sold and disposed of. From that time forward, the only public school, if any, in Maple District, has been maintained in the place described in the lease above mentioned. In the year 1914, this suit was brought by the plaintiff, a resident taxpayer of the district, alleging that the school so maintained is not a public school, within the meaning of the law, but is, in fact, a parochial or religious school, which was established and has been and still is being conducted by and in behalf of the religious organization known as the Roman Catholic Church, and that the board of directors and the treasurer of the district have paid out and expended, and, if not restrained from so doing, will continue to pay out and expend, the public funds of the district for the benefit and support of the said parochial school. Upon this showing, an injunction was prayed, forbidding all such use of the public funds, and for other equitable relief. The answer of the defendants is a denial generally of the allegations of the petition.
The trial court, after hearing the evidence, found for the plaintiff, and entered a decree perpetually enjoining the defendants and their successors in office from using or appropriating the moneys of the district to such end, and commanding the board of directors to provide a school building for the use of the subdistrict, and meanwhile, until such building could be provided, that a suitable room be rented for that purpose elsewhere than in connection with the parochial school. From this decree, the defendants have appealed.
I. While there is dispute at several points concerning certain matters of fact, very much of the testimony, and enough to fairly determine the merits of the case, is either undisputed or thoroughly well established by a clear preponderance of the evidence. It appears that the school township and subdistrict in question are peopled very largely by families of the Roman Catholic faith, and that parents of that communion prefer, whenever it is possible, that their children be trained or taught in parochial or religious schools of that faith, until they have finished a course which is comparable to that which is covered by the first eight grades in public schools. A Roman Catholic house of worship, known as the "St. Francis Church," had been erected in that vicinity, and there religious services were regularly conducted by priests to whom the pastoral charge of that parish was, from time to time, committed. By its side was also erected a building in which a parochial school was maintained. This building was of two stories, each having a schoolroom. The teachers in these rooms were Catholic sisters, wearing the characteristic garb and regalia of their order, who gave daily instruction to their pupils, not only in branches of secular learning, but also in the Catholic catechism and in the elementary principles of Catholic faith. The building as a whole was, to all intents and purposes, a single schoolhouse, and the classes taught therein constituted a single school of two departments, established and maintained for the express purpose of giving religious training to its pupils, and at the same time affording such pupils, as nearly as practicable, the equivalent of a common school education. Therefore, when we say that the property described in the resolution adopted by the board of directors as the "north room of the second story of the building standing on Lot 11, Block 7, in the town of Maple River," was in fact the upper room of the parochial school building which we have described, and the nominal lessor, "Joseph Kuemper," was the priest in charge of St. Francis Church, which had the parochial school under its fostering care, the inevitable certainty of this controversy is plainly seen, and should have been visible to the parties to the transaction.
Let us now look briefly into the practical working of the arrangement thus made. Miss Martin, whose religious name is Sister Estella, and who was in charge of the upper room of the parochial school, was employed by the board of directors as teacher of the subdistrict school, and she took charge, or rather she remained in charge, of that room, while the lower room remained in charge of another sister of the same order who continued to conduct it as an avowedly church school. The pupils in both room were organized and graded after the manner of a single school of two departments, the younger children being taught in the lower room, and the older ones in the upper. From the beginning, and for a period of more than nine years, the study of the Catholic catechism and the giving of religious instruction were part of the daily program of instruction in both rooms. The walls were hung with pictures of the Holy Virgin, of Christ crowned with thorns, of the Crucifixion, and others, all unmistakably appealing to Catholic sentiment, and the teachers were invariably arrayed in the striking robes of their order. Every influence of association and environment, and of precept and example, to say nothing of authority, was thus contrived to keep those of Catholic parentage loyal to their faith, and to bias in the same direction those of non-Catholic parentage. In short, so far as its immediate management and control were concerned, the manner of imparting instruction, both secular and religious, and the influence and leadership exercised over the minds of the pupils, it was as thoroughly and completely a religious parochial school as it could well have been had it continued in name, as well as in practice, the school of the parish under the special charge and supervision of the church, its clergy, and religious orders. The act of the board in thus surrendering its proper functions and duties is not to be explained as a mere change in the location of the public school, or a mere exercise of the discretion which the law gives to the board to rent a schoolroom when circumstances render it necessary. It was a practical elimination of the public school as such, and a transfer of its name and its revenues to the upper department of the parochial school. That the two departments, the so-called public school in the upper room, and the church school in the lower room, were, in practical operation, considered and treated as a unit, a single school of two departments, is demonstrated by their organization and grading, to which we have already referred. That Sister Estella was regarded as the head of this school as an entirety, and the sister in the lower room as her assistant, is quite apparent. Indeed, on at least one occasion, when, in her alleged capacity as teacher of the public school, Sister Estella undertook to make her regular report of the pupils attending her school, together with other statistics relating to the school and its work, she included therein the total number of pupils in both rooms, their average attendance, and other facts and figures relating thereto. It is true, the secretary of the board, who came into office after this report was made, and received it, with other papers, from his predecessor, to whom it had been delivered by the teacher, seems to have had an eye to the preservation of appearances, and wrote upon the document the words, "Not Accepted;" but by what authority is not explained. It is further said by this secretary that he procured the teacher to make an amended report, omitting therefrom all statistics except those pertaining to the school in the upper room. But if those schools were not in fact one and under the same control, if they were distinct and independent, as is now claimed, it is quite incredible that the sister in charge, being called upon for a report of her school, could have been led into the blunder of including therein all the statistics of both. She was not produced as a witness, and no attempt is made to explain this inconsistency. It is much easier to believe that, in the honest simplicity of her heart, she made her report in accordance...
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