Luetkemeyer v. Kaufmann

• Decision Date: 24 September 1973
• Docket Number: No. 1703.,1703.
• Citation: 364 F. Supp. 376
• Parties: Urban B. LUETKEMEYER et al., Plaintiffs, v. Harold KAUFMANN et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

364 F. Supp. 376

Urban B. LUETKEMEYER et al., Plaintiffs, v. Harold KAUFMANN et al., Defendants.

No. 1703.

United States District Court, W. D. Missouri, C. D.

September 24, 1973.

Thomas J. Downey, Louis C. DeFeo, Jr., Jefferson City, Mo., for plaintiffs.

John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., D. Brook Bartlett, Asst. Atty. Gen., John W. Inglish, Carson, Inglish, Monaco & Coil, Jefferson City, Mo., for defendants.

Before GIBSON, Circuit Judge, and COLLINSON and OLIVER, District Judges.

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND FINAL JUDGMENT DENYING RELIEF PRAYED FOR BY PLAINTIFFS

JOHN W. OLIVER, District Judge.

I.

Plaintiffs challenge those statutes of the State of Missouri which provide for transportation of public school pupils to and from school but which do not provide like transportation for the pupils of church-related schools. Plaintiffs contend that this denial of transportation violates particular provisions of the United States Constitution. We disagree.

Plaintiffs Urban Luetkemeyer and his children reside in the Cole County, Missouri, R-III School District. That school district transports to and from school at public expense children attending the public school. It refused, however, to transport plaintiffs' children to and from St. Martin's School, which is operated by the local parish of the Catholic Church and which they attend. That refusal was based upon the absence of any specific statutory authority to expend public funds for such transportation; upon provisions of the Missouri Constitution prohibiting the use of state funds, directly or indirectly, in aid of religion or religious institutions; and upon the decision of McVey v. Hawkins, 364 Mo. 44, 258 S.W.2d 927 (1953), which declared that the expenditure of public funds for the transportation of school children was not lawful under the Constitution and laws of the State of Missouri.

The plaintiffs contend that the transportation of school children is a public service primarily benefiting children and their parents and not parochial schools. The denial of that benefit, plaintiffs contend, results in an arbitrary and capricious classification which unconstitutionally denies plaintiffs equal protection of the laws, denies plaintiffs of liberty without due process of law, in that it forces them to forego the exercise of their right to freely exercise their religion in order to secure a public benefit, and penalizes the free exercise of religion in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The basic questions presented are whether the State of Missouri, once it determines to provide bus transportation only to public school students, is compelled by the Constitution of the United States to also provide like transportation to students who attend a parochial school; and whether the Missouri law which does not so provide must be declared to be repugnant to the Federal Constitution.

The relevant facts were wholly stipulated. Our findings of fact therefore quote or paraphrase the stipulation of the parties.

II. FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The plaintiffs are Urban Luetkemeyer and his children, Kennan and Jacqueline, ages 14 and 10, respectively. The Luetkemeyers live in a rural area of Cole County, Missouri, adjacent to U. S. Highway 50. Their home is approximately 200 yards from the highway.

2. The Luetkemeyers are members of the Catholic Church and the Luetkemeyer children attend St. Martins School which is operated by St. Martins Parish of the Catholic Church. The school is located in the unincorporated village of St. Martins on U.S. Highway 50, approximately 2 miles west of the Luetkemeyer home. St. Martins School is an elementary school which offers a curriculum for grades 1 through 8. It would violate the religious conscience of Urban Luetkemeyer to send his children to public schools for their education as long as a Catholic church-related school is available on a day school basis for the education of his children.

3. Cole County R-III School District is a public school district which operates an elementary school in Centertown, a village located on U. S. Highway 50, approximately 7 miles west of the Luetkemeyer home. Both St. Martins School and the Luetkemeyer home are within the boundaries of Cole County R-III School District. During the 1970-1971 school year, there were 207 children enrolled in grades 1 through 8 in attendance at Cole County R-III School. During the 1970-1971 school year there were 205 children enrolled in grades 1 through 8 in St. Martins School.

4. Local public school districts with the assistance and cooperation of the State of Missouri through the State Board of Education must provide transportation to and from home and school for all children living more than 3½ miles from school and may provide transportation for all children living one mile or more from school pursuant to Section 167.231, R.S.Mo., 1969, V.A.M. S. The expense of the transportation is paid by state funds and local funds derived from state and local taxes pursuant to Sections 162.161 and 167.251, R.S. Mo., 1969, V.A.M.S.

5. Cole County R-III School District with the assistance and cooperation of the State Board of Education has established and operates a system of school bus transportation to and from home and school for children who attend the public school maintained and operated by the district. Free transportation is offered to all children who live one mile or more from school. During the 1970-1971 school year, the average daily number of children enrolled in grades 1 through 8 of the Cole County R-III School District who were transported to and from home and school was 130.35. Five buses with passenger capacity ranging from 66 to 48 passengers each and four other vehicles with the capacity of 12 passengers each are operated by the district for the transportation of children to and from school. Cole County R-III School District was reimbursed by the State of Missouri for all of the total cost of providing said transportation (except for $126.96, which was the cost of transporting two pupils who were not eligible for state transportation).

6. In 1970 Urban Luetkemeyer paid more than $985.00 in real and personal property taxes to Cole County, more than $625.00 in income taxes to the State of Missouri, and more than $250.00 in sales taxes to the State of Missouri. As the owner and operator of a retail business establishment, he collected from his customers and paid to the State of Missouri more than $4,250 in sales taxes in 1970. The income taxes and sales taxes paid by Urban Luetkemeyer and the sales taxes collected by him from his customers have been paid to the State of Missouri and deposited in the General Revenue Fund of the State of Missouri, and a portion of that fund has been appropriated to the Public School Fund of the State of Missouri. A portion of the Public School Fund has been allocated and paid to the Cole County R-III School District in reimbursement of the cost of providing pupil transportation as set forth above.

7. A school bus route established and operated by the Cole County R-III School District passes by a point on U.S. Highway 50 which is approximately 200 yards from the Luetkemeyer home and continues on U. S. Highway 50 and passes directly by St. Martins School which is attended by the Luetkemeyer children. The Luetkemeyers have demanded of the members of the Cole County R-III School Board that transportation be provided to the Luetkemeyer children to and from their home and St. Martins School on the existing facilities and routes operated and maintained by Cole County R-III School District. On January 12, 1971, the Luetkemeyers made an unsuccessful effort to board a Cole County R-III bus for transportation to St. Martins School. The school district's officers and employees have refused to allow the Luetkemeyer children to use the school district bus facilities for the purpose of going to and from St. Martins School from the Luetkemeyer home. The officials of Cole County R-III School District refused to allow the Luetkemeyer children to use the bus facilities in going to and from St. Martins School for the reason that in their opinion the law of the State of Missouri prohibits the transportation at public expense of children to and from a non-public school. The school district is supported in its refusal to provide transportation of children going to and from a non-public school by the Executive Department of the State of Missouri in its administration of the statutes, by the Judicial Department of the State of Missouri in its interpretation of the statutes, and by the Legislative Department of the State of Missouri in its appropriation of tax moneys to fund the transportation of children to and from home and school.

8. The route which the Luetkemeyer children must follow in going to and from home and St. Martins School is on U.S. Highway 50 in a rural area. There are no paved sidewalks or walkways, traffic control devices, and protected pedestrian crosswalks on the route. There are generally no sidewalk or walkways, traffic control devices and protected pedestrian crosswalks on the streets, roads and highways through the Cole County R-III School District. The average daily traffic on the route is 5,650 vehicles.

9. St. Martins School is a nonprofit school operated by St. Martins Parish of the Catholic Church. The sole source of income for the school is the contributions and donations from patrons and friends and fees charged its pupils.

10. The St. Martins School does not provide transportation to and from home and school. The parents or guardians of the children have the sole responsibility of getting the children to and from school. Approximately 100 children attending St. Martins School live more than one mile from that school and if transportation were provided to children attending St. Martins on the same basis as is provided to children attending Cole County R-III School, approximately 100...