Adams v. Miles
| Citation | 300 S.W. 211 |
| Decision Date | 18 November 1927 |
| Docket Number | (No. 7940.)<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL> |
| Parties | ADAMS v. MILES et al. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Appeal from District Court, Jim Wells County; Hood Boone, Judge.
Suit by Robert Adams against Justin Miles and others, County Superintendent of Education of Jim Wells County, and trustees of Common School District No. 12, for injunction. From an order dissolving a temporary injunction, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
Perkins & Floyd, of Alice, for appellant.
L. Broeter, of Alice, for appellees.
This appeal is from an order dissolving a temporary injunction, previously issued at the instance of a property taxpayer, to restrain the county superintendent of education of Jim Wells county and the trustees of common school district No. 12, of said county, from using the district school funds to construct "living quarters" for the use of the teachers of the district school. Two questions of law are raised by the appeal: First, does jurisdiction over the controversy rest with the higher school authorities or with the district court; and, second, have the local school trustees authority under the Constitution and statutes to appropriate surplus available school funds for the purpose of constructing a building for the use of the teachers in the district schools as living quarters?
It is declared and provided in section 1, art. 7, of the state Constitution, that:
"A general diffusion of knowledge, being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the state to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools."
It is also provided in section 3, art. 7, of the Constitution, that "one-fourth of the revenue derived from the state occupation taxes and a poll tax of one dollar" on every person subject to such tax shall be set apart annually "for the benefit of the public free schools"; that in addition thereto there shall be collected an ad valorem state tax of such an amount (not to exceed 35 cents on the $100 valuation) as with the available school fund arising from all other sources will be sufficient to "maintain and support" the public free schools of this state for a period of not less than six months in each year; that should these limits upon taxation result in a deficit the Legislature may meet such deficit by appropriation out of the general funds of the state; that the Legislature may also provide for the formation of school districts by general laws, for the assessment and collection of taxes in such districts, for the "management and control" of public schools of such districts, and for the authorization of an additional ad valorem tax within all school districts, "for the further maintenance of public free schools and the erection and equipment of school buildings" in such districts.
The effect of these provisions is to declare it to be the policy of the state to establish and maintain public free schools throughout the state in terms of not less than six months in each year, and to expressly delegate to the Legislature the power and duty of carrying out this policy. In this delegation of authority no restrictions were placed upon the power of the Legislature, other than to limit the rate of taxation for school purposes. The result is that the Legislature may pass such laws as in its discretion it may deem necessary and expedient in effectuating the declared policy, subject only to the general limitations imposed upon it in the organic law. We think it is clear that under this power the Legislature is clothed with authority to empower local school boards to construct and operate dormitories for teachers in cases where those facilities are reasonably necessary to the proper maintenance of the local schools. This conclusion leads to the question of whether under the statutes enacted in pursuance of the organic authority the Legislature has clothed trustees of common school districts with the power to expend the public school funds in the erection of teachers' homes.
It is provided in article 2748, R. S. 1925, that the trustees of a common school district "shall be a body politic and corporate * * * and as such may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, * * * and may receive any gift, grant, donation or devise made for the use of the public schools of the district." In article 2749 it is provided that:
In article 2827, it is provided, in effect, that "state and county available" school "funds shall be used exclusively for the payment of teachers' and superintendents' salaries, fees for taking the scholastic census, and interest on money borrowed" for those purposes; that local school funds derived from "district taxes" and all other local sources may be used for the above enumerated purposes, and "for purchasing appliances and supplies, for the payment of insurance premiums, janitors and other employees, for buying school sites, buying, building and repairing and renting school houses, and for other purposes necessary in the conduct of the public schools to be determined by the board of trustees, the accounts and vouchers for county districts to be approved by the county superintendent; provided, that when the state available school fund in any city or...
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Cook v. Neill
...* * *.' The Court cited other cases such as Hale v. McMurrey, Tex.Civ.App. (1929), 22 S.W.2d 499, 501, wr. ref.; Adams v. Miles, Tex.Civ.App. (1927), 300 S.W. 211, reversed on other grounds by The Supreme Court of Texas, Tex.Com.App., 35 S.W.2d 123, 127; Crow v. Burnet Independent School Di......
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Crow v. Burnet Independent School Dist.
...to the school district are about to be diverted from their proper use or purpose. (Citing authorities.)' See also Adams v. Miles, Tex.Civ.App., San Antonio, 300 S.W. 211, 214, reversed Tex.Com.App., 35 S.W.2d 123; County Board of School Trustees of Limestone County v. Wilson, Tex.Civ.App., ......
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Neill v. Cook, 3597
...or school authority. The court cited Henderson v. Miller, supra, as authority for such holding. The last case it cited was Adams v. Miles, Tex.Civ.App., 300 S.W. 211, with reference to which it 'The last-cited case is squarely in point, notwithstanding Acts 40th Leg., 1927, c. 83, Sec. 1, a......
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Fulk v. School Dist. No. 8 of Lancaster County
...cases are cited in support of defendants' contention in this respect but only those from the state of Texas do so. In Adams v. Miles, Tex.Civ.App., 300 S.W. 211, 213, in a paraphrase of a statute the court said that the grant of power allowing the use of school funds for buying school sites......