Allely v. Board of Ed. In and For Mills County

• Decision Date: 15 August 1961
• Docket Number: No. 50354,50354
• Parties: Cliff ALLEY, Kelth Bruce, Mark Bowen, Ruel Harold, Ray Granteer, W. E. Granteer, James Kelley, Ray Kelley, Otto Mitchell, Wendell Kelley, Wilber Williams, Otha D. Wearin, Ellsworth Smith, George Van Meter, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION IN AND FOR MILLS COUNTY, Defendant-Appellee, The Malvern Community School District of Mills County, Iowa Intervenor-Appellee, Marion Wilson, Intervenor-Appellee, Fred W. Pierce, Intervenor-Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 410

110 N.W.2d 410

252 Iowa 1142

Cliff ALLEY, Kelth Bruce, Mark Bowen, Ruel Harold, Ray Granteer, W. E. Granteer, James Kelley, Ray Kelley, Otto Mitchell, Wendell Kelley, Wilber Williams, Otha D. Wearin, Ellsworth Smith, George Van Meter, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION IN AND FOR MILLS COUNTY, Defendant-Appellee The Malvern Community School District of Mills County, Iowa Intervenor-Appellee Marion Wilson, Intervenor-Appellee Fred W. Pierce, Intervenor-Appellee.

No. 50354.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Aug. 15, 1961.

Hogzett & Burgett, Oakland, and Smith, Peterson, Beckman & Willson, Council Bluffs, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Glen M. McGee, County Atty., Glenwood, for defendant-Appellee.

Cook & Drake, Glenwood, for intervenor-appellee Malvern Community School District.

LARSON, Justice.

Plaintiffs, as residents in remnant school districts, each of which contained less than four government sections of land, brought this suit in equity to enjoin the Board of Education in and for Mills County, Iowa, from attaching said remnant districts to the reorganized Malvern Community School District.

Pursuant to trial to the court on pleadings and a stipulation of facts, a permanent injunction was denied, the temporary injunction dissolved, and the cause dismissed. Plaintiffs appeal.

As stated by appellants and adopted by appellees, 'the issues on appeal are whether the County Board of Education (under the circumstances) had authority to attach remnant school districts to a (reorganized) school district from which the County Board had previously granted a petition taking said remnant school districts out of said district.' Actually appellants contend (1) that the county board acted in excess of its authority in fixing the boundaries of the proposed Nishna Valley Community School District so as to exclude territory already excluded from the Malvern Community School District, and (2) that it acted in excess of its authority in attaching by resolution those remnant districts to the Malvern district.

The stipulated facts and exhibits introduced at a pretrial conference reveal that, pursuant to a hearing on objections to the proposed reorganization of the Malvern Community School District, hereinafter referred to as the Malvern district, the Mills County Board of Education, at the request of the plaintiffs, amended the proposal and fixed the final boundary lines of that district so as to exclude plaintiffs' land. This change resulted in three remnant districts containing less than four government sections of land--Benton, Golden Hill, and Wearin. The remainder of the Valley View district, however, contained more than four government sections. The proposal as amended carried and the new district became effective July 1, 1960. Section 275.24, Code 1958, I.C.A.

Shortly after the land in controversy was excluded from the Malvern proposal, a Nishna Valley Community School District reorganization proposal was considered by the Mills County Board of Education. The territory involved therein lies east of the Malvern district, and the new proposal included all the lands of plaintiffs previously excluded from the Malvern reorganization. No objections to this proposal were made by plaintiffs, but pursuant to a hearing on the proposal the County Board on its own motion amended the proposal and fixed the final boundary lines of the Nishna Valley district so as to exclude plaintiffs' lands. No appeal was taken from that action and the amended Nishna Valley proposal carried and also became effective July 1, 1960. Four remnant districts, North and South Benton, Golden Hill, Wearin, and Valley View, containing less than four government sections of land, then remained unattached.

North Benton is contiguous to the Malvern, Nishna Valley, and Box Elder districts. South Benton is contiguous to Malvern only, unless through the remnant of 40 acres in Valley View it is made contiguous to the Nishna Valley district. Valley View, Golden Hill, and Wearin, are all contiguous to the Malvern and Nishna Valley districts. From Exhibit '1' it appears all the tracts involved are nearly surrounded by the Malvern district.

Pursuant to the approval of the Nishna Valley reorganization by the electorate, the Mills County Board purported by resolution to attach the remnants of North and South Benton, Golden Hill, Wearin, and Valley View to the Malvern district, effective as of July 1, 1960, under the provisions of Section 275.5, Code 1958, I.C.A. When plaintiffs' objections to that action were overruled, they brought suit to enjoin the board from proceeding with the attachment of the North and South Benton, Golden Hill, and Wearin remnants, and a temporary injunction was issued. Sometime after July 1, 1960, it was discovered that the Valley View remnant had been overlooked and plaintiffs' petition was amended to include it.

The learned trial court found the Mills County Board, acting as a legislative tribunal, properly attached the four remnant districts of less than four government sections of land to a contiguous district under the provisions of Section 275.5, Code of Iowa, 1958, I.C.A., and that it did not act illegally, although due to an impasse it did attach the remnants to a district from which they had previously been removed and not to 'another school district' as required in said section. It also found that while the Malvern proposal as amended did leave out the 40 acres of Valley View involved herein, it did not reduce the Valley View district to less than four government sections, that such condition came about after the final boundaries of the Nishna Valley district were established, and that therefore the Malvern district was the only remaining or other contiguous district and that the County Board was required to attach it to the Malvern district. It further found South Benton was then contiguous to only the Malvern district and had to be attached to it, that as to the Wearin and Golden Hill territory an impasse appeared which, under our decision in the Monroe Community School District et al. v. Marion County Board of Education, 251 Iowa 992, 103 N.W.2d 746, required the County Board to decide how the territory in the remnants should be attached to remaining contiguous districts. Having exercised that legislative function and there being no allegation or proof of bad faith in so doing, the trial court dismissed the petition. We agree with these conclusions.

I. The general rule is well settled that the creation, enlargement, or diminution of political districts, municipal corporations, or school districts, is a legislative function, and the court's power to interfere with the exercise of discretion by a board acting under statutory authority is limited to questions as to abuse of that discretion or as to whether the conditions precedent as declared by the statute have been complied with. In re Community School District of Malvern, Mills County, 250 Iowa 1240, 98 N.W.2d 737, and citations. That rule applies here.

We have also adopted a rule of liberal statutory construction in school matters, a construction which will best effect the legislative purpose of accomplishing desirable, reasonable, and prompt school reorganization in the state. We discussed this rule and statutes applicable to school reorganizations recently in the cases of Hubka v. County Board of Education, 251 Iowa 659, 663, 102 N.W.2d 167, Monroe Community School Dist. v. Marion County Bd. of Educ., 251 Iowa 992, 103 N.W.2d 746, 749, and In re Community School District of Malvern, Mills County, supra, 250 Iowa 1240, 1244, 98 N.W.2d 737, and citations.

Plaintiffs contend that the defendant Mills County Board of Education somehow acted illegally in removing the involved areas from the Nishna Valley proposal, but it does not appear how the board's act of fixing the final boundaries of that proposed reorganization was unauthorized, or how in so doing it abused its legislative discretion. The board's discretion in such matters under Chapter 275, Code of 1958, I.C.A., is broad and complete. Its legislative power to hold hearings and render decisions fixing boundaries is set out in Section 275.15 of the Code, I.C.A. Unless it clearly appears that its legislative power to fix boundaries is somehow restricted by some specific statutory provision, that authority has always been held complete and absolute. We reviewed that authority in the case of Hubka v. County Board of Education, supra, and at page 663 of 251 Iowa, at page 169 of 102 N.W.2d, said: 'It thus quite clearly appears * * * the joint boards acting as a single board have authority to amend tentative county plans.' We are referred to no restrictions of the county board's authority when in good faith it amends the boundaries of a proposed reorganization, including a tentative county plan, which results in remnant districts of less than four government sections, and we have found none. Section 275.15 provides for a hearing on objections to a reorganization proposal, and that within five days after the hearing the county board 'shall enter an order fixing such boundaries for the proposed school corporation as will in its judgment be for the best interests of all [the] parties concerned, having due regard for the welfare of adjoining districts * * *.' The section provides for an appeal to the courts by any school district aggrieved. The conclusion is inescapable that a county board has the authority to amend the boundaries of any reorganization proposal submitted to it before the proposal is placed before the electorate. It performed that duty...