Appeal of Sanders

• Decision Date: 17 February 1958
• Citation: 80 Wyo. 265,341 P.2d 85
• Parties: In the Matter of the Appeal of Virgil SANDERS, an Elector and Taxpayer of Byron High School, State of Wyoming, from a Decision of the District Boundary Board of Big Horn County, Wyoming, Dated
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 85

341 P.2d 85

80 Wyo. 265

In the Matter of the Appeal of Virgil SANDERS, an Elector and Taxpayer of Byron High School, State of Wyoming, from a Decision of the District Boundary Board of Big Horn County, Wyoming, Dated February 17, 1958.

Virgil SANDERS, Appellant (Plaintiff and Appellant below), v. Frank H. BROWN, Dan B. Cropsey, Bliss Bayne, Patra Keele and May D. Shoemaker, as members of The District Boundary Board of Big Horn County, Wyoming, Appellees (Defendants and Appellees below).

No. 2885.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

June 23, 1959.

J. D. Fitzstephens, Cody (Goppert & Fitzstephens, Cody, on the brief), for appellant.

John O. Callahan, Basin, for appellees.

Robert A. Meyer, Casper, amicus curiae for Ohio Oil Co.

Before BLUME, C. J., and PARKER and HARNSBERGER, JJ.

Mr. Chief Justice BLUME delivered the opinion of the court.

On February 17, 1958, the school District Boundary Board of Big Horn County, Wyoming, consisting of the Board of County Commissioners, the County Treasurer and the County Superintendent, by a vote of three to two undertook to consolidate the Lovell, Cowley and Byron school districts and the Byron High School District, establishing a new district numbered 58. Virgil Sanders, plaintiff and appellant herein, a resident and taxpayer of Byron High School District, appealed from the order of the boundary board, alleging that the action was illegal and without jurisdiction. The district court held the action of the board to be legal and with jurisdiction.

The only question argued and submitted to this court is as to whether or not the district boundary board had jurisdiction to consolidate the Byron High School District with the other districts. We agree with the contention of the plaintiff and appellant Sandars for the reasons hereafter stated.

The boundary board claims to have jurisdiction insofar as the Byron High School District is concerned under § 67-701, W.C.S.1945, as amended by § 15, Ch. 119, S.L. of Wyoming, 1955, which, insofar as material herein, reads as follows:

'The County Superintendent of Schools, the County Treasurer, and the Board of County Commissioners shall constitute a board for laying off their county into convenient school districts, such board to be styled 'the district boundary board.' Said board by a majority vote may divide the county into school districts, may alter and change the boundaries of the districts so formed from time to time and may at any time consolidate entire districts or portions of districts, when, in the opinion of such board such changes, alterations or consolidations may be justified by existing circumstances and conditions * * *.' (Emphasis supplied.)

It may be noted that under this provision the board forms the school districts in a county and may change the boundaries of the districts, including consolidation thereof, when so formed. In other words, the power of the board here mentioned is limited and applies only to the districts which are formed by it. So we must inquire as to whether or not the board may establish and form a high school district in a county. In that connection we should bear in mind the rule stated in 78 C.J.S. Schools and School Districts § 99, pp. 846, 847, as follows:

'A county board of education or of school trustees, or a like body, may exercise any powers authorized by law. It has, in general, only such powers as are expressly or directly conferred on it by constitutional or statutory provision or powers which are necessarily incidental to those expressly conferred, or only those powers which are expressly or impliedly given by statute, and it can exercise its powers only in the manner authorized by statute. The powers of such a board are not to be extended by construction, and, where the right of the board to exercise authority is doubtful, such authority should not be exercised by it.'

See also School Dist. No. 14 in Fremont County v. School Dist. No. 21 in Fremont County, 51 Wyo. 370, 67 P.2d 192, 195, 71 P.2d 137. No express power is given by § 67-701 to form a high school district and we do not think that the power to do so is implied in view of the fact that we have an express statutory provision in connection with the formation of high school districts.

Provisions for the organization of high school districts are contained in §§ 67-901 through 67-936, W.C.S.1945 (1957 Cum.Pocket Supp.) and §§ 67-1101 through 67-1104, W.C.S.1945, containing some 40 sections in all. Section 67-901 provides as follows:

'For the purpose of affording better educational facilities for pupils more advanced than the studies provided in the district schools existing in the several counties in this State, and in addition to such school districts as are now organized, or which may hereafter be formed under the laws for the creation and formation of the same, there may be organized and established a high school district and a free high school therein, on conditions and in the manner hereinafter prescribed, the territorial extent of which may embrace any number of present organized and constituted school districts, the qualified electors of which may vote to become a part of such high school district and participate in the maintenance and benefits of such high school organization.'

It may be noted that these high school districts are established in addition to other school districts and these other school districts are probably those to which reference is made in § 67-701. The Act relating to high school districts provides for the organization by petition and vote by ballot. Its name is _____ High School District instead of _____ School District as is true in connection with other districts. Full provision is made for the conduct of the election. The number of trustees is six instead of three as in other school districts. The statutes provide for the location of the high school, for tax levies, for the issuance of bonds and payment thereof, for the collection of taxes, for the erection of suitable high school buildings, for the employment of a faculty, for annexation of territory to the high school district already created, and for the withdrawal of territory therefrom. In other words, the statutes relating to high school districts are complete in themselves and provide for all proper and necessary matters in connection...