Common School Dist. No. 6, Wyandotte County v. Robb

• Decision Date: 07 February 1956
• Docket Number: No. 40228,40228
• Citation: 179 Kan. 162,293 P.2d 230
• Parties: COMMON SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 6, WYANDOTTE COUNTY, Kansas, a Body Corporate, Plaintiff, v. George W. ROBB, Auditor of the State of Kansas, Defendant.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

Page 230

293 P.2d 230

179 Kan. 162

COMMON SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 6, WYANDOTTE COUNTY, Kansas, a Body Corporate, Plaintiff, v. George W. ROBB, Auditor of the State of Kansas, Defendant.

No. 40228.

Supreme Court of Kansas.

Feb. 7, 1956.

Syllabus by the Court.

The record is examined in an original proceeding in mandamus to compel the auditor of the state of Kansas to register school district bonds, and held, that the bonds, issued under authority of Laws of 1955, ch. 319 (G.S.1955 Supp., 72-2017), by a common school district located in a county having a population of over 150,000 and less than 200,000, and tendered to the auditor for registration, were valid and entitled to registration, and further held, the act did not contravene article 2, section 17 of our state constitution.

John S. Dean, Jr., Topeka, argued the cause, and Donald H. Corson, Kansas City, and Melvin R. Quinlan, Topeka, were with him on the briefs, for plaintiff.

Fred W. Rausch, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., argued the cause, and Harold R. Fatzer, Atty. Gen., was with him on the briefs, for defendant.

WERTZ, Justice.

This is an original proceeding in mandamus wherein Common School District No. 6, Wyandotte County, hereinafter referred to as plaintiff, seeks a peremptory writ of mandamus to compel defendant in his official capacity as state auditor to register bonds issued by plaintiff under the provisions of G.S.1955 Supp. 72-2017. Inasmuch as the facts set forth in the pleadings are not in dispute, they may, as far as pertinent to the question involved, be briefly stated:

Plaintiff was one of twenty-seven common-school districts located in Wyandotte county which was provided a more liberal debt limitation by a proviso contained in the mentioned statute. This proviso permits school districts situated in counties having a population of over 150,000 and less than 200,000 to have an outstanding bonded indebtedness of not to exceed ten per cent of the assessed valuation of tangible, taxable property within the district, rather than the seven per cent limitation prescribed for other common-school districts in the state. Under authority granted by this act, plaintiff proceeded to perform all acts required to be done precedent to the issuance and sale of general obligation bonds of the district in the amount of $98,000 to provide funds to acquire a site, and erect and equip a school building thereon. Thereafter the bonds were delivered to defendant for registration, accompanied by a certified transcript of the proceeding. Defendant admitted the sufficiency of the proceeding and that the bonds were in proper form and duly executed, but refused to register them for the reason that he questioned the validity of the mentioned statute in that it was in the nature of a special law, where a general law could be made applicable, thereby contravening article 2, section 17 of the state constitution. It is admitted that Wyandotte County has a population of 189,465, and during the years 1950 to 1955 the census of school children in the county, excluding those in the city schools, had increased 129.19 per cent, a rate of increase twice as great as that occurring during the same period in either Shawnee or Sedgwick counties.

The act, G.S.1955 Supp. 72-2017, reads in pertinent part:

'For the purpose of purchasing or improving a site or sites, constructing, furnishing, equipping, repairing, remodeling or making additions to schoolhouses or other necessary buildings * * *, the board of any common-school district, * * * is hereby authorized to issue bonds of the district as herein provided. * * * The aggregate amount of bonds of a district outstanding at any time (exclusive of bonds specifically exempt from statutory limitations of bonded indebtedness) shall not exceed seven percent (7%) of the assessed valuation of tangible taxable property within the district: Provided, In counties having a population over one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) and less than two hundred thousand (200,000), the aggregate amount of bonds of a district outstanding at any time (exclusive of bonds specifically exempt from statutory limitations of bonded indebtedness) shall not exceed ten percent (10%) of the assessed valuation of tangible taxable property within the district. * * *'

The act is a general statute authorizing the issuance of bonds for capital improvements by common, rural and community high school districts in the state.

The sole question involved in this proceeding is whether the proviso contained in the mentioned statute, which proviso was added by the 1955 legislature, rendered it a special law enacted under the guise of a general law, or whether the classification based on population is reasonable and germane to the subject matter of the act.

The gist of defendant's contention is that the limitation in the proviso of the act is arbitrary and capricious, and that the classification so created is not natural and germane, based upon distinctions which have a reasonable and substantial relation to the subject matter involved, and he relies solely upon three of our recent decisions: Redevelopment Authority of Kansas City v. State Corp. Comm., 171 Kan. 581, 236 P.2d 782; Missouri Pacific R. Co. v. Board of County Comm'rs, 172 Kan. 80, 238 P.2d 462, and State ex rel. Martin v. Tucker, 176 Kan. 192, 269 P.2d 447. We think it unnecessary to review at length each of the above cases in which it was held that statutes there involved violated constitutional restrictions. Reference to those cases discloses that, in each, the classification made was based not on a single population requirement but on that requirement coupled with such other limitations that this court was compelled to hold...