Community School Dist. of Malvern, Mills County, In re

• Decision Date: 20 October 1959
• Docket Number: No. 49688,49688
• Citation: 98 N.W.2d 737,250 Iowa 1240
• Parties: Matter of the Proposed COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF MALVERN, IN MILLS COUNTY, Iowa. INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT OF MALVERN, MILLS COUNTY, Iowa, Appellant, v. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF MILLS COUNTY, Iowa, and Amy Hammers, County Superintendent of Schools of Mills County, Iowa, The Secretary and Executive Officer of said Board, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 737

98 N.W.2d 737

250 Iowa 1240

Matter of the Proposed COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF MALVERN, IN MILLS COUNTY, Iowa INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT OF MALVERN, MILLS COUNTY, Iowa, Appellant, v. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF MILLS COUNTY, Iowa, and Amy Hammers, County Superintendent of Schools of Mills County, Iowa, The Secretary and Executive Officer of said Board, Appellees.

No. 49688.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 20, 1959.

Cook & Drake, Glenwood, for appellant.

Eliot Thomas and Glen M. McGee, Glenwood, for appellees.

OLIVER, Justice.

This appeal stems from proceedings instituted in 1958 to form a reorganized school district under Chapter 275, Code of Iowa, 1958 I.C.A. In 1957 many changes were made in Chapter 275 of the Code of 1954, I.C.A., and references herein are to sections in Code of Iowa, 1958. A petition for the formation of Community School District of Malvern in Mills County, Iowa, to include all or certain parts of nineteen school districts in said county, was filed in the office of the County Superintendent of Schools. The county board of education reviewed the matter, and changed the boundaries of the proposed district by taking out certain districts and parts of districts included in the original petition. Code, sections 275.11, 275.12, 275.13, 275.14 and 275.15, I.C.A. From this decision The Independent School District of Malvern, in Mills County appealed to the District Court of said county.

Appellant filed in said court a Petition on Appeal, which, in addition to the foregoing matters, alleged in substance:

'Par. 3. That defendant-appellee County Board of Education was in error in refusing to grant the prayer of the petition for the formation of the District as originally proposed for the reason that it was economical and efficient and necessary to meet the standards and reorganization needs within the spirit, purpose and intent of Chapter 275.

'Par. 4. That the action of the County Board in rejecting the proposed plan and formulating the new plan was arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable for the following reasons:

'(a) That certain members of the County Board wholly disregarded their public duty, and permitted personal advantage, antagonism and prejudice and an entire lack of judicial integrity to control and influence their decision.

'(b) That the Board failed to give proper consideration to the facts and to properly analyze the objections and evaluate the merits of the proposed plan.

'(c) That the Board refused to consider requests of landowners and others for the inclusion of their lands as originally proposed.

'(d) That the plan adopted is inefficient, unworkable and uneconomical and will not be accepted by the voters.'

Appellant prayed that the court take jurisdiction over and consider the petition and controversy, overrule the action and decision of the county board, reject the plan proposed by the board, find the original petition and the boundaries therein prayed should be approved, and direct the county board and the superintendent of schools to proceed with the organization of the district as originally petitioned for and to submit that proposition to the voters.

Appellees moved the court to strike all of Par. 3 of the petition and all of Par. 4 except subdivision (a). This motion was sustained on the ground those parts of the petition alleged matters strictly legislative in character and not subject to judicial review.

From that order, Independent School District of Malvern was granted an appeal and has appealed to this court.

I. Appellant's brief states that, for the purpose of this interlocutory appeal, the material portions of its petition on appeal concern the deletion by the county board, from the proposed district, of much land originally included therein. It contends this change rendered an efficient and economical plan ineffecient and uneconomical and ignored the intent and spirit of Chapter 275 of the Code, I.C.A.

Code section 275.14, I.C.A., provides for the filing of objections to the petition, in the form of written affidavits, in the office of the county superintendent. Code section 275.15, I.C.A., is the statute which delegates the powers, fixes the duties and procedure of the county board of education upon review, and provides for appeals to the courts from its decisions. It states:

'On the final day fixed for filing objections, interested parties may present evidence and arguments, and the county board of education shall review the matter on its merits and * * * shall rule on the objections and shall enter an order fixing such boundaries for the proposed school corporation as will in its judgment be for the best interests of all parties concerned, having due regard for the welfare of adjoining districts or dismiss the petition. * * * Within twenty days after the publication thereof the decision rendered by the county board of education may be appealed to a court of record in the county involved by any school district affected.'

Article III, Section 1, Constitution of Iowa, I.C.A., provides for the division of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial departments and states, 'no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any function appertaining to either of the others. * * *' There are similar provisions in the constitutions of most other states.

The order of the trial court striking most of the petition on appeal was necessarily based upon the conclusion that the organization of and establishment of the boundaries of a school district is a legislative function, the exercise of which, by the judicial department, is forbidden by the foregoing provision of the constitution. That conclusion is in accord with the rule in Iowa and most other states.

We quote from 11 Am.Jur., Constitutional Law, section 192, pages 893, 894: 'The creation and formation of municipal corporations, such as counties, cities, villages and school districts and the fixing of their boundaries are legislative functions.'

The text in 16 C.J.S. Constitutional Law § 107, pp. 493 and 494, states: 'Matters that have been held within the scope of the legislative power, as distinguished from the powers of the judicial and executive departments are * * * the establishment and reorganization of school districts, * * *.'

In 16 C.J.S. Constitutional Law § 139 d(2), p. 638, in boldface: 'The legislature may not delegate to the courts the power to determine the conditions on which certain territory shall be included within, added to, or detached from, municipalities and other governmental subdivisions; but the courts may be authorized to determine questions of fact, such as the question whether the law has been complied with.'

An annotation upon this question in 69 A.L.R. 266 to 295 states at page 267.

'It may be stated as a general rule, supported by...