Cook v. Neill

• Decision Date: 13 December 1961
• Docket Number: No. A-8189,A-8189
• Citation: 352 S.W.2d 258,163 Tex. 49
• Parties: Robert J. COOK et al., Petitioners, v. Ralph NEILL et al., Respondents.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 258

352 S.W.2d 258

163 Tex. 49

Robert J. COOK et al., Petitioners, v. Ralph NEILL et al., Respondents.

No. A-8189.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Dec. 13, 1961.

Guilford L. Jones, Big Spring, J. C. Hinsley, Austin, for petitioners.

Harvey C. Hooser, Jr., Hartman Hooser, Big Spring, Newton J. Steele, Turpin, Kerr, Smith & Dyer, Midland, for respondents.

SMITH, Justice.

This controversy stems from the action of the County School Trustees of Howard County in passing orders annexing Center Point Common School District No. 7 and Gay Hill Common School District No. 6 to Big Spring Independent School District. The suit was by the trustees of the common school districts against the County School Trustees of Howard County, the County School Superintendent, Walker Bailey, and the Trustees of the Big Spring Independent School District to have declared void the orders of annexation.

For convenience, we shall hereafter refer to the petitioners as Cook, and the respondents, who were plaintiffs in the trial court, as Neill.

Neill alleged in his petition that the enactment of the two annexation orders annexing the Center Point and the Gay Hill Common School Districts to the Big Spring Independent School District were unenforceable and of no legal effect for several reasons:

(A) that the orders violated the Constitutions of the United States and Texas because the orders were made without notifying the plaintiffs and giving them an opportunity to be heard; (B) that the orders were in violation of the statute because not made at a meeting held at a proper place; (C) that the statutes under which the county school trustees purported to act are unconstitutional; (D) that the orders were arbitrary, capricious, and were an abuse of discretion because of the facilities of the common school districts involved; (E) that a school district would be created containing more than one hundred square miles contrary to law, and (F) that the order so far as the Gay Hill District was concerned was void and unenforceable because the area of the Big Spring District and the Gay Hill District were not contiguous for the reason that, according to plaintiffs' allegations, the order annexing the Center Point District to the Big Spring District did not become final until sometime after the order annexing Gay Hill to Big Spring was made, there being no contention that the three districts did not constitute as a whole one contiguous area.

Neill further alleged that the orders were invalid because they were in violation of certain promises and representations which had been made by some of the individual members of the Board of County School Trustees of Howard County at some time in the past with respect to the matter of consolidation of the district involved.

Neill also alleged that the statute under which the county school trustees acted in the annexation (Article 2922a, Vernon's Ann.Tex.Civ.Statutes) was improperly applied here because of the financial condition of Gay Hill Common School District. Neill alleged in his petition that the statute under which the annexation orders were made authorized the creation of rural high school districts and that the Big Spring Independent School District is not a rural high school district nor a rural school district within the meaning of the statute and that for such reason the orders were void.

On May 9, 1960, and within five days after the annexation orders were passed, Neill began a series of moves to perfect an appeal. Two suits were filed. The first suit, Cause No. 12,416, was filed at 11:53 a. m. in the District Court of Howard County. This filing was about 40 minutes after a notice of appeal was filed with the Secretary of the County School Trustees and some two hours after a notice of appeal was filed with the State Commissioner of Education. However, this cause is not involved here.

The suit involved here was filed in the same district court at 4:43 o'clock in the afternoon of May 9, 1960, some 5 1/2 hours after the notice of appeal was filed with the Secretary of the County School Trustees of Howard County, and some 6 3/4 hours after the filing of the notice of appeal with the State Commissioner of Education.

On May 12, 1960, Neill filed a First Amended Original Petition. Thereafter, on May 13, 1960, Cook filed a plea to the jurisdiction of the court, alleging, in effect, that the District Court was without jurisdiction for two reasons: (1) that since coordinate jurisdiction over the subject matter of the suit was vested by statute, Article 2686, ¹ Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, in two tribunals, the District Court and the administrative authorities-the State Commissioner of Education and the State Board of Education, such administrative authorities having first acquired active jurisdiction, retained that jurisdiction, and the District Court had no power to interfere, although Article 2682, ² Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, gives the district courts general supervisory control of the actions of the County Board of School Trustees in creating, changing, or modifying school districts; and (2) that Cook, by filing his appeal first with the administrative authorities, elected to appeal to those authorities rather than trying his cause of action in the district court.

The trial court in its judgment determined that Cook's plea to the jurisdiction and motion for dismissal was 'well taken'. The plea to the jurisdiction was sustained and the cause dismissed.

Neill appealed on one ground of error: 'The trial court erred in dismissing the action for want of jurisdiction.' The Court of Civil Appeals sustained the point, holding that the district court erred in sustaining the plea to the jurisdiction and dismissing the case, and ordered the judgment reversed and the cause remanded for a trial on the merits. 340 S.W.2d 315, 316.

Cook's points in his application for writ of error present the contention that the district court was without jurisdiction: (1) Because the legislature, by the adoption of Article 2686, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, gave to the school authorities coordinate jurisdiction with the district court in all cases challenging the creation, changing, and modification of school districts, thereby giving the school authorities coordinate jurisdiction to review and pass upon the validity of actions of county school trustees in annexing districts to other districts where the attack upon such actions is based upon mixed questions of fact and questions of law, and (2) Because Neill elected his remedy by first appealing to the administrative authorities, the State Commissioner of Education, and the State Board of Education.

Neill contends that the sole question before the Court is whether his attack upon the legality of school annexation orders is to be ruled upon by the courts rather than the State Commissioner of Education. Neill contends that the annexation orders are invalid for several reasons, some of the reasons being (1) because the actions of the County School Trustees in entering the orders were unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious, and constituted an abuse of discretion; (2) because the actions were not taken at a duly constituted meeting; and (3) because no elections were held to create a district containing more than 100 square miles.

(1) The Court of Civil Appeals has held that the courts have jurisdiction of the matters involved to the exclusion of the school authorities. In so holding, the court relied primarily upon the holding in the case of Henderson et al. v. Miller et al., Tex.Civ.App. (1926), 286 S.W. 501, 506, wr. ref., wherein it was held 'that neither the board of county school trustees, nor the state superintendent, nor the state board of education, is vested with any jurisdiction to determine the constitutionality of any statute, or the question whether or not any action by any board of school trustees is violative of constitutional rights. Authority to determine such questions is exclusively the function of the judiciary * * *.' 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 District et al., Tex.Civ.App. (1927), 304 S.W.2d 439, wr. ref. n. r. e., in support of its final conclusion in the present case. The effect of the holding is to say that the rule declared in these and other cases of like holding applies in any case wherein constitutional questions are involved, despite the wording of a specific statute such as Article 2686, supra. With this we do not agree. The district court and the administrative authorities have coordinate jurisdiction in a suit involving the annexing of school districts by a county board of trustees. Any statements in former decisions to the effect that the district court has exclusive jurisdiction in such cases are incorrect and should be disregarded.

Where county school trustees take action to annex some school districts to other school districts as authorized under the provisions of Article 2922a, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, those dissatisfied with such action may elect to appeal directly to the district court. See Adkins v. Rogers, Tex.Civ.App., 303 S.W.2d 820, wr. ref. n. r. e.; County School Trustees of Callahan County v. District Trustees of District No. 15 (Hart) Common School, District of Callahan County, Tex.Civ.App., 192 S.W.2d 891, wr. ref. n. r. e.; County Board of School Trustees of Limestone County v. Wilson, Tex.Civ.App., 15 S.W.2d 144, wr. dism. On the other hand, they may elect to appeal directly to the State Commissioner of Education (formerly the State Superintendent of Public Instruction). This administrative agency has appellate coordinate jurisdiction with the district court to determine appeals from orders of county school trustees, creating, changing, and...