County School Trustees v. District Trustees, 2534.

• Decision Date: 01 February 1946
• Docket Number: No. 2534.,2534.
• Citation: 192 S.W.2d 891
• Parties: COUNTY SCHOOL TRUSTEES OF CALLAHAN COUNTY et al. v. DISTRICT TRUSTEES OF DIST. NO. 15 (HART) COMMON SCHOOL DIST. OF CALLAHAN COUNTY et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

192 S.W.2d 891

COUNTY SCHOOL TRUSTEES OF CALLAHAN COUNTY et al. v. DISTRICT TRUSTEES OF DIST. NO. 15 (HART) COMMON SCHOOL DIST. OF CALLAHAN COUNTY et al.

No. 2534.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Eastland.

February 1, 1946.

Rehearing Denied March 8, 1946.

Appeal from District Court, Callahan County; J. R. Black, Judge.

Suit by District Trustees of District No. 15 (Hart) Common School District of Callahan County, Tex., against the County School Trustees of Callahan County, Tex., and others to set aside orders of the county trustees grouping Hart Common School District No. 15 and other common school districts with Putnam Independent School District to form a rural high school district. E. G. Johnson and others, patrons and taxpayers of Zion Hill Common School District, No. 18, intervened and adopted the allegations of plaintiffs' petition. From a judgment based on findings of the jury setting aside the orders, the county school trustees and the county superintendent appeal.

Judgment affirmed in part and reversed and rendered in part.

O. C. Funderburk and Frank Sparks, both of Eastland, for appellants.

B. L. Russell, of Baird, and F. D. Wright, of Cisco, for appellees.

LONG, Justice.

On the 16th day of February, 1945, the School Trustees of Callahan County at a meeting held at Cross Plains (not the county seat of said county) passed an order grouping Colony Common School District No. 16, Hart Common School District No. 15, Zion Hill Common School District No. 18, and Putnam Independent School District to form and establish a rural high school district. Also at said meeting the board abolished Erath Common District No. 14 and attached said territory to the Putnam Independent School District. Thereafter, the trustees of Hart Common School District No. 15 instituted this suit against the county school board and sought to have the order entered at Cross Plains on February 16, 1945, set aside on the grounds of fraud, abuse of discretion and arbitrary action on the part of the board. Defendants answered said suit and leveled a number of exceptions to the petition filed therein. On June 7, 1945, the parties appeared before the trial court and the questions of law involved in the suit were presented. The court took the questions presented under advisement, and while the same were being considered, the County Board of Trustees caused notices to be given to the trustees of the various school districts involved to appear on June 11, 1945, before such Board at Baird (the county seat of Callahan County). The trustees of the common school districts and the patrons interested therein appeared before the board on said date and presented their views and opposition to the attempted creation of the rural high school. After a hearing upon such matters, the board by its resolution recognized that the order entered February 16, 1945, was void, for the reason that the meeting was held at Cross Plains at the place of business of one of its members and not at the office of the County Superintendent at Baird, the County seat of said county, as provided by law, and such order was set aside and held null and void. The board then proceeded to enter a new order by which it found that common school districts Nos. 15, 16 and 18 and the Putnam Independent School District should be grouped to form a rural high school district. It further found that each of said common school districts had less than 400 scholastic population, and that Putnam Independent School District had less than 250 scholastic population, and that such school districts were contiguous and might be included in a common boundary line, and that the rural districts as formed would contain neither an area in excess of 100 square miles, nor more than seven elementary school districts. No order was entered with reference to the Erath Common School District, save and except as it may have been affected by setting aside the order entered at Cross Plains.

On June 18, 1945, plaintiffs filed their first amended original petition against the County Board of School Trustees, the County Superintendent, the Putnam Independent School District, the trustees of Colony School District No. 16 and the trustees of Zion Hill Common School District No. 18, and attacked both orders upon the ground of fraud, abuse of discretion and arbitrary action on the part of said board. E. G. Johnson and others, patrons and tax payers of the Zion Hill District, intervened and adopted the allegations of plaintiffs' petition. A trial was had before the court with the aid of a jury. In response to special issues submitted, the jury found that the action of the Board of County Trustees in grouping the Hart School District and others with the Putnam District on June 11, 1945, was arbitrary, that they abused their discretion, and that they were guilty of fraud; that such grouping was done primarily for the benefit of the Putnam School District, and without due regard to the best interests of the school children of said common school districts. Special Issue No. 4, as submitted, and the answer thereto was as follows:

"Did the County Board of School Trustees of Callahan County in grouping on June 11, 1945, the Common School Districts involved with the Putnam Independent School District act because of any undue influence, improper motive, want of effort to become duly informed and to express and (an) impartial and just conclusion in their actions?

"Answer: Yes."

Based upon the findings of the jury, the trial court entered its judgment cancelling, annulling and setting aside the orders of the county school board passed on the 16th day of February, 1945, and on the 11th day of June, 1945. Defendants, the County Board of School Trustees and County Superintendent, having duly appealed to this court.

The order of February 16, 1945, entered by the Board at a meeting held at Cross Plains was null and void. The statute provides that the meetings of such board must be held at the office of the county superintendent in the county seat of the county. Article 2687, Revised Civil Statutes, Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. art. 2687. Counsel for the board and the board, prior to and at the time of the trial of this cause on its merits, recognized the invalidity of such order, and upon the trial of the case the only real issue was the validity of the order entered June 11, 1945. The judgment of the court, insofar as it set aside the order of February 16th, is correct.

Defendants base their appeal upon 15 points. We have given all of the points raised and the entire record in this case our most careful and earnest consideration. The defendants contend that the evidence is insufficient to support the findings of the jury of fraud, abuse of discretion and arbitrary action on the part of the school board. We believe that such contention must be sustained. On this question we have attempted to view the testimony in the most favorable light possible to the plaintiffs. The evidence discloses that several years ago there was established what was known as the Union Rural High School in Callahan County, and that the common school districts involved in this litigation, except Zion Hill, were part of such rural high school district. About 1935 the school building of such rural high school was destroyed by fire and was never rebuilt. Since that time the common school districts have been transferring some pupils to Moran in Shackelford County and others to Cisco and Scranton in Eastland County and some to Putnam in Callahan County. For some time after the destruction of the school building the children from the Hart District attended the Putnam school, but this arrangement was unsatisfactory, and they discontinued going to Putnam and thereafter attended the school at Moran. A majority of the patrons of all the districts involved were satisfied with the arrangements that had been made with reference to where their children were attending school and were opposed to the grouping of such common districts with the Putnam District for the purpose of creating a rural high school. The Moran and Putnam schools are of about the same classification. However, the Putnam school had been going down and decreasing in school attendance. The distance that the pupils would be compelled to travel in attending school is about the same to Moran as it is to Putnam. The roads leading from the common school districts to Putnam are about the same kind and character of roads leading to the places where the children were attending school at the time of the grouping of the districts. There is no inconvenience shown to any of the pupils in attending school at Putnam. It is the only high school in that portion of the county, and the rural high school as created by the board of trustees will serve one-fourth of the county. The evidence shows that at Putnam there is located a modern school building with ten classrooms, music room and auditorium. The school building is about five or six years old. It is further shown from the evidence that counsel for the defendants prepared the order entered by the board on June 11, 1945, in their office at Eastland and mailed the same to Mr. Cook, the member of the school board at Putnam, and that he carried such order with him to the meeting at Baird, and that same was entered as written by counsel for the defendants, with some minor changes. It is also shown that neither the trustees nor the patrons of the common school districts had any notice of the intention of the board to enter the order grouping the districts prior to the meeting held at Cross Plains. For a number of years the County Board had been contemplating the grouping of these districts for the purpose of creating a rural high school. From time to time the Board had been in communication with the State Department of Education about such grouping. We quote from the testimony of Mr. B. C. Chrisman, who, the record discloses, has been School Superintendent of Callahan County...