Goodell v. Chicago & N.W. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 12 February 1919
• Docket Number: No. 12342.,12342.
• Citation: 121 N.E. 731,286 Ill. 384
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. GOODELL, County Collector, v. CHICAGO & N. W. RY. CO.

286 Ill. 384

121 N.E. 731

PEOPLE ex rel. GOODELL, County Collector,

v.CHICAGO & N. W. RY. CO.

No. 12342.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 18, 1918.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 12, 1919.

Appeal from Kane County Court; S. N. Hoover, Judge.

Application by the People, on the relation of E. F. Goodell, County Collector, for judgment and order of sale for delinquent taxes of the property of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company. From a judgment overruling objections to the application and ordering sale, defendant appeals. Affirmed.Charles A. Vilas, of Chicago (James C. Davis, of Chicago, of counsel), for appellant.

Charles L. Abbott, State's Atty., and Roy R. Phillips, both of Elgin, for appellee.

STONE, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the county court of Kane county overruling objections of the appellant to the application of the county collector for judgment and order of sale of appellant's property for delinquent taxes for the year 1917. The only question involved in the appeal is the constitutionality of sections 93, 94, and 96 of ‘An act to establish and maintain a system of free schools' (Laws 1909, pp. 368, 369), as amended by an act of the Legislature approved June 22, 1917 (Laws of 1917, p. 737). The sections involved are as follows:

‘Sec. 93. In each county of the state, all the territory of the county not included in a township high school district, or a community high school district, or a district maintaining a recognized four year high school, shall be organized into a non-high school district for the purpose of levying a tax to pay the tuition of all eighth grade graduates residing in such non-high school district, including pupils attending a recognized two or three year high school conducted by a local school district. The board of education for said non-high school district shall be constituted as follows: The county superintendent of schools shall be an ex officio member of said board and secretary thereof; but he shall have no vote. The remaining members of the non-high school district board shall be elected as follows: On or before August 1, 1917, the county superintendent of schools shall call an election for the purpose of electing three members of the board of education of said non-high school district, and shall designate a sufficient number of precincts and polling places and select the judges and clerks for such election. At the first meeting of said board the length of the term of each of the said three elected members shall be determined by lot. One of said members shall serve for one year, one for two years, one for three years from the third Saturday of April next preceding their election. At the expiration of the term of office of any elected member or members a successor or successors shall be elected who shall serve for three years. Each subsequent election shall be held on the third Saturday in April. In case of a vacancy in the said board of education the remaining members shall fill the vacancy by appointment until the next annual election. Within ten days after the election the members of said board of education shall meet and organized by electing one of their number president. The nominations of candidates for members of the board of education for the non-high school district shall be made only by petition. All nominating petitions shall be filed with the county superintendent of schools at least fifteen days before the date of election. All petitions shall be signed by at least fifty legal voters of the district. The names of the candidates shall be printed on the ballot in the order in which the petitions are filed with the county superintendent of schools. The first election for members of the board of education for the non-high school district shall be held at the polling places of the districts comprising the non-high school territory and the judges and clerks of the district election boards shall receive and canvass the ballots and seal and mail them to the county superintendent of schools. The county superintendent of schools shall file the results of said election with the county clerk. The ballots to be used at the election held for the selection of members of the board of education of the non-high school district shall be furnished by the county, and shall be in the form prescribed by the county superintendent of schools. Voters shall make a cross-mark in the square preceding the name or the names of the candidates of his choice and the ballots shall be so counted. At all subsequent elections in the non-high school districts the vote shall be canvassed by the non-high school board and the results filed with the county clerk. The polling place for subsequent elections in the non-high school district shall be designated by the board of education of the non-high school district. The manner of holding elections shall be governed by sections 126 and 126a of the general School Law, except where otherwise specifically directed herein. None of the provisions of this act regarding the establishment of non-high school districts shall be construed to prevent the organization of any territory of such non-high school districts, into township or community high school districts.

‘Sec. 94. The board of education of a non-high school district shall have the following powers and it shall be its duty: First. To levy a tax annually upon all the taxable property of such non-high school district, not to exceed one per cent. upon the valuation to be ascertained by the last assessment for state and county purposes, for the purpose of paying the tuition of all eighth-grade graduates residing within such non-high school district, attending any two, three or four year recognized high school. Such tax levy shall be certified and returned to the county clerk on or before the first Tuesday in October. The certificate shall be signed by the president and secretary of the board and may be in the following form, to wit:’ (Setting out the form of the certificate.)

The second and third clauses of the section provide the manner of payment of tuitions and reports of the board. The fourth clause provides as follows: ‘Fourth, to pay election expenses and other necessary incidental expenses out of the funds of the non-high school district.’

‘Sec. 96. Upon the approval of the county superintendent of schools any high school pupil may attend a recognized high school more convenient in some district other than the highschool district in which he resides and the board of education of the high school district in which said pupil resides shall pay the tuition of such pupil, provided, said tuition shall not exceed the per capita cost of maintaining the high school attended. Any eighth grade granduate residing in a non-high school district may attend any recognized two, three or four year high school, and his tuition shall be paid by the board of education of the non-high school district in which he resides. An eight grade graduate in the meaning of this act is any person of school age who gives satisfactory evidence of having completed the first eight grades of school work by presenting a certificate of promotion issued by the home school board, or by passing an examination given by the county superintendentof schools or by passing an examination given by the school attended. A recognized high school in the meaning of this act is any public high school providing a course of two or more years of work approved by the superintendent of public instruction. The tuition paid shall in no case exceed the per capita cost of maintaining the high school attended, excluding therefrom interest paid on bonded indebtedness which shall be computed by dividing the total cost of conducting and maintaining said high school by the average number of pupils enrolled, including tuition pupils.’

Appellant contends that section 93 of the School Law, as amended by the act in question, is unconstitutional for the reason that it arbitrarily requires the levy of a tax without a vote of the people to be taxed; that it violates the rule of local self-government and imposes a debt on the people without their consent; that sections 94 and 96 are invalid for the reason that they violate the rule of uniformity and equality in taxation and discriminate in favor of the taxpayers and pupils of the non-high school districts and against the taxpayers and pupils in the high school districts.

The Constitution of the state, by section 1 of article 8, provides that--

‘The General Assembly shall provide a thorough and efficient system of free schools, whereby all children of this state may receive a good common school education.’

This section of the Constitution is a mandate to the Legislature, in that it requires that body to provide a thorough and efficient system of free schools. It is likewise a limitation on the power of the Legislature, in that it limits the purpose of the system of free schools to be established to that of providing a good common school education to all the children of the state. The primary purpose in the organization of school districts is to carry out this mandate of the Constitution. The education to be provided thereunder is not limited to the primary and intermediate grades, but includes a high school education. The high school is as much a part of our system of free schools as the district or grade schools. Cook v. Board of Directors, 266 Ill. 164, 107 N. E. 327;Russell v. High School Board, 212 Ill. 327,72 N. E. 411;People v. Moore, 240 Ill. 408, 88 N. E. 979. It follows therefore that the duty rests upon the Legislature to provide for the maintenance of such high schools. How this is to be done is a matter which rests in the discretion and wisdom of the Legislature, subject to the requirements of the Constitution regarding uniformity and against discrimination. Under the mandate of the Constitution, the Legislature has power to form school districts whenever, in its discretion, such should be...