Jones v. Sharyland Independent School Dist., 12282

• Decision Date: 11 April 1951
• Docket Number: No. 12282,12282
• Citation: 239 S.W.2d 216
• Parties: JONES et al. v. SHARYLAND INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 216

239 S.W.2d 216

JONES et al. v. SHARYLAND INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST.

No. 12282.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

April 11, 1951.

Rehearing Denied May 9, 1951.

Kelley, Looney, McLean & Littleton and Sidney L. Farr, all of Edinburg, for appellant.

Strickland, Wilkins, Hall & Mills, Mission, for appellee.

W. O. MURRAY, Justice.

This suit was instituted by Roy V. Jones and twenty-nine other resident taxpayers and qualified electors of Sharyland Independent School District, Hidalgo County, Texas, against the Board of Trustees of said Sharyland Independent School District, seeking an injunction to prevent said Board of Trustees from selling $150,000.00 worth of bonds which had theretofore been duly voted by the qualified voters of the Sharyland School District for the purpose of erecting school buildings.

The plaintiffs alleged that at least a part of the proceeds to be derived from the sale of these bonds was to be spent for the purpose of erecting a gymnasium and that such an expenditure would be illegal. At a pre-trial hearing the judge sustained two special exceptions to plaintiffs' petition and upon plaintiffs' refusal to amend he dismissed the cause, from which judgment of dismissal Roy V. Jones and Ben Ashe have prosecuted this appeal.

Appellees' two special exceptions which were sustained by the trial court read as follows:

'I. Defendants specially except to said petition because the same is predicated upon an erroneous construction of the provisions of Article 2802e-1, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, as amended, in that it assumes that the provisions of such Article are exclusive, and the only manner in which the construction of gymnasia, stadia or other recreational facilities can be constructed or financed is by the issuance and sale of revenue bonds, as provided in such Article 2802e-1, whereas, as a matter of law, the provisions of such statute are not exclusive, but are merely cumulative of the legal right of an independent school district, and the Sharyland Independent School District, under the Constitution and Statutes of Texas, to finance the construction of such gymnasia, stadia or other recreational facilities, by the sale and issuance of bonds which create a debt against the school district and the taxable property thereof, pursuant to a vote of the requisite majority of the resident, qualified, tax paying voters owning taxable property in such a district, held pursuant to law.

'II. Defendants specially except to said petition because it affirmatively appears therefrom that plaintiffs are attempting to invoke the aid of this Court by the issuance of an injunction against these defendants to restrain them from the exercise of the judgment, discretion and power vested in them by law, and to superimpose the judgment and discretion of plaintiffs upon these defendants in the exercise of their official duties as Trustees of the Sharyland Independent School District.'

We are of the opinion that the trial judge properly sustained these two special exceptions. Section 3, Article 7, of the Texas Constitution, Vernon's Ann.St., provides in effect that school districts may levy a tax for the purpose of erecting and equipping school buildings when authorized by a majority of the qualified property tax paying voters of the district. The provisions of this section of the constitution are implemented by Article 2784e, Vernon's Ann.Civ.Stats. It has been definitely held in this State that a gymnasium is a school building. Landrum v. Centennial High School District, Tex.Civ.App., 146 S.W.2d 799. Article 2663a, Vernon's Ann.Civ.Stats., in effect, requires that physical education be taught in our public schools and it is apparent that a gymnasium is necessary to the proper teaching of physical...