Jones v. State Bd. of Ed.
| Decision Date | 28 May 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 40309,40309 |
| Citation | 219 La. 630,53 So.2d 792 |
| Parties | JONES v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION et al. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
Bolivar E. Kemp, Jr., Atty. Gen., Carroll Buck, 1st Asst. Atty. Gen., Geo. M. Wallace, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., for State Board of Education.
Taylor, Porter, Brooks, Fuller & Phillips and James R. Fuller, all of Baton Rouge, for La. State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.
M. C. Thompson, Monroe, E. R. Kaufman, Sam H. Jones, Alvin O. King, Vance Plauche, Cullen R. Liskow, Lake Charles, of counsel, for defendants appellants.
Carroll G. Jones, Ruston, per se.
P. C. Barrios, of Wright & Barrios, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee.
At its regular Session held in 1950 the Legislature of Louisiana passed several Acts having to do with John McNeese Junior College located at Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish and Northeast Center located at Monroe, in the Parish of Ouachita. The first of these laws which became Act No. 69 of that year had reference to John McNeese Junior College and the second, Act No. 527, to Northeast Center. The language in both is identical and with the exception of the names of the two colleges or institutions their provisions are exactly the same. It is necessary for us to quote only the provisions of one of them for the purpose of stating what this case is about. We quote from Act No. 69, the enacting clause of which reads as follows:
The other two Acts have for their purpose the placing of both these institutions under the administration of the Louisiana State Board of Education. They are Acts No. 70 and No. 528 of 1950, LSA-RS 17:10. They are both amendments to Section No. 10, Title 17 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 which enumerated and listed the various educational institutions in the State which are under the administration of the State Board of Education. The first of these last two Acts merely adds the name of 'McNeese State College' and the second adds the names of both 'McNeese State College' and 'Northeast Louisiana State College' to the list of State institutions. Act No. 70 which adds the name of 'McNeese State College' contains a clause to the effect that its provisions 'shall have no effect until McNeese State College is established by Senate Bill No. 3 of the present session.' Act No. 528 has an effective provision which reads that 'this act shall have no effect until Senate Bill No. 306 [] enacted into law.'
Carrying out the various provisions of this legislation, the Louisiana State Board of Education and the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College entered into certain contracts whereby the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Mechanical and Agricultural College transferred and conveyed the site and facilities of both institutions to the Louisiana State Board of Education to the end that they both could be administered by said State Board of Education, all as directed in Acts Nos. 69 and 527.
For the sake of brevity Louisiana State University and Mechanical and Agricultural College will hereafter be referred to as Louisiana State University.
The present suit was brought by Carroll G. Jones, a resident of Lincoln Parish. He alleges himself to be a duly qualified elector and tax payer, residing in the City of Ruston, Louisiana, and that as such he is entitled to have the functions of the State Government carried out according to, and within the limitations set up by the organic law of the State. He avers that he owns property both real and personal, in Lincoln Parish, on which he pays taxes to various taxing authorities and that by the action of the said State Board of Education and the Louisiana State University he has been deprived of his property without due process of law and denied the equal protection of laws in contravention of Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution of Louisiana.
His complaint is that all of the said Acts of the Legislature under which the State Board of Education and Louisiana State University are proceeding and acting, are repugnant to the organic law of the State as set out in Article 4, Section 14 of the Constitution of 1921, which requires a two-thirds vote of the members elected to the Legislature in order to establish an educational institution other than those existing in Louisiana in 1921.
He specifically alleges that Act No. 69 received only fifty-four favorable votes upon final passage in the House of Representatives, Act No. 70 sixty-six votes, Act No. 527 fifty-nine votes and Act No. 528 sixty-five favorable votes upon final passage; that all of said votes for each were less than the necessary two-thirds votes of the members elected to the House of Representatives and therefore the said acts are illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever. In view of these matters he avers that all of the actions of the Louisiana State Board of Education which attempted to obtain a transfer of McNeese State College and Northeast Louisiana State College from Louisiana State University are null and of no effect, having been done in contravention of the said Constitution and hence they are illegal, null, void and of no effect; that all such transfers made and actions taken should be annulled and set aside.
In the prayer of his petition plaintiff asks for service on both Louisiana State Board of Education and the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and for a rule on them to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not issue, restraining and enjoining said two boards from carrying out the provisions of the said Acts of the Legislature and that after due trial there be judgment in his favor decreeing all of the said Acts unconstitutional, illegal, null and void. Further he prays that a writ of mandamus issue under authority of the judgment to be rendered, commanding both of the said boards to take whatever action that may be necessary to convey the site and facilities of the said two colleges back to the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University.
The State Board of Education and the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University filed a joint answer in which they deny all of the allegations of plaintiff's petition, and further answering allege that the State institution, originally known as John McNeese Junior College, the name of which was changed to McNeese State College by Act No. 69 of 1950, was created by and under Act No. 267 of 1938 and that this latter Act was passed by the Legislature of that year by more than two-thirds of the members thereof, and that the institution formerly known as Northeast Center Junior College, the name of which was changed to Northeast Louisiana State College by Act No. 527 of 1950, was created by the Legislature of Louisiana by Act No. 231 of 1934, as amended by Act No. 339 of 1936, LSA-RS 17:1491, 17:1531, 17:1532, and that the said Acts were adopted by a vote of more than two-thirds of the members of the State Legislature 1.
They aver further that pursuant to Act No. 267 of 1938, LSA-RS 17:1491, 17:1521, 17:1522, John McNeese Junior College was established as a State institution of learning and was continuously operated as such from the year 1939 until its name was changed to McNeese State College by Act No. 69 of 1950, and since that time it has been operated as such and as therein directed.
They aver also that pursuant to Act No. 231 of 1934, as amended by Act No. 339 of 1936, Northeast Junior College was established as a State institution of learning and was continuously operated as such until its name was changed to Northeast Louisiana State College by Act No. 527 of 1950, and since that time it has been so operated and as directed by said Act.
Lastly defendants aver that they have made the transfers authorized by Acts Nos. 69, 70, 527, and 528 of 1950 which are presumed to be, and are actually, constitutional, and not in conflict with any of the prohibitory provisions of the Constitution of Louisiana or other prohibitory law.
The question of plaintiff's right to institute and maintain this suit was not raised in the pleadings or on the trial of the case and although doubt is expressed as to such right, no contest is made on that point because it is the desire of defendants to have the fundamental issue involved in the case settled by a final judgment as soon as possible.
Upon trial and submission in the District Court judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff decreeing Acts Nos. 69 and 527 of 1950...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Goldfinch, 45491
...148, 43 So.2d 248, 14 A.L.R.2d 680; Olivedell Planting Co. v. Town of Lake Providence, 217 La. 621, 47 So.2d 23; Jones v. State Board of Education, 219 La. 630, 53 So.2d 792; State v. Rones, 223 La. 839, 67 So.2d 99; State v. McCrory, 237 La. 747, 112 So.2d 432; Michon v. La. State Board of......
-
Succession of Robins
...dismissed 397 U.S. 245, 90 S.Ct. 1104, 25 L.Ed.2d 278, reh'g den. 397 U.S. 1059, 90 S.Ct. 1351, 25 L.Ed.2d 680; Jones v. State Bd. of Ed., 219 La. 630, 53 So.2d 792 (1951); DeFrancis v. City of Bossier, 322 So.2d 333 (La.App. 2nd 1975), writ denied 325 So.2d 611 (La.1976), cert. den. 429 U.......
-
Melancon v. State Bd. of Ed.
...sustained by state appropriations to provide education through a staff of professionally trained educators. In Jones v. State Board of Education, 219 La. 630, 53 So.2d 792 (1951), this Court 'Generally speaking a State educational institution is one, title to whose property is vested in the......
- Texas Co. v. Leach